MODAWA

Papua New Guinea and Me 1946-2002

by Bishop David Hand

Published by author, Printed at SalPress, 2002, ISBN 9980853611, black and white photographic plates, black and white line drawings in text, fold-out map, paperback

Very Good Condition, some edge and shelf wear, some rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, minor creasing and crumpling to covers, sticker residue on front cover, small dog ear at bottom corner, no inscriptions (see photographs)

“The word modawa is the Wedauan name for the Papua New Guinean rosewood tree.  The Reverend Albert Maclaren and the Reverend Copland King, the first Anglican missionaries to arrive in Papua New Guinea, used posts cut from a modawa tree to erect their first temporary chapel at Dogura in 1891.  A year later it was discovered that one of these posts had taken root.  This modawa tree still stands.  The spread of its branches has, all down the years, been regarded by Papua New Guinea Anglicans as a symbol of the spread of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea, from its first beginnings to what it has grown to be.  It still grows.  It still spreads.
One suggested sub-title for Modawa, was The Development of a Relationship.  I personalised this by sub-titling it Papua New Guinea and Me, 1946-2002.  For it is not just a catalogue of autobiographical occurrences, but an attempt to identify what my adopted country and I have done and been for each other for over half a century.  Also in what ways people, governments, my church and the other churches have or have not collaborated and cooperated in the development of each other and of our nation.”