II was in Thursday Island and I wanted very much to go to New Guinea. Now the only way in which I could do this was by getting a pearling lugger to take me across the Arafura Sea. The pearl fishery at that time was in a bad way and a flock of neat little craft lay anchored in the harbour. I found a skipper with nothing much to do (the journey to Merauke and back could hardly take him less than a month) and with him I made the necessary arrangements." ["German Harry"]
While in Sydney in the 1920, the British writer W. Somerset Maugham was told that Thursday Island was the last place made by God, that there was nothing to see there, and that if he went there, he would probably have his throat cut. Of course, he went and spent several weeks on the island and wrote his short story "German Harry" there.
A friend who now lives in Cooktown, lived and worked for many years on Thursday Island, during which time he also took a trip to the Indonesian part of New Guinea and back which, however, took him more than a month; in fact, it took him altogether nine months. Here is his story:
"It was another languid Saturday lunchtime at the Federal Hotel on Thursday Island, 30 kilometres north of Cape York, when an argument broke out between two friends.
Five locals were about to fly to Merauke in the Indonesian province of Papua for a three-day adventure weekend, a few hundred kilometres and a world away from their island lifestyle.
The pilot, William Scott-Bloxam - known as "Scotty" - and his wife, Vera, owned a charter business and wanted to investigate the potential of the area for fishing tours.
(from left) Keith Mortimer, Karen Burke, Vera Scott-Bloxam and Hubert Hofer.
The trip gave them their 15 minutes of fame and a mention on Wikipedia.
To subsidise the cost, they invited a friend, Hubert Hofer, a professional diver and shipwreck enthusiast who worked on a desalination plant, and Keith Mortimer, a builder who had renovated their house and who lived on his yacht, the Monte Cristo.
Mortimer brought along another friend, Karen Burke, a receptionist at the Jardine Motel on Thursday Island, and each paid the Scott-Bloxams $500.
But a week before they set off, an old friend of William Scott-Bloxam's suggested over lunch that the trip may be ill-advised.
Peter Watton had been to Merauke on business in 1999.
"I found the Indonesians to be extremely hostile to our presence there," he said. "I wouldn't go there as an Australian."
But Scott-Bloxam can be prickly about taking advice. "He said there's no problem," Watton recalled. "They had passports. He didn't mention the visas and I just took it for granted that they would have got a visa before they went over there."
Watton tells the story cautiously but others remember it differently. The way Bob Slyne, Karen Burke's boyfriend, heard it, Scott-Bloxam was furious. "I've f------ been doing this all my life. Don't tell me I haven't got things organised," he reportedly said. That conversation is still hanging in the air over the Torres Strait.
The five flew into Merauke's military base on September 12 and were promptly arrested for entering without visas. The four passengers were fined and jailed for two years; Scott-Bloxam was fined, sentenced to three years, and his plane confiscated. As one local put it: "It turned out to be a bloody long weekend."
Click on image to enlarge
"After a successful appeal to Jayapura High Court, they were exonerated and told they were free to go. But a few days later, prosecutors, under instruction from Jakarta, launched an appeal to the Supreme Court to get the guilty verdicts reinstated.
That appeal was rejected and, after nine months, the 'Merauke Five', as they became known, were free to return home.
After altogether nine months, the five Australians touched down on Horn Island which is Thursday Island's 'airport'. One of the five immediately went back to work; another began to restore his home – a boat on which he lived – to full order; and another took a break, too emotionally exhausted to think about working. William Scott-Bloxam, the main player in the five's detention, and wife Vera set about resurrecting their aviation business."
My friend, who was one of the 'Merauke Five', now lives in Cooktown. If you run into him, buy him a beer from me, but don't mention Merauke!
A tragic postscript: Pilot William Scott-Bloxam was killed in a crash in Mareeba on the Atherton Tablelands in December 2019 - click here.
