In many cases, the expatriate experience in Papua New Guinea had an outcome that the outsider could never have expected. People became emotionally wedded to the country and its people, and continued to feel that attachment for the rest of their lives – even if they never returned to PNG’s shores.

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The expatriate experience was also unusual since it frequently placed ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. This often had a lifelong influence on those people who knew that Papua New Guinea had changed them and that they would always define themselves a little differently because of it. These people retain a common bond and understanding.

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It is therefore not surprising that many of these people – who would not normally put pen to paper or poise finger over a keyboard – have felt the call to record their experiences. 

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The history indicates that people first arrived on the island of New Guinea 40-50,000 years ago when sea levels fell in the ice age. The island was joined to the Australian continent until about 6,000 years ago. As a result many species of plants and animals, including marsupials, are shared with Australia 

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The more recent history of European colonisation, nation building and national independence dates back only to the 19th and 20th centuries. It is the latter period that concerns us here since the outsiders who settled and lived in Papua New Guinea can tell their stories. They are stories that need to be told while they can still be told. The PNGAA has published many of them in its journals over many years.

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