The Bully Beef Club and the Birth of Papua New Guinea

In the 1960s, Port Moresby was a city under strain. Overcrowded housing, poor sanitation, and outbreaks of disease were common in the new tertiary colleges, where young Papua New Guineans were meant to be trained as the Territory’s future administrators and teachers. Yet even as they studied, they lived with the daily realities of inequality: inferior accommodation, meagre rations, and a racially tiered salary system that guaranteed expatriates higher pay, allowances, and housing while their local colleagues received less.

At the same time, Papua New Guineans were testing the limits of colonial authority beyond the colleges. Workers in Port Moresby began forming associations to demand better conditions, while teachers used publications like Memorabilia to call for a stronger federation that could represent their interests. The Port Moresby Workers’ Association—later led by Oala Oala-Rarua—emerged as a key voice pressing for equal pay and recognition. These were early signs of a wider awakening: frustration with inequality was being transformed into organised action, linking classrooms with shop floors and city offices.

By the mid-1960s, this growing assertiveness began to spill onto larger stages. In 1967, Oala Oala-Rarua delivered the prestigious H.V. Evatt Memorial Lecture at Sydney University. His speech, later described as “a speech that shook the independence tree,” condemned the Australian Minister for Territories Charles Barnes as “deplorable” for suggesting independence was decades away, and demanded accelerated home rule by 1968 and full independence by 1970 (A speech that shook the Independence Tree). His bold words reverberated across both PNG and Australia, capturing the new confidence of an emerging generation of leaders.

These frustrations were not confined to classrooms. Across the city, Papua New Guineans were beginning to organise through unions and workers’ associations. Teachers pressed for a stronger federation to defend their rights and municipal employees demanded equal pay

Everyday Racism and Public Awakening

At approximately the 24-minute mark of this interview on PNG Speaks, veteran journalist Biga Lebasi speaks candidly about the racism he encountered in 1960s Port Moresby—the stark inequalities in public life that shaped not only his own outlook but also broader nationalist sentiment. He recalls being refused service in shops, barred from cinemas or seated separately on buses—all part of the everyday indignities that drove a generation toward political awareness. This testimony—set against the backdrop of his early journalism at the South Pacific Post—offers a lived perspective on the frustrations that animated student debate and helped fuel the Bully Beef Club.

It was in this atmosphere that the Bully Beef Club took shape. Students — often encouraged by politically minded lecturers — gathered in dormitories and at Albert Maori Kiki’s Hohola home to debate inequality, justice, and the meaning of nationalism. Though informal and shifting in membership, the Club reflected a wider transformation already underway in Port Moresby: the realisation that everyday grievances could only be resolved through political change.

Students also had to deal with tertiary institutions were under enormous pressure. At the Port Moresby Teachers’ College, official reports noted cracked cement floors, poor sanitation, and outbreaks of hepatitis among staff. Overcrowding in dormitories and poor student housing created daily frustrations. Letters to the Student newsletter, Memorabilia, described how trainee teachers faced worse conditions and fewer opportunities than other public servants. One editorial warned:

“Teachers are rapidly being put at a disadvantage … trained for twice as long … yet will only get a quarter of the pay of other people.”

The inequalities extended beyond housing and food. Under the colonial system, Papua New Guinean teachers and public servants were locked into a racialised pay structure. Expatriates received higher salaries, allowances, and housing, while locals were placed on inferior scales.

Featured in the May 1970 issue of Pacific Islands Monthly, the article But There’s No Urgency in Prejudiced New Guinea offers a timely critique of the colonial mindset that persisted in Papua New Guinea’s administration. Written around the time when local political movements were gaining traction, the piece examines entrenched prejudices and the slow pace of reform, even as student-led discussions—such as those of the Bully Beef Club—were building momentum toward independence. It presents a striking editorial perspective on why institutional attitudes were lagging behind grassroots aspirations.

Christine Kaputin’s article, ‘Economic Rents’ made it worse, published in Pacific Islands Monthly (Vol. 37, No. 11, November 1966), offers an invaluable firsthand account of student life and political awakening in colonial Papua New Guinea. Through vivid memories and reflections, she sheds light on the atmosphere that shaped the Bully Beef Club — from the frustrations of daily inequity to the sparks of nationalist thought. Her article captures the lived experience of students and provides context for how informal gatherings and educational moments fed into a broader movement for self-governance. If you’d like to explore the personal side of this story, Christine Kaputin’s writing is a must-read.

In this 1970 interview, Kaputin, published in Pacific Islands Monthly, John Kaputin offers a compelling perspective on his formative years — including his experiences at the Administrative College and within the Bully Beef network. Kaputin reflects on the racial inequalities in pay and working conditions, the surge of student-led political activism, and how these shaped his path from educator to national leader. The article is particularly valuable for its honest, retrospective voice, illustrating the personal motivations behind broader political movements. It also complements Christine Kaputin’s 1966 piece by providing a male voice from the same era, together offering a nuanced view of student activism leading toward independence.

Students saw this clearly: their education might open careers in the public service, but they would never be treated as equals. Lecturers themselves were political actors. At the Teachers’ College, Memorabilia became a platform for open discussion of colonial inequality and comparisons with African decolonisation. At the Administrative College, expatriates like Cecil Abel framed justice in Christian ethical terms, while Tos Barnett and Ted Wolfers actively encouraged students to debate independence. What the Administration imagined as technical training colleges were, in practice, turning into forums of political awakening.

The Administrative College, established in 1963, was designed to create a professional local elite. Its interim council stressed that staff should show “breadth of outlook” and an ability to teach across disciplines.

Early student cohorts were small and ambitious. In 1964, Gavera Rea won the Neil Thompson Memorial Prize for proficiency and the Principal’s prize for academic achievement, while John Kaputin and Albert Maori Kiki received the staff prize for citizenship.

Reports praised the Student Representative Council as “helpful and valuable at all times.” But beneath this optimistic surface, political ferment grew. Students like Somare, Kiki, Kaputin, Nombri, Rea, and Olewale lived in cramped quarters, ate simple food, and spent late nights debating the future of their country. Somare later remembered: “We develop into a small club that we used to call it Bully Beef Club … we talk politics and we talk about how countries would be governed. And that made me take interest in politics.” Gatherings often took place at Albert Maori Kiki’s home in Hohola, where his wife Elizabeth cooked for the students. Teachers actively fuelled this energy.

At the Administrative College, expatriates like Abel, Barnett, and Wolfers pushed students to think critically. Barnett described the College as a “fermenting pot of liberal independent thinking,” while Wolfers recalled running evening discussion classes on contemporary political issues. At the Teachers’ College, Memorabilia became an outlet for collective grievances. Letters demanded unions and warned that teachers were being undervalued in comparison with other public servants. This culture of critique fostered solidarity across institutions, culminating in the creation of the Tertiary Students Federation (TSF) in 1964, with Olewale as president, Joseph Nombri as secretary, and Hans Damonera as treasurer.

Out of these overlapping networks came the informal gatherings remembered as the Bully Beef Club. The name — applied later — captured the spirit of late-night meetings where students shared simple meals of tinned beef while talking about politics. Its core members included Somare, Kiki, Kaputin, Olewale, Rea, and Nombri. Around them clustered others from the Administrative College such as Bill Warren, Lucas Waka, Jacob Lemeki, and Basil Koe. The issues they discussed were urgent.

In this extended interview featured on PNG Speaks, Sir Michael Somare reflects on his political awakening, shaped by his education and early experiences at the Administrative College. He discusses how his studies in Australian geography and history sparked ideas of nationhood, and shares how discussions in Hohola and his time as a radio broadcaster helped build his public profile and political identity. Somare explains how the Bully Beef Club emerged among his college peers—with informal meetings, tinned beef in hand—as a launching pad for independence activism and the eventual founding of the Pangu Pati in 1967. His reflections bring a vivid, firsthand perspective to the Club’s formative years.

As Papua New Guinea approaches its 50th anniversary of independence, The National published a compelling piece—”Tribute to PNG’s Pioneer Parties“—that reflects on how the Bully Beef Club evolved into the Pangu Pati, the nation’s first political party. The article highlights how colonial-era student solidarity, racial inequality, and the leadership of figures like Somare, Kiki, and Nombri transformed informal gatherings into formal political movements. It offers both historical context and a contemporary reflection on how those early conversations laid the foundations for PNG’s party system and pluralistic democracy.

At one meeting, students resolved to send a deputation to the Public Service Commissioner demanding documentary evidence of why pay scales excluded locals. These were bold moves: openly challenging the Administration’s pay policy was both politically radical and personally risky for young public servants. Teachers played a dual role. Some expatriates supported debate, but the Administration also tried to limit its spread. By the late 1960s, new administrators sought to fence off the College from the university and depoliticise its teaching. But the spark had already been lit. The Bully Beef networks laid the intellectual and organisational foundations for the Pangu Pati, founded in 1967. Many of the “Angry Young Men” interviewed by the ABC that year — Somare, Kiki, Nombri — traced their political awakening to these student debates.

For those involved, the Bully Beef Club was remembered as transformative. Somare called it the moment he shifted from being a civil servant to becoming a politician. Ebia Olewale later reflected that it was the first time Territory students debated “nationalism” openly. Observers also recognised its importance.

Journalist Patti Warn argued: “Without the political education of the 1960s generation … the Bully Beef Club and the Pangu Pati would not have emerged.” The South Pacific Post linked the gatherings to questions of party politics and national unity. Retrospective accounts stress that “Bully Beef Club” was partly a label applied later, but it captured a reality: students and teachers were creating a political community in the heart of colonial Port Moresby. They lived in poor conditions, studied under discriminatory pay systems, and were taught by politically engaged lecturers. Out of this crucible, they forged the leadership that would take Papua New Guinea to independence.

This touching video, Bully Beef Club Members Reunite, captured via Digital Pasifik and EMTV, documents a moving reunion in Morobe following the passing of Sir Michael Somare. Two Bully Beef Club members—Sir Jerry Nalau and Nanong Ahe—in their eighties, meet again after many years at a ceremony honoring Somare’s legacy. Although brief, their interaction speaks volumes: it underscores the deep friendships formed through the informal gatherings that defined the Bully Beef Club, and how those bonds endure across generations and geographic divides. Their reflections offer a poignant counterpoint to the archival and written records, bringing personal memory and emotion into the narrative.

In this intimate digital recording, Nanong Remembers, Nanong Gideon Ahe—one of the founding members of the Bully Beef Club alongside Sir Michael Somare—reflects on his student days, emphasizing how young Papua New Guineans from diverse regions came together at schools like Dregerhafen and the Administrative College to foster unity and advocate for independence. His memories offer a deeply personal, emotional perspective on the Club’s early significance, complementing the earlier video of the reunion with Sir Jerry Nalau.

In a reflective essay published by PNG Insight, Sir Julius Chan—a long-serving politician and founding father of Papua New Guinea—credits the informal gatherings of the Bully Beef Club as instrumental in the push for independence, from which emerged the Pangu Pati. He situates the Club’s intellectual energy alongside the People’s Progress Party (PPP) and United Party as the core political forces of the era, showing how a small group of student debates helped catalyze national political transformation. Chan’s perspective adds both breadth and senior-level insight, emphasizing how those discussions laid groundwork for formal political institutions and party politics that followed independence.

The Bully Beef Club was less an organisation than a meeting of minds. Students — and at times their teachers — came together informally, with membership fluid and open-ended.

Sir Michael Somare (1936–2021)

Michael Somare, later known as the “Father of the Nation,” was a central figure in the Bully Beef Club and the political journey to independence. After working as a teacher and broadcaster, he entered the Administrative College in the mid-1960s, where he joined a circle of students debating nationalism, equality, and the Territory’s future.

Somare later recalled:

“We develop into a small club that we used to call it Bully Beef Club … we talk politics and we talk about how countries would be governed. And that made me take interest in politics.”

He went on to co-found the Pangu Pati in 1967 and became the country’s first Chief Minister in 1972, leading PNG to independence in 1975. Somare’s later career spanned four terms as Prime Minister and a reputation as a unifying national leader. His early experiences of inequality at the Administrative College, and his friendships in the Bully Beef Club, were decisive in shaping his political outlook.

Albert Maori Kiki (1931–1993)

Albert Maori Kiki was one of Papua New Guinea’s most influential early leaders and a founding member of the Bully Beef Club. Trained as a medical assistant, he became politically active while studying at the Administrative College, where he served as president of the Students’ Representative Council. Kiki hosted many of the informal gatherings at his Hohola home that gave the Club its character, with his wife Elizabeth often cooking for the group. In his autobiography Sana, Michael Somare vividly described those nights spent debating the future of the country. Kiki went on to help form the Pangu Pati, serving as its secretary, and later held ministerial office in the first independent government. Kiki also played a pioneering role in trade union organisation and was an outspoken critic of racial pay disparities in the public service. His ability to connect intellectual debate with grassroots activism made him one of the most respected figures of his generation.

John Kaputin (b. 1937)

John Kaputin, who combined careers in politics, economics, and sport, was another key member of the Bully Beef Club. He trained as a teacher before enrolling at the Administrative College in 1964, where his political awareness deepened. His interracial marriage to Christine Lake, an Australian lecturer, made headlines at the time and symbolised the crossing of colonial boundaries. Kaputin was also an accomplished rugby league player, representing Papua New Guinea at the 1962 Commonwealth Games. In student debates, he was outspoken about economic injustice, particularly the discriminatory salary system that disadvantaged Papua New Guineans. His belief in teaching “economics with a blackboard under the trees” reflected his commitment to empowering rural communities. After independence, Kaputin served as a Member of Parliament, Minister, and later as Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States in Brussels. His journey from Bully Beef discussions to international leadership demonstrates the global reach of this generation.

Joseph Nombri (1940–2008)

Joseph (Joe) Nombri was born in Chimbu and educated in Kundiawa, Goroka, and at Sogeri. He studied at the Administrative College in the mid-1960s, where he joined the Bully Beef Club and became one of its most dynamic voices. Nombri was the founding president of the Pangu Pati in 1967, embodying the transition from student activism to organised political party.

He was deeply influenced by the inequalities of the colonial service, especially the pay disparities between expatriates and locals. After independence, he held senior diplomatic posts, including Ambassador to Japan, and was honoured with knighthoods for his service. Nombri’s career illustrates how the networks forged at the College produced leaders who carried their activism into state-building and diplomacy.

Ebia Olewale (1940–2010)

Ebia Olewale, later Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, began his political journey at the Port Moresby Teachers’ College and the Administrative College. In 1964 he played a pivotal role in forming the Tertiary Students Federation (TSF), serving as its president, with Joseph Nombri as secretary and Hans Damonera as treasurer. This federation linked students across the Territory, giving national scope to debates about pay, unionism, and independence. Olewale recalled that for the first time, students openly discussed “nationalism” in a mass meeting, connecting their frustration over discriminatory salaries with a broader vision of self-government. He also led a deputation to the Public Service Commissioner, demanding “documentary evidence” of why locals were excluded from equal pay. These early acts of defiance placed him at the heart of the Bully Beef generation.

After independence, Olewale represented PNG internationally, negotiated the Torres Strait Treaty, and remained a respected elder statesman. His trajectory illustrates how the grievances of student life were transformed into a political career dedicated to sovereignty and diplomacy.

Gavera Rea (1940–2005)

Gavera Rea was one of the brightest students of his generation and a central member of the Bully Beef Club. At the Administrative College in 1964, he received the Neil Thompson Memorial Prize for general proficiency and the Principal’s Prize for highest academic achievement. His classmates, including Kiki and Kaputin, saw him as both a leader and intellectual peer. Rea was active in student politics and remembered for his role in the discussions that laid the groundwork for the Pangu Pati.

He became one of the Territory’s first elected Members of Parliament in 1964 and later held ministerial posts, representing the Central Province. Rea’s career reflected the Bully Beef ethos: moving seamlessly from student debates about colonial pay scales and governance into the highest levels of public life.

Oala Oala-Rarua (1934–2011)

Oala Oala-Rarua was a pioneering Papuan politician and union leader. While not always counted among the “core” Bully Beef members, he moved in the same circles of student activism at the Administrative College. Oala-Rarua’s leadership of the Port Moresby Workers’ Association and his later role as Lord Mayor of Port Moresby made him one of the most visible nationalist figures of the late 1960s.

He pressed for equal pay and was a strong critic of colonial labour practices, themes that echoed Bully Beef discussions. His later service as High Commissioner to Australia confirmed his role as both activist and statesman. (See also: ADB entry; Trove labour movement coverage.)

Cecil Abel (1903–1994)

Cecil Abel, a missionary’s son and long-time teacher at Sogeri and the Administrative College, played a vital role as a mentor to the Bully Beef generation. He brought to his teaching a mix of Christian ethics and political philosophy, encouraging young Papua New Guineans to connect moral principles with questions of justice and governance. Abel’s lectures pushed students to see independence as both inevitable and necessary. His influence was particularly strong on Somare, who later credited Abel with shaping his vision of leadership. Abel’s presence shows how some expatriate teachers did not simply uphold colonial authority but actively encouraged their students to challenge it.

Hilan Pora Schmidt

Hilan Pora Schmidt, remembered as the only woman associated with the Bully Beef group photo, worked as an interpreter in the House of Assembly. Though not a student at the Administrative College, her proximity to the network placed her within the broader circle of young leaders pressing for change. Schmidt’s story remains under-documented, but her presence is a reminder of women’s roles — often overlooked — in the nationalist generation.