Eve AKERMAN

11 December 2003, aged 83

Eve went with her husband John, an Australian Government doctor, to Rabaul in 1947. Her second son, Kim, was born in Rabaul that year. Soon afterwards the family was transferred to Goroka in the Highlands. From Goroka, John carried out numerous medical patrols on foot through difficult mountainous terrain to various remote locations such as Mt Hagen, frequently accompanied by Eve for up to a fortnight at a time. In early 1950 the family was transferred again, to Wewak on the North Coast where Piers was born. They took with them Kuyeba and Ongwan who were recruited from highland villages to help in the house and with whom Eve had an emotional reunion when travelling with her friend Dame Rachel Cleland in the highlands in 1993.

Eve accompanied John on more medical patrols by launch up the Sepik and to the island Wacheo where they were marooned for some weeks by the stranding of the schooner which had delivered them there, until rescued by the mission vessel Gabriel.

The family left PNG for India in 1951; however their time in the Territory remained a vital part of family lore from then on. Eve wrote and lectured extensively on her life and the atmosphere in PNG in the forties until shortly before her death. Eve’s husband, John, predeceased her however she is survived by her three sons and daughter, Felicity. Jonathan C Akerman