Paul F. Whitman WWII's Jungle Telegraph
The newsprint images in this publication are enhanced, digitized versions of aged and damaged papers and represent our best efforts to represent them in the modern media. The enhancements are © 2014 by Paul F. Whitman. ROCK FORCEis at http://rockforce.org The author can be contacted at [email protected]
INTRODUCTION Vol. 2. No. 20 - Wednesday, December 8, 1943 NAZI KNOCK-OUT PLANNED Vol. 2. No. 40 - Tuesday, December 28, 1943 - .U.S. MARINES LAND EASTANDWEST OF GLOUCESTER Vol. 2. No. 42 - Thursday, December 30, 1943 - RUSSIANS SPEED ON IN KIEV BULGE:FOUR RAILWAYTOWNS NOWMENACED Vol. 2. No. 45 - Sunday, January 2, 1944 - SOVIETADVANCE THREATENS LAST NAZI BARRIERS IN SOUTH-WEST RUSSIA Vol. 2. No. 51 - Saturday, January 8, 1944 - NEWATTACK BYRUSSIANS IN DNEIPER BEND BRINGS GREAT VICTORYNEAR Vol. 2. No. 54 - Tuesday, January 11, 1944 - NAZIS REELBACK IN RUSSIA IN SPITE OF HITLER'S ORDER TO STAND FIRM Vol. 2. No. 55 - Wednesday, January 12, 1944 - RUSSIANS CUT ONE OF NAZIS' ONLY TWO REMAINING "ESCAPE" RAILLINES Vol. 2. No. 56 - Thursday, January 13, 1944 - FINALBATTLE FOR DNEIPER BEND DRAWS NEARAS REDARMYDRIVES ON Vol. 2. No. 57 - Friday, January 14, 1944 - SMASHING BLOWAT NAZI AIR POWER COSTS 59 BOMBERS, 5 FIGHTERS Vol. 2. No. 62 - Wednesday, January 19, 1944 - SOVIET TROOPS EXTEND GRIP IN DRIVES WEST OF OLD POLISH BORDER 3 4 7 13 19 25 35 41 47 53 59 65 C ONT E NT S
ORIGINS Guinea Gold was the idea of the journalist and political reporter, Reginald Leonard, former deputy chief-of-staff of the Herald newspaper. Leonard had donned uniform in July 1940, and by July of 1941 was serving with the RAAF as its director of public relations. Returning from Britain where he had established himself as a war correspondent, he found himself in Papua where he suggested that the army should establish a service newspaper for troops cut off from reliable news. General Sir Thomas Blamey approved the plan and in November 1941 Leonard was appointed a major, Citizen Military Forces (later Australian Imperial Force), and editor. On 19 November he produced the first issue of Guinea Gold, a four-page condensed tabloid-type newspaper, reporting daily the progress of the war in succinct fact-of-the-matter paragraphs. Housed in a former government printing office and operating a Linotype and antiquated flat-bed presses, the staff worked from midnight to dawn to run off the required number of copies. An edition for American service personnel was added and the combined circulation was to peak at over fifty thousand. As the Allies advanced, the newspaper's head office moved to Lae, New Guinea. The staff was not exclusivelyAustralian and Papuan - from time to time, it did include American personnel. Its brief was to present news and avoid comment. It published for 1320 continuous days, without missing a single edition. The front and back pages concentrated on current world news, including major sporting events. Page 2 was generally devoted to extracts from Australian and US newspapers. Some news was obtained by taking shorthand notes of shortwave radio broadcast fromAustralia, the U.S. and by the B.B.C. At its peak, distribution was 37,000 to US forces and 27,000 to Australian forces, daily. That's 34 million copies in two years. Maximumreadership was estimated at 800,000. This retrospective was created as my father thought it important enough to keep ten copies in his footlocker once he made it home fromhis war. PFW 4
Guinea Gold office (the old government printing office) in Port Moresby - staff claim no two lines of the building are parallel. 5
6 Bennie Resino of Vabukori Village pouring metal pigs for linotypemachine at plant ofGuineaGold.
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11 Pvt. B. F. Baxter from South Yarra, Victoria examining entries for Guinea Gold newspaper competition
Major Reg Leonard during the judging of the Guinea Gold newspaper competition "The Girl I Left Behind" with other judges. 12
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Pte. B. F. Baxter from South Yarra, Superintendent Patricia Weetman from Melbourne, Lt. Nancy Corker from Harvey, W.A., Sgt. B. J. Viggers from Brisbane, Qld., Capt. Midj Lee from Sydney, N.S.W. and Major L. S. Dexter from Port Moresby, New Guinea judging entries of "The Girl I Left Behind" newspaper competition. 17
Lt. John Buckley from Sydney, N.S.W. in newspaper composing room. 18
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Cpl. Les Riethmiller from Brisbane, Qld. in press room of Guinea Gold newspaper. 23
Sgt. Cashen Fitzgerald from Sydney, N.S.W. and Pte. Jack Williams from Melbourne, Victoria preparing proofs. 24
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Publishing room of the Guinea Gold with Pte. Claude Miller from Brisbane and Papuan staff. 33
Indigenous Papuan staff in the Publishing room. 34
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Indigenous Papua New Guinean reading newspaper. 39
Pvt. Louis Pettit from Warragul, Victoria and Pvt. Stewart Ellis from Sydney, N.S.W. locking form of Guinea Gold 40
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45 Sgt. Stan Cracknell from Sydney setting the solid linotype of the Guinea Gold newspaper
46 Ganiga Davay operating the platen press
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51 Loa Dia at the typewriter.
52 Pte. Alec Lennox from Sydney, N.S.W. setting headlines of the Guinea Gold
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57 Seura Dai fromHanuabada Village, P.N.G. making metal casts.
58 Hani Hani operating a proof press.
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Major Reg Leonard, editor of Guinea Gold checking proofs of the Commonwealth Electoral Boundaries. 63
64 U.S. soldier reading paper on steps of the Guinea Gold newspaper office.
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Australians, Americans and Papuans reading the newspaper Guinea Gold on the street. 69
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 71 The ten copies of Guinea Gold featured in this magazine were collected by my father, Paul C. "Tip" Whitman, during his time in New Guinea 1944, and found in his footlocker. The images of activities and production of the newspaper "Guinea Gold" published in Port Moresby, 1945 are from the Argus Newspaper Collection of Photographs, State Library of Victoria as a part of The National Library of Australia. Special thanks to Gary J. Quin, who has supported me with his generosity and helpful spirit.
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