BRISBANE Catholic Mary Mennis’ work in recording the history and culture of a community in Papua New Guinea was honoured at a ceremony in Port Moresby recently.
Mrs Mennis, a parishioner at Aspley who had lived in PNG for 21 years from 1962, was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list released in London in June.
She was awarded the title on the recommendation of the PNG Government, and was invited to attend a presentation ceremony at Government House in Port Moresby on November 6.
Mrs Mennis received the MBE “for services to the Bel community of Madang through the recording of their traditional history”.
The citation referred to anthropological work on, and the recording of the oral history of, the people of Madang in PNG over many years.
The results of her researches were published two years ago in “A Potted History of Madang: Traditional Culture and Change on the North Coast of Papua New Guinea”.
Mrs Mennis has had many books on PNG. All were based on her interest in the oral history of the people of the place where she was living at the time.
Several of these dealt with mission topics: “They Came to Matupit”, dealt with the Catholic Mission on Matupi Island, outside Rabaul.
“Hagen Saga, dealt with the penetration of Catholic missionaries into the PNG highlands, in particular Divine Word Missionary Father William Ross and “Ferdy”, dealing with the life of Franciscan Father Ferdy Parer, a well known missionary in PNG and social worker on Palm Island and in Brisbane.
Her most recent publication was “Tubuan and Tabernacle”, which deals with the Catholic Mission and missionaries in the New Britain area of PNG from 1882 to 2007 and, in particular, with two missionaries, a German who arrived in 1928 and a Papua New Guinean who became Archbishop of Madang before he retired.
Mrs Mennis said she was privileged to speak with PNG Governor General Sir Paulius Matane, a noted author on Papua New Guinean subjects, after the presentation ceremony.
