The following report by John Rupert Paris (1892–1971), written between 28 December 1945 and 1 February 1946, records his return to Christmas Island following the end of the Japanese occupation. He had previously served as Chief Engineer and Works Manager on the Island from 1933 to 1942. A mechanical engineer by profession, Paris had worked in Tanganyika, Mombasa, and on the Kenya and Uganda railways before returning to London for a few years subsequently taking up employment with the Christmas Island Phosphate Co.1.
After evacuating from the Island in 1942 and arriving in Perth, Western Australia, he enlisted in the Australian Army, with the rank of Captain. He had been awarded the Military Cross during the First World War for conspicuous gallantry in action. His service record shows that he was seconded in December 1943 to Z Special Unit (commonly known as Z Force), a clandestine Allied special operations unit engaged in reconnaissance and sabotage missions behind Japanese lines. In January 1944 he participated in a secret reconnaissance flight to Christmas Island to assess the condition of its mining infrastructure. This was in preparation for the resumption of mining at the end of the war.
In December 1945 he was tasked with overseeing the restoration of operations on Christmas Island and, quite literally, picking up the pieces.
Immediately after the war, the old team is back together. Left to right: John Paris, Patrick “Paddy” Westmacott, and Thomas “Poppa” Bancroft. Paris and Bancroft were amongst the last group evacuated from the Island before the Japanese occupation, while Westmacott remained, eventually becoming a Japanese prisoner of war.Photo: Fred Christian, from Christmas Island: The Early Years
In his diary-style report, Paris documents the immediate challenges of restoring the Island after years of war damage and neglect. His observations span shattered infrastructure, chaotic offices, labour tensions and harsh living conditions. He wrote of not recognising some men due to the loss of their teeth, of extensive food gardens planted along the railway, maggot-infested meat supplies, and of mines and depth charges reportedly laid out but, for reasons unknown, removed before the Japanese departure. It is clear that Paris walked into a decaying, dirty chaos. His report chronicles not only the daily grind of imposing order but also includes his shopping lists to the recipient. It all makes for most interesting reading.
Paris, in his position as Island Manager, remained on the Island until July 1949, when cataracts forced him to seek treatment in Singapore. Although he intended to return, he never did; he died in 1971 in Chelsea, England.
Text enclosed in square brackets [ ] is explanatory.
CHRISTMAS ISLAND
28th DECEMBER, 1945.
(Report by Mr. J. Paris)
We made land fall at the Island this morning at dawn. The D.O. [District Officer] appointed, whom we picked up at Batavia, is a Captain Shaw, quite young and as is usual this is his first post on his own.
No Chinese turned up when the ship arrived and Orloff told us that the Anti-British section had stated they would not work. Enough Malays under Hussien the Diver turned out to lower boats and we then went ashore. The D.O., Pilot Smith and myself. The D.O. went off to find his clerk and Smith and I examined the wharf which is in a very poor state. It may remain standing until we can get some new piles in. Two piles are completely broken and three holed and bent at the south head. Two piles broken and three bent at the north head. Many struts are bent and broken in other parts of the wharf, all due to shell fire we are told. Hussien was instructed to lay the boat channel buoy, and put in new chain of which there is a little left on the Island. We all returned to the ship for breakfast. After breakfast Smith examined the wharf moorings more closely and reports that three buoys must have new chain. Collier and I set off on a tour of inspection. First the power house, both the 6K and 3K are slightly damaged from bombing, but runnable for light loads. Enough of the switchboard remains to be usable. The cooling tower is undamaged. Water circulating pumps, diesel oil service tanks, air compressor for the two remaining diesels are all workable. The Fitting and Machine shop has had all the best machines removed, but the compressed air hammer remains though said to be needing overhaul. Next to the Fitting Shop in the Air Compressor house the new compressor has been taken away but the old one remains with its motor. The water pump for Drum site supply is fitted with a new American pump.
The Dryer wet gantry is as we left it except that some of the main columns are damaged from bomb splinters. The Dryer house is as we left it except that one dryer Foch has been damaged by bombs. The other three seem quite 0.K. but we have found only one oil burner. All bulk phosphate conveyors appear to be usable. The electric motors for all this plant are in their correct positions. The Precipitators appear undamaged. The grinding plant is in position but some motors are missing. Most of the dust conveyors have been wholly or partly removed.
The bulk loading equipment appears to be usable.
The main stores are intact but almost completely looted, there is some stock of American rail bolts and clips. All oil tanks are intact except No. 1 fuel oil tank 500 tons which was hit by a shell from our submarine and is now burnt out and partly collapsed. Oil pipe lines seem to be 0.K. everywhere.
As the weather was not too good and there was no Chinese labour we did not attempt to moor the ship in the boat channel.
Photo taken by John Paris in January/ February 1946 – “500 ton Oil Tank damaged and set alight by shellfire.”This damage was caused by the submarine HMS Spiteful in 1944.
National Archives of Australia NAA: R32 CIPC 10/35B
29th DECEMBER, 1945.
A fine morning and ship moored in boat channel. D.O. went ashore at 7.30 a.m. to find out why no Chinese were ready for work. By 9.30 he, the D.O., had met “The General” who harangued the coolies and all (?) then agreed to work. There seem to be some grounds for suspecting Hong Chew of subversive talk, I think it is coming from Foo. Heavy cargo was unloaded all day until 6 p.m.
The sheer legs have been repaired by the Japs and re-erected, but the steel leg tubes are in many places rusted into holes and their life is limited.
One electric crane and one steam crane on the wharf were in use as also was the loco crane. All these are usable but sadly needing overhaul.
No. 7 loco, the diesel shunting loco is in use at the Settlement. The engine runs on five cylinders only as the fuel pump has been damaged beyond further repair. Perhaps if you can contact Gloster he may be able to get a new 6 cylinder fuel pump.
No. 8 loco. is out of use, a complete new set of timing wheels is required, existing ones are broken beyond repair. One fuel pump is missing and one is damaged beyond repair.
No. 2 Lima loco is still in running order. The Company office is quite empty except for a few Jap writing desks.
All European houses are as naked as a new born babe, generally very dirty, ceilings broken, doors wrenched off, windows filled in with dirty cloth, some rooms divided into three and four cubicles, hand basins removed, baths damaged and much unbelievable filth.
Photo taken by John Paris in January/ February 1946 – “Verandah of European Bungalow Number 11 showing destruction.”National Archives of Australia NAA: R32, CIPC 10/33C
30th DECEMBER, 1945.
Ship drifted all night, moored in boat channel at 7 a.m. Starb’d. unloading with one Chinese gang on ship and five gangs on shore. Progress rather slow as each gang Mandor has to be told individually what his men are to do. Have now arranged that TONG CHEE, Settlement No. 1 Mandor shall act as Head Mandor.
Have arranged to pay everyone at pre-war rates less $10 per month for food, pay to suit the work being done, that is if no tools for all artisans then they work and are paid as coolies.
Quite an amount of useful equipment such as motors, starters, worm gears etc. have been found packed ready for shipment and some have been hidden in conveyor tunnels under the bins. We are much better off than expected.
Today a little furniture from Collier’s house has been produced by the Malays, and we are told that my refrigerator has been found, it does not pay to ask where, one does not get a correct answer.
The only house fit to live in and which requires the least repair is my old house, so we are all going to live there. The Club had a bomb at the back and is damaged, the billiard table has gone, this is the first thing to replace as a necessary amenity. Very little work is required at the dryers, for three dryers, and we have today found two more burners packed ready for shipment.
Billiard room on Christmas Island, June 1927 — a valued European pastime; at the end of the war, the missing table was listed as a priority in restoring everyday social life.National Archives of Australia NAA: R32, CIPC 6/20C
POWER HOUSE. As the 3K and 6K are still just usable we must now install the new power plant so that there shall be as little interference as possible. This means that the two new 8 k’s will be machines Numbers 3 and 4 on the accepted layout and Feeders 1,2,3,4 and 5 will be between them. The synchronising panel will have to be a temporary mounting. We would like foundation drawings of the 8 K’s as soon as possible.
COLD STORAGE. The mechanical part of the old plant can be repaired but the cold rooms will have to be relined as they are in a shocking state, damaged walls, broken doors and frames and white ants everywhere.
SOUTH POINT CRUSHING PLANT. This plant is in bits all over the loading point, but we have not so far been able to find any bearings.
NEW PILES FOR THE WHARF.
Most of these appear to be still here, but in a very sad state from corrosion.
Example of a Kelvin launch; multiple designs existed such as passenger launch, speed launch and others. This was the cargo launch.So far everything we have seen has suffered from neglect, no maintenance of any kind has been carried out, the place looks derelict.
THE KELVIN MOTOR LAUNCH. The hull of this launch is now very shaky, it has been allowed to lie out in the sun on the beach by the Japanese. The engine is still running but very expensive on fuel and lubricating oil.
31st December, 1945.
From the Australian 1939 Metter’s catalogue. The No. 8 model, being the largest, measured approx. 80 cm (W) × 53 cm (D) × 61 cm (H) and its oven 40 cm (W) × 38 cm (D) × 22 cm (H)A bad morning, swell and wind, only managed two lighter loads. Paris, Collier and Dockray moved into old C.E. house, conditions similar to camping out. Next voyage you must bring ten cwts. of white wash and brushes. All house walls are similar to dirty, very dirty pig styes and all kitchens are absolutely black both inside and out. There is only one cooking stove usable on the Island, you must order six Carron Premier or Dover wood burning stoves No.8 with two extra lengths of pipe for each chimney and spare grates.
Today we are starting to set up the wireless equipment and cold storage plant. The ship put to sea at 2.30 p.m. hope for better weather tomorrow.
Have issued a notice re working hours and now await Have stipulated for a full 8 hour day six days a week.
MY REFRIGERATOR. It is not mine after all but one from Singapore brought in by the Japanese. The D.O. is talking about paying for the Japanese oil we are using so am concentrating on getting as much as possible pumped into our storage tank before he can count the drums. The Japanese brought all oil fuel to the Island in drums. A quick look at Drum Site.
1st JANUARY, 1946.
It is quite impossible at present to do anything other than write this sort of daily diary and you must read it as intended, always the last idea or suggestion to be carried out.
The Chinese refuse to have any arrangement that is at all like the old Kongsi [communal living and working system]. They will not have a general cook house, but cook for small Kongsis of their own. I have told them that their cooks must work as coolies or they will not be paid. They agree to this on the new time table which started today, that is 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 12 noon to 4 p.m. They seem to cook a meal in the early morning, have something light mid-day and cook again in the evening. All labour ask to be directly employed by the Company, they do not wish to be provided with food but want the old Company rate of $27 per month and buy their own food from our store. I will see what can be done about this but of course it is too soon to know how it will all work out.
Referring again to the diesel shunting loco. Try to purchase in Australia one C.A.V. Bosch diesel fuel pump for a 6 cylinder 150 H.P. engine. We have sent you some sample gears (broken) from the large diesel loco, which try to have copied in Australia; also one fuel pump to copy. You must try to bring with you at least two typewriters with spare ribbons and some good ledgers, stock books, cash books etc. We are at present using old Japanese writing pads, in fact there are more bits of paper circulating here than were ever seen in a Government office. I got the best books I could in Perth but they are only large enough to last a couple of months. I want wages books also or wages sheets. We need a special account book for the sale of goods from our store. I have left Smith of the “Islander” as all the officers and crew are new to this place and I do not think they are yet safe on their own, particularly as the weather is most unsettled at present, no rain but the wind and sea are all over the place. The “Islander” has tried to contact Cocos but has not been successful, it seems that the old wireless set is not sufficiently powerful, the ship has a young and inexperienced operator, and when Dockray has tried the ship has been in the boat channel and the Island then shields the transmission. The ship was at sea last night and the operator did not make contact. To South Point.
We have worked until 6 p.m. today unloading.
There is no firewood cut so have to put a gang on this work. I have all men from South Point at the settlement except three men who are doing a little cleaning up out there. I have five men at Drum Site cleaning up.
The Waterfall pumping station is working O.K. Grant’s well is not so good and Ross Hill needs attention.
2nd JANUARY, 1945.
The sea almost flat today and we have been able to discharge a very fair quantity of stores and equipment. Our ship was very badly loaded in Australia, it is extremely difficult to get the cargo out and there has been some damage. A report will follow.
LOCKS AND KEYS. Generally there are no locks that work left on the Island and the few that do work have too many duplicated keys. You must bring 1 dozen Yale door latches, 2 dozen house door locks made of brass. Order 2 cwt. of each size of a full range of wire nails up to 6 inch, there is not a good nail on the Island. Also there are no brass wood screws and very few Japanese iron ones which are no good anyway.
Orders for food stuffs must have special marks for the Island as we have had great difficulty in tracing what was ship’s stores and what was for us. It is very difficult to trace the various packages of each order as most marks do not seem to agree and the list of invoices and bills of lading do not show the marks. It will be weeks before we can sort things out, most suppliers have failed completely to mark their packages.
I am sending you the doors and frames of our old (new) cold storage for re-making, you can see the state they are in.
You must bring at least two more safes, one of them should be a large one, there is no respect for anything these days.
For goodness sake do not forget the white-wash, I feel sick every time I see a house or kitchen.
You will remember that the bath and hand basin taps of the Bungalows were all good Nickel plated, almost everyone is corroded green or black, it is just too frightful the result of absolute neglect.
3rd JANUARY, 1946.
Today is a red letter day. Dockray has established wireless communication with Perth and we have sent messages to London and Melbourne.
BROKEN STONE AND SAND. Please cancel our request for a further supply of these items as there is a fair stock of broken stone here and we can get some sand from the beach, later we will have to have more sand.
Please purchase six of those inverted lamp shades and all fittings, like you had on your verandah.
As we unpack our stores etc. we find more and more damage due to the very bad loading of the ship, cases are broken open and even two drums of motor car engine lubricating oil have been punctured, but this I think has been done on purpose as the lumpers wanted oil for their car engines.
We have not yet found the mosquito nets so the new men are scratching all day long. In future all packages must carry the order number and I must have a copy of the orders, the stores are absolute hell, we have to open a case and then trace the invoice from the contents.
Something must be done about the loading of the ship, it is worse than a second hand dump.
We got the Melbourne bed frames today, the mattresses have just come ashore but where the sheets and nets are goodness only knows. By and large there is no furniture here at all. I do not advise buying much at present, that stuff we got is very poor and two chairs have legs broken off, due to bad loading. We have had to draw stores from the ship as our food stores seem to have been stowed in the carry all scrapers in the bottom of No.2 hold, or some such inaccessible place.
4th JANUARY, 1946.
Early this morning we hear that Wee Bit Chee is dead [at Drumsite], stabbed during the night, he had four wounds. Made arrangements with the D.O. to protect his family. Later in the day Dr. Clark said he could have committed suicide and the D.O. seems willing to accept this. Will save a lot of trouble over this case but I wonder what it may lead to. [Paris had dismissed Wee Bit Chee 3 or 4 days before his death but makes no mention of this in his entry here.] 2
Unloading of ship goes on well. Have had little time to attend to work today on account of the dead man.
If tobacco rationing comes off before you leave or is relaxed a little, try to bring more cigarettes for us and for labour also tobacco and cigarette papers (I mean cigarette tobacco). This stopping of opium means a lot of cigarettes are required, also tobacco of the cheap sort.
HOUSES. Baker’s house was used as a barracks for the Japanese guards at the Boat Channel guns, it is beyond repair and I am using what little good wood remains to repair other houses. The roof timbers are good and much better than green timber from Australia.
5th JANUARY, 1946.
You must bring two glass cutters as I cannot repair broken windows at present. There is a small stock of glass sheets but all are odd sizes.
The pencil sharpener we purchased is very poor quality, already broken, bring two of better quality.
Once I have time to look around I will try to fix as many houses as possible but wives must understand that the houses are all very second rate at present and completely without furniture. I doubt very much if we can get anything ready by May for more than one or two houses; I would like to do more as I am still as always sure that good homes make for better work. The labour seem to be taking to the new timetable, have had no complaints yet.
Today have interviewed all the bad men who have been left on the Island. Most know that they have been foolish and even bad, and are quite prepared to leave. I have been very glad to have the Doctor here as he has been able to confirm the names of men when he has seen them in the flesh. I am hoping to send the men to Batavia by this opportunity then all cause for complaint from the faithful ones is removed, it would be most unfair to keep the bad hats on as generally they hold positions which gives them a certain amount of authority over the labour. There are eight men to go this first trip, five Chinese and three Malays.
I have seen Westmacott’s Amah who is now married and living at the Farm, I have paid her the $200 as requested by Westmacott. The Amah asks after the children.
You must try to get one coarse and one fine hair clippers and two pairs hair scissors and combs.
The beds we bought in Melbourne are only six feet long, this is not long enough to lay stretched out when you allow for the pillow. I find them most uncomfortable. The next lot must be 6 feet 6 inches long.
This afternoon I have a cable from London addressed. to me C/o TSS “ISLANDER”, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, this came through quite well from Perth to our new land station.
6th JANUARY, 1946.
You must get at least six sets of puncture mending outfits for the International lorries. I was only able to get one set in Fremantle and that has been partly used for the D.0’s. motor cycle.
Today the swell has come up again and the ship has put to sea.
We find that hard water has been used for the Diesels and crane boilers so you can well guess the condition they are in. The same applies to the pumping stations and so the small diesels there are on their last legs. It will take us many months to remove the beach defences at the Cove, main line sleepers stuck in concrete with barbed wire all over the place.
You must order cement asbestos corrugated sheets, the 3 inch variety.
Two hundred sheets 8 feet
Two hundred sheets 7 feet
One hundred sheets 6 feet
and a supply of suitable galvanised screw nails and washers at the rate of three screw nails and washers per sheet. Also a supply of the 6 inch variety
Two hundred 8 foot
Two hundred 7 foot
One hundred 6 foot
and a supply of suitable screw nails and washers galvanized at the rate of 3 per sheet. We also require 100 sheets 4 feet by 4 feet by 3/16 inches thick flat cement asbestos sheets for ceilings in the houses. Bombs have broken a lot and the Japanese still more. Bring a 44 gallon drum of the best wood preservative against white ants, much of the woodwork everywhere is eaten up by white ants.
We have today found the two punching shears for the steel sleepers of the main line and we can repair them, we have also found the jim crows, a very great help.
7th JANUARY, 1946.
Photo taken by John Paris in January/ February 1946 – “New Water Softening Plant with Power House in background.”National Archives of Australia NAA: R32, CIPC 10/36C
Swell continues and ship cannot tie up. Labour is engaged on finishing erecting cold storage, erecting water softening plant, erecting 15 ton crane, cleaning up around office, building wireless house, moving some 3000 tons of bagged phosphate used by the Japanese as sand bag protection at the Power House, office, and in many dugouts.
Am taking the best timber etc. out of Baker’s house to repair others, there is not much left that is good, most of the timber is useless from either dry-rot or white ant. I have completed dealing with the cases of bad hats (for the present) and am sending away the following men –
DOUGLAS HO
KIM SING
KIM WATT
BACKRIE
HADJI MUCKRIE
TAW HOCK LIM
LIM HENG SAY
JOHN (Drawing office)
In some cases I have not the heart to send wives and children to the mess that is Singapore and I am therefore allowing them to stay here for a month or so and I will feed them providing they do a little work as may be found for them.
Today we have arrested Jimmy Kang [James Kang Tiang Kwang, CIP Co. engineer and Japanese collaborator] and locked him up, we have enough charges against him to give him about seven years. Many of the bad hats had been taken away by the Japanese which saves me a lot of trouble, unpleasantness and a feeling of being the garbage sweeper for serious errors in judgement in the past. I, however, made a mistake over Backrie and John, and am not free from self criticism.
8th JANUARY, 1946.
Today HMS “FERNMORE” called to ask for an X-ray of a Naval rating who had had a very bad fall. We could not help in this but the ship helped us in the matter of Beer, just a mild 20 dozen. We asked the Commander to arrange to remove the sea mines and depth charges left here by the Japanese and we hope that R.N. Headquarters, Singapore may do something about it before we are all old and grey from telling coolies that Japanese mines are not dangerous. You see we have a fair stock in the main store and a larger stock at Drum Site.
We require by next ship twice the quantities of all milks, sugar, fine salt, tea, coffee, common white sheeting or white cotton cloth, flour, butter tinned, corned beef, common soap, washing soda, tinned fruits. For ourselves we require 12 tins of Vim and six dozen Monkey Brand soap for cleaning baths and hand basins. Send more biscuits for sale, say twice the quantity now supplied.
9th JANUARY, 1946.
Heavy swell all day, ship at sea. Labour employed cleaning up the place generally. Most of today with the D.O. making up notices and discussing Island matters.
Later heavy swell and very heavy rain storms all morning. Labour employed cleaning up places under cover but every roof everywhere leaks in one or more places. Have now completed labour lists with all men shown in pre-war positions, it is a long Job getting such things done as practically all the old office staff are on the black list and I cannot employ them.
Kalsomine was a traditional chalk-based decorative paint (not whitewash) that was widely used on interior walls and ceilings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Usually available in soft cream, off-white or white tones, it produced a flat, velvety, smooth appearance.Part of a photograph by Gnangarra CC BY 2.5 AU
You must bring with you eighty four 5 lbs. packets of cream calsomine and 28 of grey with one dozen brushes. All houses must have one coat before they are fit. Have washed the walls in my place they are fairly clean but look awful. The white-wash for kitchens and labour houses is most important. There are very few chairs fit to sit on, bring 3 dozen like the last but have them packed better.
Today my bed, wardrobe and dressing table were removed from Jimmy’s house, I have told you he is now in the lock up, hope to find some more bits in other houses.
Have found one old wages sheet for September 1940, so am basing wages on that. Ex Kongsi men I am paying at Company rate and they buy their own food, could not do anything else as have no check on Kongsi payments, and the men so far refuse to be fed as part of their pay. Please note that Mr. Collin will now receive £3-0-0 sterling per month child allowance as he has two children, the second born Dec. 27th, 1945.
10th JANUARY, 1946.
We require one ton of common soap, five cwt. of washing soda, three dozen scrubbing brushes and find out what you can get to wash wood smoke from the walls and woodwork of our kitchens. You must bring six dozen good quality brass cupboard and drawer locks. All locks on desks, wardrobes, side boards and cupboards have been broken or torn off, absolutely nothing can be locked up. One thing very noticably is the almost total absence of birds, even sea birds; this morning I have seen two white eyes for the first time. Only four or five frigate birds are seen at a time and boobies are by the half dozen only instead of the hundred as before. There are a few pidgeons left. Bring two spare fan belts for each International truck and two spare fan belts for the International Utility.
The swell is very heavy today and a lot of rain. Labour is engaged uncovering plant and walls of buildings which have been protected by thousands of bags of dust. This is a long job as very many of the bags are rotten and break up when touched then we have to shovel up the dust and re-bag it. The Japanese left several thousand bags of their manufacture. The bag printing machine is intact but requires new sets of rubber name and number strips.
We must have some roof glasses, the thick glass that has chicken wire inside it. We want 4 dozen sheets size 1’10” x 42″. Also buy 24 sheets cement asbestos of 8 ft. of the 6 inch corrugations to take roof lights as the Japanese have taken a lot out and the fitting shop for one place is like the black hole of Calcutta, of course supply the glass for these 24 sheets, the other glass I ask for is to replace broken ones in the stores and dryer house. We also require the following sheets of ordinary window glass, the stock here is now almost exhausted. List is on the ordering sheets.
11th JANUARY, 1946.
Swell is at its maximum, the ship is short of water, so am sending her to Batavia to fill up with water and oil fuel and he takes with him the first lot of undesirables as named on the 7th; also Jimmy Kang goes to prison but the D.O. was very lenient, 6 months and six strokes with the cane. We have put the people on board at the Waterfall, a very usual Waterfall trip, rained all day. Both Malays took their wives etc. also Hock Lim and Lim Heng Say. It was not at all nice for the women and children but they did not wish to take advantage of my offer to keep their wives and families here for a month or two. It has not been possible to do any outside work today, we are arranging the office, the Japanese have made several alterations. Two gangs are still moving bags of phosphate dust from the Power House, my first estimate was too low, there must be at least 5000 tons of bagged dust in various places used as air raid shelters and the like. There is even a dugout lined with bagged phosphate at my house.
Dr. Clark is staying with the D.O. whilst the ship goes to Batavia.
The Waterfall road is quite fair, we did not have much trouble, we find the lorries are very suitable for this track.
You must either buy another canteen of silver like the last to bring with you or if it is a different one charge it to the ship and get the canteen that the ship now has, you will remember we bought two of the same kind. The ship has already lost one tea spoon. You must bring everything, beds, mattresses, linen etc. for the party you bring with you. I purchased table cloths, and guest towels for serviettes in Fremantle.
Rice for next voyage, bring fifteen tons polished rice and fifteen tons of unpolished rice.
We cannot trace the hand electric torches and their little batteries, you must bring a dozen torches and gross of batteries.
We have not enough good fuel to run the power plant more than is absolutely necessary so we need the torches at night, apart from this we must save as much life as we can in the engines to carry on until we get our new plant. We do not want any more Aladin lamps. Repeat the order for electric bulbs 230/240 volt. Bring a tin of 500 flints, Australian matches do not do well in this atmosphere. You must bring a proper supply of office stationery, particularly typewriter paper, the good top copy and the thin carbon copies, also carbon paper. Bring envelopes but buy those without gum on the flap, the Australian gum seems to melt too quickly.
12th JANUARY, 1946.
Swell still continues but the rain has eased off. Today I have been all through the Chinese quarters and find them in a very dirty state and of course all sorts of unauthorised people living in them. Some have baths and hand basins fitted, all of which have been removed from European houses, generally those quarters with these fittings were used by the bad hats. There are very few house servants left which makes it more difficult to consider women yet awhile, but I am sure they would get the place in order much quicker than we can, but they would not like the state of the houses, the absence of furniture and most important the shortage of servants. Apart from my cook and boy, who I have here to run the mess there are only three others generally not the best in the past, but all did very well for our staff during their captivity. I will however do all I can to prepare for women as soon as possible.
13th JANUARY, 1946.
Swell continues but the rain has stopped this morning. We are going to Lilly Beach and inspecting all along the route from the Settlement. The Waterfall road is not at all bad, a lot of clearing has been done on both sides of the road and the only neglected place is the Farm. Fruit trees are covered in Passion vine and about half choked. The Pelopine engine at the Waterfall is worn out and the old horizontal Ruston from Drum Site is driving the home made pump. The pipe line is fair and we will have enough from the Ross Hill line to replace most of the oldest pipe. As is everywhere the pipe is much overgrown and it will be a long time before we have labour to spare to clear the pipe line of weeds and creeper in order to examine it thoroughly, however, water is available at the settlement in sufficient quantity. The building on that area at the Waterfall near the drivers’ houses which showed up so clearly in the Air-photos is a small house fitted with bath, flush lavatory and hot water and was used by the commander of the Japanese look-out party. This will do for a week-end shanty for visitors to the Waterfall and Lilly Beaches. The Waterfall pond is just as good as ever and there is a little watercress left though it has been almost killed by weeds. Fresh water stream is now a very small supply but I could not find any leakage from the catchment. Trees have fallen, rocks have fallen and ho one has looked after the place for two years or so. The old woodcutters slide down the cliff at the Waterfall is now so overgrown with weeds that it is hard to recognise, there has been a very large fall of rock just here and one very large piece, about 50 tons has stopped some 20 yards short of the Diesel oil supply tank. It is in a nasty position and will have to be moved, when we can. The big cliff on the south of Low Point is also much changed, the whole face has broken off and now looks as if someone had taken a slice with a big knife. Also at Low Point on the rocks facing the cliff there are many marks of broken off lime stone, it looks to me as if a shell or two had overcarried onto the rocks during the submarine attack on the Japanese destroyer when caught off the East coast. The engine drivers quarters at Waterfall are in fair condition but require white wash, I cannot think how we came to forget such a very obvious and important item.
Can you get 3 or 4 really good white wash spray machines, they will be much quicker than using brushes and find out all you can about the use of white wash and how to protect the woodwork when spraying walls, obviously one can use paper or sacking but is there any sort of oil we can apply to the wood so that the white wash will come off easily. We have not the men or the time to use brushes.
Very heavy rain again this afternoon and evening.
14th JANUARY, 1946.
Swell increased during the night and much rain since day-break. Spent all afternoon at Drum Site, The passenger haulage is working with the old boiler still on oil fuel, the wire is not too good. The Haulage Plant is usable for light loads, there are no spares and the hydraulic pump for the brake gear is unreliable owing to no good leathers (spare cup leathers). There are, of course, no spare valves for the compressor but we will manage until we have the railway down the hill. The loco. shed is intact but none of the steam locos. are usable, see my detailed report. All labour quarters are intact but dirty, the European bungalow is a most filthy mess but can be done up. The weighbridge is intact, the covered tracks are mostly intact as to roof and rails, the house over the chute hopper is missing, the hopper is there and part of the conveyor, some of the built chute has been dismantled, the remainder of the chute steelwork is mostly in the roofs of dryouts. The Neckar water softening plant is usable. The power line to Drum Site still exists. The whole of Drum Site is overgrown and there are a large number of dugouts, it will take a long time to put the place in order.
We require 12 (one dozen) wood burning stoves, I believe the Metter stove is quite good. Also 5 cwt. of washing soda and 8 dozen scrubbing brushes. Items mentioned here and appearing again in the orders, take the orders as final.
15th JANUARY, 1946.
Swell continues no news from the “Islander” hope he has got rid of his passengers. Have spent the day at South Point and places along the line. Case’s house can be repaired but I doubt the value of it, Bancroft’s house is in a shocking state.
Woodwork has suffered from damp, no care and dry rot, I think it will be cheaper to re-build. The best house is the Towhey’s and can be made habitable fairly cheaply. All electric wiring has been removed from everywhere. One boiler is usable on wood and the old small steam D. C. set is intact. Water tanks are usable. New coolie houses are all usable as also other concrete brick houses, all wooden houses are finished and falling down. The excavator shed is there but the crane has been removed, the small loco. shed, building only remaine it has been stripped naked. A very little 2 foot track remains. The quarries are practically untouched, the Japanese has taken a little out of No.10, 8 and 9 only. The Gantry still stands but the good decking has mostly been removed. Parts of the line roll grizzleys remain and he can make them up again but we will require the chains drives, the Japanese seem to have had a passion for removing chain drives. You will see from the photos how naked the gantry looks. The steam engine has gone as also all crushers, parts of which are at the settlement. All standard gauge rail tracks remain. Everywhere and everything is covered in weeds and South Point generally looks exactly like those deserted mining towns one sees in Western U.S.A. and even round Ballarat and Bendigo. Doors and windows, where still existing blow open and shut in the wind and where good doors remain the rooms are used as chicken houses. The main line is in very fair condition and the taring of the track has paid a very handsome profit. All rail bolts, clips and tops of sleepers appear in new condition and the weeds are quite short in the track, the jungle growth at the sides of the track is very heavy and in several places meets overhead. The wood cutters camp at Grants Well station is in fair condition. Grants Well houses are quite good but the Pelopine set is very much on its last legs. The pipe line 4″ is in fair condition, due to taring and one man of the Grants Well staff has looked after it very well. It is quite difficult to recognise some of the men, so many have lost their teeth, due mostly to age and no medical care. Ross Hill pumping engine is just usable, fuel pumps are worn out. The Japanese have used very poor fuel for all Diesel engines for the past two years, mostly ordinary boiler oil with a small quantity of paraffin. All engines are in a very sad state, nothing has been done to them for about two years and of course there are no spares, the Japanese took all spares even if they did not take the engine.
We are still removing bagged dust from in and around the power plant. Most of the bags are rotten and break when touched, there must have been at least 1500 tons used for the Power House alone.
16th January, 1946.
Heavy swell continues. Today have been buying small change Strait’s money for £10 notes from men who had buried their money and intend to make the first pay tomorrow. The B.M.A. officer who landed here on October 18th and left again October 20th arranged that all working men should start immediately to work for seven hours per day three days per week for the Company, cleaning plant and weeding. Unfortunately the leadership was of a very poor standard and not much work was done, particularly by the Chinese; quite contrary to one’s expectations the Malays did by far the most but they had excellent leadership in Hussein the diver. Now Oct. 21st to Dec. 28th (the day we landed) is 69 days inclusive out of which there are 10 Sundays leaving 59 working days. As the labour worked on every other day they I could have done 29 days work. Actually the Chinese did about 20 days work and the Malays, who did work more days, did some 30 days work. The Malays who laid the moorings and built a bridge over a wide gulley cut in the slope of the Settlement Road just below the office [today’s Administration building] and who salvaged wire ropes and much Pilots gear I have paid one and half months at pre-war rates.
Photo taken by John Paris in January/ February 1946 – “Temporary Bridge over tank trap under road between Offices and Malay Lines.” National Archives of Australia NAA: R32, CIPC 10/38E
The other Malays and all Chinese I have paid one months wages. Only No.2 chemist Bak Kiat who has kept the Meteorological register every day I have paid 1 months. Now that B.M.A. officer told the labour that the Company would pay them and I have decided that a day or two’s generosity would be advisable and acceptable to the Directors and I have been informed by the D.O. that the payment has been very well received by the labour. I do not know what he or they expected but apparently we are considered to be fair, the main thing is that the labour seem to be contented and are working quite well. The D.O. is very frequently making the point that I am paying pre-war wages and I am doing all I can to keep those rates in force. We will have to subsidise rice price to remove any complaint on this score. Have not yet settled with the D.O. at what price per pound we will sell, the rice ration is 1 lb. per man lb. per woman and lb. per child per day and we sell once a week.
17th JANUARY, 1946.
Collier has had a fairly severe touch of sun and has been laid up for a couple of days; it makes quite a difference. Have finished the foundations for the new wireless house and am starting on the brick work, at present we have the apparatus in the office.
Photo taken by John Paris in January/ February 1946 – “New Wireless House in course of erection – Old house having been completely levelled by bomb in February 1942.”V.E. Mathew describes this event in vivid detail, barely escaping with his life.
National Archives of Australia NAA: NAA: R32, CIPC 10/34B
Have had a long discussion with the D.O. with regard to prices for items in our shop. We have agreed that prime articles of food shall be sold as nearly as possible at pre-war price but that means subsidising to some extent. The worst items from our point of view are rice, sugar, salt, tea, matches and flour, but a little will be offset as some other items like milk show a profit over pre-war prices.
Swell is not so heavy today and we have hopes for the week-end. “Islander” should leave Batavia today after having handed over our unwanteds.
The doors of our old (new) ice plant we have decided to repair ourselves as we think we can do a better and cheaper job than in Australia. The new semi-portable set from Werners will be running tomorrow, it has been delayed as we have had to search high and low for pipe work to connect up to the cooling water supply, I forgot to order sufficient for the job, and the Japanese have removed as much pipe as possible from here. Am now taking up old pipe lines and re-arranging water services to get a few lengths of pipe to put essential services back in operation. The Japanese may bath a lot but they seem satisfied with one tap to every 100 men or so.
We must compliment the A.W.A on their wireless equipment and Dockray on his ability. Have a message from the “Islander” at Batavia, she leaves tomorrow with a British Indian Army party who are coming to investigate the Mutiny of the Indian garrison here.
18th JANUARY, 1946.
The pre-war Kongsi shopkeeper, who I had appointed to keep our shop has now refused to move to live in the Kongsi shop. Have the D.O. on our side so no pay or food for this man. We have some ten or a dozen trouble makers here but it is very difficult to get rid of them. I cannot ask D.O. to arrange transport from Batavia to Singapore for other than confirmed bad hats, but I think some of them will trip up soon.
Essential services men, water pumping men, sanitary men and power plant men turned up this morning demanding wages for the period Japanese evacuation August 24th to October 18th the date of arrival of B.M.A. officer. I promptly handed this demand onto the D.O., it is a government affair not ours so think that the mess up in B.M.A. has kept us out of the Island for about four months when the weather was good.
Today had a note from Hong Chew handing in his resignation, due to old age and poor eyesight, I am told this is really due to the fact that Hong Chew is in a difficult spot, it seems he has been doing a considerable black market trade in opium, the D.O. cannot as yet get proof, and I have suggested that he does not try as we would prefer this man to retire in the normal way. The great difficulty is to get him to Singapore, where he has asked to be sent.
With reference to requests and demands in this diary please take the indents as final orders. I simply cannot write or do anything in the day time but see to labour, they demand to be told directly by myself and I can only write this in the evenings. The office is chaos, Hong Chew is in a blue funk the whole time, Cheng Bar can hardly see, I have got a Kongsi timekeeper who only writes in Chinese, I have got a very good little boy called Hing Poh who types and speaks English and a girl who types very well but cannot read my writing and spells as badly as I do, what a game, thank goodness we still know how to laugh.
19th JANUARY, 1946.
Weather has improved a little. Have been told that some of the labour are talking because I have only rice, sugar, salt, tea and milk for them to eat, they forget the pork, they do not as yet appreciate the clothing. At any rate I have had to put most of our food stores into the shop as it is said that we have looked after ourselves but the labour are getting only bare necessities.
The “Islander” must go only to Fremantle this trip and return with as much of List “B” as is possible, also she can bring any transhipment cargo, she will then return to Australia with phosphate and do the Melbourne trip. I would like to have Brown, Rendell and De’Arth this trip. The 6 K has broken down, two big end bearings gone. We are doing a quick part overhaul, the engine is in a frightful mess but we will manage. We must do all we possibly can to keep the labour satisfied. Their attitude is, if they work then they want as many pre-war supplies as possible or they will return to the life of living on their gardens and doing nothing else, even now many men are absent each day and their excuse is they are working in their gardens because we have not enough food to sell them and it is not possible to work hard on our ration scale. There is some truth in this and the D.O. is within his rights in agreeing with the labour. As soon as it is clear if we can discharge the ship and load phosphate or I have to send her to Fremantle as she is (partly discharged), I will cable you full instructions what to do. The Japanese brought in a certain amount of Dutch furniture from Java and we have been collecting it from various places with a view to using it to help put some furniture into the houses as we repair them. Now the D.O. says these articles are enemy property and he will be making a valuation and charging us for them. Unless they are dirt cheap I shall hand them all over to him.
20th JANUARY, 1946.
Weather is much improved and we hope to moor the “Islander” in the boat channel tomorrow and continue discharging. We will load as soon as possible and get her away to Fremantle when she must return at once with food stores.
Have spent today at South Point again and have found some two foot gauges track in the weeds. We now have about 3/4 mile of single track in very poor condition.
Have purchased two sows and eleven sucking pigs from Lee Eng the woodcutter so our pig farm begins to take shape.
There are very large gardens all along the railway and on Sunday one sees many men attending to them. There is little doubt that if the labour decided they did not wish to work then they could feed themselves quite adequately if somewhat crudely, mostly Manioc [cassava], sweet potato, yams and corn. Have seen ground nuts and Hill rice [rice that is grown on slopes using rainfall rather than irrigation] imported by the Japanese. The plants look very fine and healthy but they apparently do not produce a very large crop at present, at least not the rice. Have walked all over the Quarries and apart from weeds and the absence of equipment there has been little change, they look deserted like Phosphate Hill, the only reasonably clear bench is at No.10 but this quarry has been messed about a bit by the Japanese.
Have tested the new freezing plant but the makers forgot to enclose a copy of the working instructions. We would like to know their methods for charging the set with ammonia as there is no charging valve included with the equipment nor any place to put one in its normal position, we have made a temporary fitting for ourselves. Also how we are expected to put lubricating oil into the crank case of the compressor as the valve we assume is intended for the job has no oil container. Please send this information by return. We know most about a freezing plant but in this case we would like to know where is the charging valve and where is the lubricating oil feed. This plant was supposed to be ready to start up as soon as erected. Collier has nearly finished repairing the 6 K, we can only do enough to keep the engines running, have not time nor spares to do major overhaul. Both the 8 K and 6 K are only fit to take half load.
21st JANUARY, 1946.
“Islander” returned this a.m. and the party of Army investigators has arrived, amongst whom is the Subedah [Urdu word for lieutenant, platoon commander], who I was very pleased to see. He knows the good men here from the bad. We seem to have quite a lot of dutiful ones left.
Unloading rails today, it is a long and awkward job when using lighters.
Have tested the freezing plant again today, it seems satisfactory but is very awkward to charge and lubricate without the proper fittings.
The gully in the cliff behind the two 500 ton fuel oil tanks has been widened out at the top by the Japanese, apparently to put a gun in, now when it is rough in the Cove the sea comes right up and water reaches the west end of the rock shed. I am now covering over this cleft with re-inforced concrete as no work whatever can be done in this area when we have a swell, quite apart from the corrosion taking place all over this area.
Our old motor boat I brought is rather too small to tow lighters, however we are managing by being on the job all the time, The old boat will, we hope, last us till our new steel launch arrives. It is hard work for a motor launch when discharging by lighter, the new small boat is doing a good job in spite of its smallness.
It may not be fully understood the big job we have to clear the power house of its encasement in bags of ground phosphate. Apart from a very small working space around the 8 K, 5 K and what is left of the switchboard the whole of the inside of the building is full of bagged dust up to the crane runway. All around outside is piled up bags, 30 bags wide and as high as the eaves of the building. Most of the outside bags have burst and the dust is wet; you can imagine the difficulty (if we only had two of those front end loaders). The building inside is completely dark at day time, only the small 2’6″ door is free for entry. We have now cleared one side (outside) of the building and when the ship is finished we will tackle the inside. The clouds of dust will not be good for what is left of the engines. The most annoying thing about this place is that there is quite a lot left but it is all suffering from neglect and it takes much longer to repair or overhaul a unit then it does to instal a new one, yet we can get more work out of most of it but it is a long uphill business and although most of the labour is quite willing they do not seem to have much energy left and quite definitely they are all very slow mentally. Have borrowed Collier’s portable typewriter for the office and have repaired one old machine sufficiently to type the time sheets, these are now being translated from Chinese to English, until this is done it is difficult to see what the odd people are doing.
22nd JANUARY, 1946.
Today have landed the carryall scrapers it has been a most trying business as there is a slight swell and the poor old sheer legs are in a very sad state indeed. We have started to put up the new crane but this kind of labour is rather slow at present, in fact we have a slight epidemic of “go slow” tactics. I very much fear we shall have to remove a few more men before we have a happy party here.
The shop is selling all goods at a rapid rate, that is up to the ration limit. We take between two and three hundred dollars daily. It is most important that we should not have to close the shop for want of supplies, the people now know that we have shared our supplies with them and there is a better feeling on this account, but we must maintain a reasonable standard of supply in the shop.
Everything possible must be done to avoid a rise in wages for when once given it is usually quite impossible to reduce them. Have spent most of the day re-organising the labour which had been doing as they wished. Could not tackle the job before as have only time to myself when most of the labour are engaged discharging the “Islander”, at other times have a procession of people wanting to know this, that and the other thing and they insist on seeing me personally. We have a rotten legacy from the Vigilance Committee.
23rd JANUARY, 1946.
Discharging rails and sand, we hope to finish by Friday and load on Saturday. Today making up indents of the most needed items. Have been able to spend most of the day in the office. Hong Chew told me all records had been destroyed and today I caught him with a Kongsi statement of account, wages sheets for the whole of 1940 and a whole lot of Japanese accounts. It would seem that the adverse reports on this man are justified. The D.O. tells me that everyone speaks badly of him, actually I think he is so scared that he does not know what he is doing.
Your cable received today but I do not want 50 tons of rice, it goes weavelly too quickly, 15 tons of polished and 15 tons of unpolished is sufficient for four months.
24th JANUARY, 1946.
We have finished discharging the “Islander” and we have started to renew the mooring chains at the bulk loading berth. Some of the buoys at present in use were made by the Japanese out of our old chimney, so you can imagine their condition, others have been made out of 1/8″ plate, and their life is very limited.
The Grant’s well pump engine broke down today so it is all hands to put it right. When anything broke down when the Japanese were here they sat on the job with big sticks and revolvers until it was repaired. We hope to get it going tomorrow by example. Have spent the day in the office getting out indents. No one knows what to order or how to order yet, but I find Foster is very quick to pick the hang of the thing and by next trip he should be able to do most of it himself. Our chief difficulty is to get the typing done, only two relative children on the job, one with a travelling model borrowed from Collier and one on a machine we have made up with parts of another and sounds like a traction engine when it is working hard.
Most of the vital points in the plant had been prepared for demolition by the Japanese, in fact mines and depth charges had been laid but for some unknown reason they were all removed before the last party left in August.
We are now filling in holes at the bins and dryer house, we have already filled those at the Pier Jetty and Wharf. There are more at Drum Site and all pumping stations, they had prepared to blow in the well at Grant’s Well and undermine the basin at the Waterfall. We have much to be thankful for. We have now cleaned sufficient motors to load bulk at about half rate and we have tried out the conveyors, they will do until we can carry out a complete overhaul.
It is noticeable that birds are beginning to return to the vicinity of houses and we have had a very fine display of Frigate birds this morning. Most of the Boobies are still on the other side of the Island.
25th JANUARY, 1946.
Today is a bad day, the stern buoy mooring chain at the Rock ship berth has proved faulty and we are now renewing. There is a slight suspicion of a swell coming up but have my fingers crossed. We took our meat supplies from the ship today and I regret to have to report that all the beef, mutton, lamb, liver and kidney was found to be infested with maggots, covered with mildew and smelt badly. I have written in very strong terms to our Agents in Fremantle asking them to raise this point with all concerned in the meat supply and its transport. We do not mind so much being without meat but I do object very strongly to the waste of money and food stuff.
One or two very interesting developments have occurred since the Investigating Party into the Mutiny have been here. One man has been missing for a day and night and I have received notes from known good people asking for the removal of certain named people. The situation is not at all easy of solution. London must ask all our people again about a man called Ah Chik, the new clerk in the store and London must cable me the result. Opinion here seems to be about 50/50. There is another man about whom London must cable and he is an English speaking Chinese storekeeper or clerk at South Point who is an adopted or true nephew of Ming Watt, the man’s name is Tan Lian How; I understand from the Doctor that his wife was very kind to our staff. You see how very awkward it is.
Oorloff gave a dinner party for the Doctor and the Subedah last night and we all attended. It was a good demonstration of how to feed from the produce of the Island. Chicken soup, fish and sweet potato and green beans, fresh water crab, duck with egg salad, tapioca pudding. Why should anyone work?
26th JANUARY, 1946.
Swell has returned. This is most annoying as the ship is ready to load but it is no use worrying as we cannot control the weather. By and large we are getting on quite well, we have a few sticks of furniture in the mess. The big bedroom in my house is a dormitory for four, one is in the little sitting room and I am in the end room. We live on the verandah and as there are no chicks [Woven bamboo/reed blinds hung along verandahs and rolled down for shade, privacy, and protection from sun/rain] or canvas we move about quite a lot. My two boys run the place, we cleaned the house a bit but the kitchen is frightful, as black as a coal mine and apart from scraping the walls we can do little with it. I have had a hand on stoves and out of the awful collection taken from the Chinese and Malays we have made up three workable stoves. The question of house boys is a very great difficulty, there are only two of the original balance of three who want the job, they seem to prefer to be coolies.
Photo taken by John Paris in January/ February 1946 – “Gravity Chute – CE’s [Paris] House – Remains of Locomotive Shed – Japanese Shed Pit of gun emplacement”
Paris’s house is now a ruin located behind the CI Club.
National Archives of Australia NAA: R32 CIPC 16/40D
I have advanced Dr. Clark the huge sum of £10-0-0 (ten pounds) Australian and Oorloff has $300.00 (three hundred). London must let me know as soon as possible what they want to do with regard to pay for Oorloff.
27th JANUARY, 1946.
Swell continues and much heavy rain. Mosquitos are large and very fierce, there is so much undergrowth and weeds at all places. On about the 30th December the D.O. issued the following notice:-
Under the powers delegated to me Captain G.A.T. Shaw as Assistant Custodian of Enemy Property, I hereby require all persons who have in their possession or who have any information regarding Japanese property, property imported into Christmas Island by the Japanese or any other property acquired by any person since the 11th day of March 1942, to notify me of such possession or to furnish such information to me on or before the 1st day of February 1946.
This created quite a stir and it has not long before I heard that furniture was being burnt and other things thrown away. I spoke to the D.O. and he said he would tell the people that there was no need to be frightened. At any rate the burning and throwing into the sea continued so I arranged with the D.O. that I should publish a notice as follows:-
If anyone has anything formerly the property of the C.I.P.Co. or of any European, they should return such article to the main store. It is foolish to destroy furniture and other articles, all are very difficult to replace. No questions will be asked.
The result of this was the return of Bancroft’s stamp album, apparently intact. Last night a pewter vase was left on my verandah, I think it is Mrs. Bancrofts. I fear we are too late to save the furniture, as I write this my two corner cupboards are said to be in the coolie club.
Perhaps I have not made myself clear in the past but all European houses were naked except for broken stuff. I now hear that the most damage was done to the houses etc. by the Anti-British party after the Japanese left, I think this refers to the furniture only, the dirt and damage is of long standing. However some houses have been occupied by coolies, and have suffered accordingly.
Photo taken by John Paris in January/ February 1946 – “Bungalow Number 11 at Flying Fish Cove showing beach defenses in foreground.”National Archives of Australia NAA: R32, CIPC 10/33B
Those occupied by the Japanese as barracks are undoubtedly the worst as to general damage and dirt. Wormwood scrubs [well known prison in England] got shelled by a submarine and the outer kitchen was removed to make place for a gun. Every day we find a bit of something or other, it is most extra-ordinary that no one here seems to know or will not say where anything is, who put it there or why, when anything was moved or in fact anything at all about it, but when we find something they are not surprised and show little interest. The most common answer to questions when pressed is that Chang Kwang, or Hock Lim or John or Backri was in charge of that department or if it happens to be someone still here then they just do not know. Of course it does not matter in the least, so long as we do find things, but it is a very interesting situation. Have today found some spare cup leathers for the main haulage plant brake gear, they are very dry but will get enough out of them when treated with castor oil. Am sending some empty oil drums to Fremantle to fill with tare to patch the road.
28th JANUARY, 1946.
Swell continues and we have quite heavy rain squalls. Have patched up the old Wingate [Winget] brick making machine, it works but looks like a bad dream, certain to end sometime soon. The new wireless house is going up quite well in spite of the fact that I have had to show the coolies how to do it. We have had to postpone work on the new crane and concentrate on closing the cleft in the cliff which the Japanese opened up as with the swell one cannot get near the site for the crane. We just got the shuttering up when the sea disturbed it so we start again.
Concrete blocks were made on Christmas Island in the years before WW2. The Winget company produced various models of block-making machines that could make hollow or solid units for building construction.We have now got all idlers on the bulk loading conveyors free and working, each individual roller has to be tested and this takes some time. What a blessing it will be when we get our cantilever, the amount of chipping required on the Pier and Jetty is well imagined when you remember that nothing has been done to them for over three years. The wharf is past praying for so we must just concentrate on the rebuilding of this structure and if we can rebuild as suggested in my air letter to London, we can do the job in half the time. Every day we find we want something, and every day we find something but generally these finds do not agree. What we most want is new Power Plant, new locomotives, new excavators or the tractors and the railway extensions. Six months ought to see these wants filled or at least most of them, of course there are a lot of incidentals that go with these major items but we are really very lucky to have so much, and the labour, that would have completely stumped us if it had not been here and if it had not decided to work for us.
29th JANUARY, 1946.
Swell going down, rain on and off all day, not heavy but enough to spoil outside work. Have had the day in the office checking up labour matters. I hear that Hong Chew has been telling the labour that they should ask for an increase in pay. This coincides with reports of strikes in Singapore and does not help us very much. Actually all labour has had a rise in pay in that they receive pay rates of a nine hour day and now work an eight hour day. This morning a thrush cameonto the verandah and we offered crumbs but it was very shy. Last night Bessie the cat turned up and already seems quite at home.
The D.O. has already made a raid on gambling and is going to prosecute, I suppose this is the Government’s idea of helping to restart an industry, but wonder of wonders he agrees with the introduction of seamstresses [prostitutes] so we have one fence less to negotiate.
Chinese New Year starts on the evening of the 31st. There is not much I can give for their feast but have decided on two pigs, two sides of bacon, one tin condensed milk each and two potatoes each. Labour is beginning to understand that we cannot get the things they have been used to getting at this time of year.
Have repaired the pencil sharpener but it is better to have a new one, the only knives here are either daggers or swords.
Photo taken by John Paris in January/ February 1946 – “Old Boilers and remains of Locomotive Number 1”Location is just behind today’s Administrative Building
National Archives of Australia NAA: R32, CIPC 10/39D
30th JANUARY, 1946.
Today swell has gone down sufficiently for the diver to finish off the stern buoy of the rock ship mooring. When we got the old chain up the links that have been rubbing on the bottom are in some cases down to inch diameter of metal, they started life as 2 inch links. We must expect a lot of this sort of thing for the Japanese have not done any maintenance of any kind for the past two years or so.
This main wireless set we have bought seems very satisfactory, we can establish communication with Perth at any time day or night.
Have found a box containing many of our drawings or rather drawings supplied by the manufacturers of our equipment, have hastily gone through them to try to find some of the railway drawings but so far without success.
Have repaired one of our old motor cycles but have no tyres or tubes so am ordering them from Melbourne.
All this old plant cost a duce of a lot to run but we must manage with it until new can be supplied. I cannot find out the reason but the Japanese have pinched all rain water tanks from the houses, they seem to have packed some with small items from the general stores but others have just disappeared. Heavy rain this evening and the first Boobie has come onto the verandah full of fish and heavy with rain.
31st JANUARY, 1946.
Swell is moderate but the wind is strong from the West. We still hope to get the ship loaded. If it occurs during Chinese New Year we will load with Malays and ourselves only. Conditions are very variable and as you know it is most trying to be so near and yet so far. Further diary sheets will be put in another envelope. The swell has come up again this afternoon but the sky is very much clearer.
We have paid advances for the New Year, very few came to take them.
The water softening plant is now ready for testing, we will do this over the holidays when there is a chance to clean out the water tower.
Have started to connect up the 900 ton fuel oil tank, the Japanese have left us all the pipe but taken all the bolts and joints, at least we have not found them yet. Bolts, screws, nails and all such necessary small gear is at a premium. We have quite a lot of trouble with the Waterfall pipe line, much of it is now very old and much corroded in various areas. It has not had the same attention that the South Point line has had during the Japanese occupation, one would have thought they might keep such a vital pipe line in order. As water is the first essential I have had the path from Ross Hill to Grant’s Well cleared so that we may lay the new 4″ pipe line and so recover the 5″ pipe which runs from Ross Hill to the railway.
1st FEBRUARY, 1946.
Swell has dropped as also the wind, we have great hopes for the morning. Have had trouble with the 3 K, some lumps of lime deposit had fallen away from the inside of the water passages and partly closed the outlets, have shut her down and using the 6 K will start on cleaning the 3 K after New Year but we have no acid so it will be a slow job.
We have been over the damage done to our plant (new) by the bad loading of the ship. One Ingersoll-Rand compressor has the air tank stove in and the air cocks broken off, we can repair. One back leg of the 15 ton crane is badly bent, we can repair. The case of the main shaft of the stone crusher was broken and the shaft badly marked, we have dressed up and it will run. Fourteen bags of stone, sand and Molinite for the water softener were burst open so we are a little short of these items, we have managed with the blue stone we brought with us. Several cases of food stores were broken and one case of pickles had all the jars but two broken and let out the vinegar. have eaten the pickles quickly so they should not go bad. Each of the three carry-all scrapers the wire rope has been nipped and kinked so that the length at present threaded is quite useless. The Jib of the 30 cwt. derrick has had part of the head broken off, we can repair but it will be 18 inches short. We have not yet unpacked all the cases so there may be more damage. All time not spent unloading ship we have concentrated on unpacking the things we need first, on clearing the Power House of phosphate dust so that we can see to work and unbury some of the equipment left in the building, on clearing the road in the settlement so that we can get to the houses to repair them, on building the wireless house, in fact, first things first. Have done a little clearing with the woodcutters for the new railway.
Photo taken by John Paris in January/ February 1946 – “Store yard after tidying up – Note: 19 RB Caterpillar Engines in cases and opened – Old Boilers loaded ready for dumping – Clerks flats [now roundabout flats] and much patchwork roofing.”National Archives of Australia NAA: R32, CIPC 10/39F
Diary extract taken from “British Phosphate Commissioners Melbourne – Christmas Island – Negotiations for purchase of Christmas Island – Phosphate Company’s undertaking.” NAA: MP1174/1, 1134
1. John Rupert Paris, Australian War Service record – National Australian Archives NAA: B883, VX130145
2. In his book Suffering through Strength (pp. 208–209), under the heading “Death at Drumsite,” John Hunt provides further detail about the strange circumstances surrounding the death of Wee Bit Chay.
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