Tynedale author and former Hexham Courant reporter, Robert Forster, has pulled off a notable coup.

His recently published book, The Northumbrian Kiap, has been pounced on by the Divine Word University (DWU) which is based at Madang in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

It has secured exclusive distribution rights within PNG for the book – which was published last year and includes dramatic tales of bush administration in the turbulent period immediately before the country’s independence in 1975.

The book also covers Robert’s early life in Slaley, and his return to the Tyne Valley, but at its core is his involvement in tribal warfare, murder investigations, road building, cargo cult suppression – even the competitive Papuan Rugby League

“I am deeply pleased because DWU has a reputation for innovation and recognized the effort I made to include Papua New Guineans, not just Australian employed colonialists like myself, within the book’s now historical text,” said Robert who lives in Rochester.

“This was a deliberate move on my part because I always felt the villagers I met between 1968 and 1975 were as important to their country’s development as Australians and other young Europeans like myself who worked as bush administrators or kiaps.

“It was colonial work modelled on a 19th century template and I’m pleased that the time warp created by so many of the people I worked with not having contact with Europeans until the 1930s allowed someone who was born after WW2, and was educated throughout the 1960’s, to take part.

“The Papua New Guineans I was closest too were policemen and politicians, but it was villagers who fascinated me most and if any of those I wrote about are still alive they will be amazed to see their names in print.

“However education within the country has advanced by leaps and bounds since it became independent and I’m sure their grandchildren, many of them with university degrees and holding down professional posts throughout PNG, even the UK, China, Japan, India, the US and Australia, will have an equal interest in The Northumbrian Kiap because if they read it they will be made aware of the circumstances in which I and other kiaps engaged, almost 50 years ago, with older members of their family or clan.”

Robert took care to present himself as a typical human being, rather than a colonial superhero, and underlined the difficulties faced by young men like himself who grew up in a distant culture and then found themselves confronted with situations they could not possible have imagined.

“That is why I find comments made by Winnie Kiap, PNG’s High Commissioner in London, so pleasing,” he said.

“She said it was fascinating to learn about pre-independence bush administration from a kiap’s perspective, find out what they did and learn how they worked.

“She also said they must have had a pioneer spirit to be successful and that she had yet to read a more kind and sympathetic account of people living in pre-independence PNG.”

“It must have been that undercurrent in my writing that grabbed the DWU’s attention.”

The Northumbrian Kiap is available at Waterstones and Cogito in Hexham and Forum in Corbridge. Online deliveries can be arranged through Amazon or other suppliers.