The Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels of PNG

1942 was a terrible time when an invasion of Australia by the Japanese Imperial Forces looked almost inevitable.

Diggers were fighting and dying on lonely jungle tracks in almost impenetrable jungle in mountain ranges so high that it was very cold at night time.

It was then that we found a new set of friends.

The men of the tribes of Papua and later of New Guinea flocked to help the Aussies.

This is the medal that Australia struck as as token of thanks for the local civilian porters, the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels.

Some fought independently because the Japanese mistreated them, something that the civilian Australian Patrol Officers had never done. Many were murdered by the Japanese. Naturally this built up a huge degree of loathing for the invaders. Some fought in organised Units and their story is told elsewhere on this website. However, they acted a bearers, mostly. They carried food and ammo forward and the wounded back. By so doing they created a legend. They were often praised as being as "gentle as a bush nurse".

Australia owes them a Debt of Gratitude that is immense.

THE "FUZZY WUZZY" ANGELS

Many a mother in Australia
When the busy day is done
Sends a Prayer to the Almighty
For the keeping of her Son.

Asking that an Angel guide him
And bring him safely back
Now we see those prayers are
Answered on the Owen Stanley track.

Tho' they haven't any halos
Only holes slashed through the ear
Their faces marked with tattoo's
And scratch pins in their hair.

Bringing back the badly wounded
Just as steady as a hearse
Using leaves to keep the rain off
And as gentle as a Nurse.

Slow and careful in bad places
On that awful mountain track
And the look upon their faces
Made us think that Christ was black.

Not a move to hurt the carried
As they treat him like a Saint
It's a picture worth recording
That an Artist's yet to paint.

Many a lad will see his mother
and the husbands, weans and wives
Just because the Fuzzy Wuzzies
Carried them to save their lives.

From Mortar or Machine gun fire
Or a chance surprise attack
To safety and the care of Doctors
At the bottom of the track.

May the Mothers of Australia
When they offer up a prayer
Mention these impromptu Angels
With the "Fuzzy Wuzzy " hair.

by NX6925 Sapper H "Bert" Beros of the 7th
Division, 2nd AIF; it was actually written on the Kokoda Track/Trail in 1942

A MOTHER' S REPLY

We, the Mother's of Australia
As we kneel each night in prayer
Will be sure to ask God's blessings
On the men with fuzzy hair.

And may the Great Creator
Who made us both black and white
Help us to remember how they
Helped us to win the fight .

For surely He, has used these
Men with fuzzy wuzzy hair
To guard and watch our wounded
With tender and loving care.

And perhaps when they are tired
With blistered and aching back
He'll take the Yoke On himself
And help them down the track.

And God will be the Artist
And this picture He will paint
Of a Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel
With the Halo of a Saint.

And His presence shall go with them
In tropic heat and rain
And he'll help them to tend our wounded
In sickness and in pain.

So we thank you Fuzzy Wuzzies
For all that you have done
Not only for Australians
But for Every Mother's Son.

And we are glad to call you friends
Though your faces may be black
For we know that Christ walked
With you - on the Owen Stanley track.

	Owen Stanley Ranges, New Guinea. C. 1942-09-01. Wounded Australians being carried on stretchers out of forward battle areas through a mountain stream by native bearers
	Eora Creek, Papua. 1942-08-30. Native bearers (popularly known as Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels) carry a wounded Australian soldier on a stretcher. They are moving up a steep hill track through thick tropical jungle.
	1942-12-05. Buna, Papua. At an advanced American dressing station. Wounded being brought in on stretchers along a track through the kunai grass. The bearers are Papuan natives, fondly known as Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels.
	1942-08-06. Papua. Native bearers (popularly known as Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels) carry heavy loads of equipment and supplies for the Australian troops. One "boy" usually carries about 50 lbs weight, and two "boys" can manage about 70lbs.
	New Guinea. C. 1942-09-02. An indication of the primitive lines of communication and of the difficulties encountered in the movement of troops is shown here. Native porters (known as Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels) are carrying wounded Australian soldiers on stretchers from the jungle battlefield through a mountain stream to the hospital behind the lines, following a sharp clash with Japanese forces. All Australians in New Guinea pay a high tribute to the courage, endurance and comradeship of the New Guinea natives who are playing a very important part in the allied efforts to drive the Japanese from the country
	Owen Stanley Ranges, New Guinea. C. 1942-09-05. Wounded Australians being carried on stretchers out of forward battle areas into a village by native bearers or porters (known as Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels).
	Soputa, Papua, 1942-11. Informal outdoors portrait of a native Papuan 'boss boy' at the Main Dressing Station (MDS) of the 2/4th Field Ambulance. Boss boys were in charge of native stretcher-bearer teams made up of eight members. Called colloquially 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels', both boss boys and stretcher-bearers were employed by the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU). (Donor A. Hobson)
	Uberi, Papua, c. 1942-10. A group of native Papuan carriers is about to evacuate a wounded Australian soldier on a stretcher along the Kokoda Trail from Uberi to the start of the motor road at Owens' Corner. The stretcher is slung below a single carrying bar supported at each end by one of the carriers. Known colloquially as 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels', the carriers work in teams of eight under the supervision of a native 'boss boy' and are employed by the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU). Standing and looking on at rear (centre, right) is Corporal Rowley, a member of the 2/4th Field Ambulance, while a sign (left) points to the unit latrine. In the background, standing beside a native hut is a large pile of boxes containing ammunition, a state of affairs that probably breaches international covenants forbidding the presence of armaments in a designated Red Cross or medical area. (Donor A. Watson)
	Papua, New Guinea. 1942-08. One of the major problems of the campaign in New Guinea is the transport of supplies and native carriers have to be employed to traverse the narrow paths through the valleys and along the ridges in the Kokoda area. Here native carriers are seen lined up at a control point waiting for their loads.
	New Guinea. 3 November 1943. A Fuzzy Wuzzy native uses a banana leaf to protect an Australian soldier on a stretcher from the rays of the sun at a resting point in a forward area in the Upper Ramu Valley advance.
	Bulldog Road, New Guinea, 1943-07-18. Natives carrying compressor parts, negotiate a narrow and dangerous ledge about a mile south of Eggleston's Gap. This ledge varies from 18" to 2 feet wide. Note the dangerous drop that one misplaced step would take you over. Note the back to front slouch hat on one bearer
	Mubo, New Guinea, 1943-07-27. "The village Square" 2/5th battalion, quartermaster's store where goods are checked for despatch by native carriers to the front line at Mount Tambu and Goodview. Photograph shows Australian troops briefing a line of native carriers. Shown are 1-8:- VX43880 corporal AE Tierney; NX90799 Private AF Lester; VX5215 Private A. S. Roberts; VX4246 Lieutenant D. L. Whitaker; VX38960 Sergeant J. M. Taylor; VX3681 Sergeant J. D. Baxter; V504081 Warrant Officer E. Britten; Sergeant l. Barker.

THE BOOK OF PIDGIN ENGLISH

was written by Captain John J Murphy (Dept. District Services and Native Affairs) and Registered at the General Post Office Brisbane for transmission through the post as a book.

Wholly set up, printed and published in Australia by W.R. Smith & Paterson Pty Ltd., Kemp Place, Valley Brisbane 1943.

Webmasters note. The author has done a great job of recording the language. What he has not fully explained is the relationship between the Pidgin words and an almost child-like Australian version of English.

I think it's fair to say that he didn't have to as in 1943 his audience was 99% Australian with a close understanding of the Australian dialect and jargon. Now that his work is being offered to an international

audience it might be best if some explanation is made. For example: BUGARAP is translated to "break, become impaired, have an accident" etc. That is correct, but the root of the word is the Australianism "Bugger up".

In the same way BARATA is given as "relative of same generation "etc which is correct but it's root is "brother". BIKKAMPANI is rooted in Big Company. PELA is rooted in "fella" (Australianism for man or male) so BIKPELA is "Big fella" as well as the given "large, big, important, great, huge. BIKPELA does not have to be human, so a "bikpela pukpuk" is a large (or big fella) crocodile.

Foreword

Captain John J. Murphy has asked me to write a foreword to "The Book of Pidgin English."

When Civil Administration ceased in New Guinea early in 1942, that fine body of men who belonged to the field staffs of the Territories was absorbed into the Australian Army and formed the backbone of the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit. Captain Murphy was one of these and has latterly performed sterling and gallant service in the immediate vicinity of the enemy.

As a newcomer to the land where Pidgin English is spoken I find Captain Murphy's book intensely interesting. He shows by examples the adaptability of the language (who else would have thought of rendering one of Shakespeare's choicest morsels in Pidgin!), and wisely warns the beginner of the difference between true Pidgin English and "broken" English.

The book might be regarded as a standard work upon what has been a most controversial subject, and it forms a useful guide for those dealing with natives in the areas where Pidgin English is the lingua franca.

I have been informed by others that the labour involved in collecting material for the book has, over many years, occupied the all too few spare hours of a conscientious Patrol Officer. No doubt for Captain Murphy it was a labour of love, yet any success that the book achieves will be richly deserved.

I wish Captain Murphy and his book the best of luck.

BASIL MORRIS, Major General, G.O.C. ANGAU. Port Moresby, September 1943



	Preface
	No attempt has been made, up to the present, to compose or standardize Melanesian Pidgin-English, and no book of reference Is available to those who desire, or whose work make it necessary, to have a good knowledge of Melanesian Pidgin-English. Hence this book, which was undertaken as a step towards the classification of Melanesian Pidgin-English and its reduction to measurable and grammatical terms; also to stimulate, perhaps, worthier and more competent lexicographers to undertake the task of stabilizing the most widely (numerically and geographically) spoken language In the Territory of New Guinea. The system of orthography is discussed under the section devoted to spelling. It must not be supposed that all natives are good Pidgin English speakers.

Apologia

Pidgin-English is a true Melanesian language of adaptability and facility.

It has a synoptic vocabulary of over 1,300 words and through them it is possible to translate about 4,000 words-more words than the ordinary Englishman is familiar with.

<<< Asaro Mudman from the Eastern Highlands

The vocabulary is derived almost exclusively from English. But many of the words have lost the meaning of their etymons, and pronunciation has changed considerably. It is a common barbarism to give some English words the meaning of their etymons.

For example, kill is frequently translated as "kilim," and "shove" or " push" as "pusim".

To learn Pidgin-English, one must approach it as one would approach language, French, German or Esperanto.

Unhappily the transient tourist, learned, no doubt, in his several Departments and even some of our ablest residents, castigate Pidgin-English as a hopeless, complicated and unsatisfactory medium of expression. Unfortunately they are judging the language on their own highly fictitious knowledge of it. It is unfortunate that the antipathy and prejudice against Melanesian Pidgin-English is not directed against the painful jargon of broken Sonorous twaddle which too many pass off as Pidgin.

We are safe in saving that some thirty per centum of the friction between master and servant is due to the failure of the former to learn the language of the Territory.

There are others again with only a rudimentary knowledge of the language who declare it is limited, inadequate and given to ambiguity. This is a comfortable fallacy that is to be deprecated, for Melanesian Pidgin-English is a most facile language, capable of embracing any subject. It is quite as exact as any native language and more adaptable. As for ambiguity-it mainly exists in the mind of the English speaking white man.

Of course there are things outside the experience of Pidgin-English and for which there is no vocabulary. We speak of the sciences and philosophies and, to a certain extent of the trades, with their technical terms. But this is natural as languages and vocabularies are largely a matter of contact with knowledge and discoveries, of mental experiences, and of physical experiences.

It is true that Melanesian Pidgin-English has its deficiencies and failures. But so has any Melanesian language; and to no less extent. For the Melanesian languages form a comparatively early stage in language development. The advantages of Pidgin-English, however, far outweigh its disadvantages. It is easy to learn for both native and European; it is adaptable; it follows the mode of thought of the Melanesian; and it is universal in the Territory.

English is too difficult for the native and accessible to only a few. Yabim and Kotte are taught in only a few mission schools are geographically and numerically limited; are little used outside the school and church; are not readily learnt by the white man; and they tend to give rise to jealousies towards the natural Yabim and Kotte speaking tribes. A native language is out of the question for the same reasons that apply to Yabim and Kotte.

In fact, the only argument against Pidgin-English is an unreasonable and unreasoning antipathy towards it from a number of the white population.


Many Aussies would not have eaten or had ammo at the front without their help. These blokes are Chimbu.	Many wounded Diggers and Doughboys would not have made it back with out their help.