When on a research trip in PNG (for To Sing of War), my partner and I both loved travelling by canoe. It was such a different experience to the way we travel, from one destination to another, in Australia. We canoed along the Sepik River looking for the village where (in World War Two) my father’s platoon had been sent to pick up some Indian soldiers. The Indian fighters had been rescued from a Japanese camp by some Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) soldiers: a group made up of PNG locals. It is such an amazing story. You can see some of the rescued Indian soldiers in the blurry photo here.


