Writing

PhD thesis
Historical Samarai: Colonial Outpost to Pacific Ghost Town

Submitted in 2026, my thesis investigates the forgotten histories of Samarai in Papua New Guinea. Samarai is known for once being the economic centre of Australian colonialism but with the departure of Australian administration and the Independence of Papua New Guinea in 1976, the town has fallen into disrepair and is now becoming known as a ghost town. This thesis explores the history of Samarai, but rather than focusing on Samarai: the former Australian colonial township in present day Papua New Guinea, Samarai is instead shown to possess a layered story of transition, revealing how Papua New Guineans became custodians of a once thriving settlement and reshaped its identity over time. The thesis unpacks and critiques the ‘ghost-town’ label, seeking to highlight a rich vein of history that the label covers over, revealing layered and contested histories of a community grappling with decline, colonial abandonment and failed promises.

“Most Pacific cities began as small colonial outposts, growing steadily as missionary, economic and governmental structures were established and developed. Many cities throughout the Pacific can trace their historic origins to a time when traders, missionaries, miners, labour recruiters or government administrators followed the paths laid by European explorers or adventurers and established small colonial outposts. Over the course of a hundred or so years, these outposts grew into commercial settlements and transformed into the sprawling urban centres that would become modern day Pacific cities. However, not all towns followed this trajectory. Despite the ambitions and optimistic prospects of development that accompanied colonialist expansion, some towns stagnated and were ultimately abandoned by colonists as economic and political priorities shifted elsewhere. These townships soon declined into regional insignificance, fading into relative obscurity. Samarai, is one of these towns: its ruins a reminder of the past ambitions of Australian colonialism in the Pacific”

Samarai is a township in decline. Located off the eastern tip of the Papua New Guinea mainland, the small island was once a thriving British then Australian colonial port town. The town was evacuated and partially destroyed during World War Two before being rebuilt and reclaiming some of its pre-war significance as a commercial and administrative centre. However, in 1968 a decision to move the district (later provincial) administrative headquarters to the newly gazetted township of Alotau, 40km distant, resulted in a series of withdrawals from the island by many of the town’s businesses and services. The urban landscape has been in a steady decline since and today the once prominent township lies in a state of decay, often described by visitors as a ‘ghost-town’, or ‘sleepy backwater’

The rest of the article can be read at: South Pacific Journal of Philosophy and Culture – Current Issue

Honours Thesis
Enchanted by the view: the story of Australian miners on the Woodlark Island goldfield, 1897.

My honours thesis explores the journey as five miners from Castlemaine in Victoria, Australia who ventured to the Woodlark Island (Muyuw) goldfield in British New Guinea (PNG) in 1896. These miners arrived unprepared for the wet, swampy conditions on Woodlark, and like many other Australian miners who ventured to Woodlark, four of the miners succumbed to fever and died within one week of arriving at Woodlark. The sole surviving miner, Mr Charles Dale, returned to Australia in a state of delirium, eventually returning to Castlemaine after time recuperating in a psychiatric hospital.

The thesis considers the ways in which the New Guinea goldfields were presented to Australians through media reporting. The perception of New Guinea as an island paradise, is shown to be a contributing factor that lead many miners from the continent to New Guinea goldfields in search of gold, completely unprepared for the weather, and conditions on the goldfields. Many died for the mistake.