Australian School of Pacific Administration - Operations

Operations

Immediately after the war, enrolments to study at ASOPA were restricted to servicemen and, when civilian candidates were admitted not long after, preference was given to those with working experience and good academic records. In the 27 years from 1946-73, ASOPA trained hundreds of personnel for service in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea (TPNG), the Northern Territory and Nauru. After initially acquiring field experience in TPNG, Patrol Officers spent a year at ASOPA studying subjects such as law, government and anthropology.

In 1954, ASOPA began to train Australian teachers for service in TPNG to assist develop primary education. At the same time, courses were offered to teachers recruited for Special (Aboriginal) Schools in the Northern Territory of Australia. From 1956, teacher cadets were trained at distant Bathurst Teachers’ College in Bathurst. When the training course was eventually transferred to Middle Head in 1958, the trainee teachers were redesignated ‘Cadet Education Officers’ (CEOs). CEOs trained for two years at ASOPA before going to TPNG where, after three years service, they qualified for the award of the New South Wales Teacher’s Certificate.

In addition to training patrol and education officers, the School ran shorter orientation and refresher programs for Australian professional personnel preparing to serve in TPNG and elsewhere in the South Pacific.

By the mid-1960s, the Australian Government realised that Papua New Guinea would become independent sooner than previously anticipated and, under the Principalship of political scientist and author Charles Rowley, later Foundation Professor of Politics at the University of Papua New Guinea, ASOPA moved into an intensive period of training young Australians to accelerate the pace of development. Papua New Guinea eventually achieved nationhood on 16 September 1975.

In its final years, ASOPA introduced training for secondary teachers and more specialised administration courses. In 1970 there was a major change of focus as, with Papua New Guinea independence looming, the Australian Government turned to ASOPA to make good a serious shortage of trained indigenous administrators. The School enrolled up to 60 Papua New Guineans in ten-month management training courses. At the same time, the training of Australians was phased out. In these later years, ASOPA's work became more international. Although Papua New Guinea remained strongly represented, increasing numbers of students came from other developing countries in the Pacific and elsewhere.