Mister Pip

About the author: Born in 1955 in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. Was a journalist and consultant as well as a writer. Won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book) and the Kiriyama Prize for his novel, Mister Pip (2007). Covered the civil war that Mister Pip explores as a journalist and therefore has first-hand experience of the brutal events that occurred.

Culture and Context

Where is Mister Pip set?

Appointed village officials were called 'hat men' (1938)

The Rev. J.F. Goldie. Original caption reads 'of such men did Goldie make Christian gentlemen'. (By courtesy Mitchell Library from Isles of Solomons, Rev. Clarence Luxton, 1955)

The origins of the Bougainville conflict are complex. Put at its simplest, the ethnic differences between the majority of Papua New Guineans and the Bougainvilleans were accentuated by the existence of a large, profitable Australian-owned copper mine.

And, how is Bougainville today? 1. No-go zonehttp:// 2. From 2009 – Part 1 of a short documentary called ‘Bougainville – Re-opening old wounds’ 3. mfu From From 2009 – Part 2 of a short documentary called ‘Bougainville – Re-opening old wounds’ mfu 4. A modern music video by an artist from Bougainvillehttp://

History of Conflict Mismanagement of the relationship between the operation of the Panguna Mine and the local people was a fundamental cause of the conflict in Bougainville. It directly created great hostility between the people of Bougainville and the Government of Papua New Guinea.

Links to novel: Redskins Vs. Rebels “She was Grace and black like us.” p3 “But after the minister died the authorities forgot about the mission and the lawnmower rusted.” p3 “According to us we are black as the night. The soldiers looked like people leached up out of the red earth. That’s why they were known as redskins. ” p7/8 “Halfway to the horizon we could see a redskins’ gunboat. It was like a grey sea mouse – it crawled along with its guns aimed at us.” p17 “But as the rebels and redskins went on butchering one another, we had reason for hiding under the cover of night.” p20 Can you find any other quotations from later in the novel related to redskins and rebels, and the divide between the people living on the island?

Francis Ona “We were going to join him [father], that’s what we were going to do when Francis Ona and his rebels declared war on the copper mine and the company, which in some way that I didn’t understand at the time, brought the redskin soldiers from Port Moresby to our island.” p7

Power

The origins of the Bougainville conflict are complex. Put at its simplest, the ethnic differences between the majority of Papua New Guineans and the Bougainvilleans were accentuated by the existence of a large, profitable Australian-owned copper mine.

Various acts of violence successfully forced the mine to close, and several years of conflict ensued between what became known as the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) and the PNG defence force and its allies, the Bougainville Resistance. - Explanation of conflict in Bougainville. -History of Bougainville.