By BIG PAT
DOWN memory lane can only be a nostalgic yet lonesome lethargic place.And the shriveled pages of time, soiled by the minutes of a bygone era, holds its own abundant pace. And its space, afforded in the liberty of the black and white typeface of a bold bygone era, smell of a whiff of adventure forgotten in history.
As this two oldies discovered not so long ago over the inaugural first issue of the PNG Post-Courier, time does dispense eternal friendships.
After many years of separation, with wizened bald patches and diminishing hairlines, the two old 'lapuns' (old) mates got together again to search for their bylines in the first ever Post-Courier print of 1969.
They were young, daring and sparing of thought, but in their sprightly nuances, they forgot that even hot metal type-setting of the yester-years spared no-one, not even the brightest ink toasting spark.
Their impromptu meet and greet in the Post-Courier newsroom foyer created a mini sensation in Sela Haus, drawing curious stares from today’s generation of PC workers and editorial staff.
On the right is the aging but nonetheless effervescent Biga Lebasi of Suau in Milne Bay Province and on the left is the equally ageless Sinclaire Solomon of Mengar village, Wewak, East Sepik.
A youngish Solomon rolled into the typewriter strewn and smoke filled newsroom at Lawes Road as a cadet in 1976, an year after PNG gained its Independence from Australia.
Lebasi was Chief of Staff of the Post-Courier, the first Papua New Guinean to hold that post, and seemed generously aghast at the youthful exuberance of Solomon.
It became an affectionate friendship crafted out of crossword clues and the endless travails of the comical Bluey & Curley, the Les Dixon strip in the PC back then.
Over the seamless march of time, both have written their own eloquent chapters in their life stories as journalists and their endless anecdotes keep popping up on fresh pages almost as endless as the sand on Wom Beach near
Mengar or the waves that batter Suau.
Surprisingly in the historic 1969 copy, is a black and white picture of Lebasi on a farm in Rabaul admiring a rather bemused ‘bulumakau’ (bull).
It’s his attire – short trousers with long white socks and shoes – that
elicited giggles of guilt and uproarious laughter of disbelief to light up a
rare reunion.
No wonder – 50 years on - that poor old quarantined cow was and still remains
rampantly bewildered in the June 1969 issue of the PC, buried in history with
bigger than bubbly Biga!
This week, sadly, we were awakened to the duties of Father Time
informing our generation of the passing of Biga in Alotau.
Sinclaire Solomon: "He was more than just a friend. He was a
legend."
Farewell Biga, from all of us at the Post-Courier and the PNG Media at
large.
Picture by JONATHAN WAREY
Big Pat holding up a copy of the 1969 inaugural Post-Courier edition for
Sinclair Solomon and Biga Lebasi to search for Biga's adventure stories.
