When The Garamuts Beat A Memoir of Fifty Years in Bougainville - Paperback

by Franz Miltrup (Author), Christine Leonard (Author), Harry Moore (Translator)

This is a memoir about adventure, faith, and peril that will interest anyone captivated by Pacific history, the impacts of WWII, and the social change that ensued.

WWII brought catastrophic hardship to Bougainvilleans. Missionaries such as Miltrup, who remained behind after nearly all the European civilians fled the islands, experienced those same hardships. Being a German national was no guarantee of safety. During his years of captivity under Japanese occupation, Miltrup narrowly avoided execution twice before making a dramatic escape in 1945. With the aid of Coast Watcher Paul Mason and his Bougainville commandos, Fr Miltrup walked barefoot across the mountains to the Allied forces based at Torokina.

This memoir also deals with the tumultuous changes that followed the war, as PNG and Bougainville embraced self-determination in the closing years of Australia's colonial administration. There's a lot in the book about Buin culture and a way of life pre-WWII. Franz Miltrup's life was one of total commitment and love for the people he chose to spend his life with.