Our Time But Not Our Place: Voices of expatriate women in Papua New Guinea

(Paperback)

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Over the years thousands of women, mostly Australians, have lived as expatriates in Papua New Guinea. We went there at different points in our lives and for a variety of reasons. Some of us were keen to go; we were looking for adventure in exotic surroundings, seeking our fortunes, changing jobs, running away from unhappy situations, furthering our professional or academic interests. Many of us were motivated to go to a developing country to 'do good'. Others went because their partners or their parents had an ambition, an obsession or a contract. All have stories to tell. So begins Our Time But Not Our Place in which 31 women tell us of their experiences of Papua New Guinea. Their voices are as diverse as the encounters they describe; their stories span the time between 1930 and 1990; together their responses challenge commonly held views of the expatriate condition.

Author Bio

Myra Jean Bourke taught at Rabaul Secretarial College in 1971 76 and accompanied her husband Mike to the Eastern Highlands; had two sons; studied; taught part-time at Ukarumpa High School; acquired many and varied friends; and left Papua New Guinea in 1983. Sue Holzknecht lived in Papua New Guinea from 1967 to 1990 teaching and doing research in anthropology and linguistics. Kathy Kituai lived in Port Moresby from 1980 to 1984. Linda Roach went to Papua New Guinea in 1972 with her husband who was doing research in a Sepik village.