Saidor Story

An interesting situation awaits the bride from Ballarat as she sails to the Territory of New Guinea in 1947 to begin married life with her patrol officer husband. The Pacific War has left much of her new land in ruins; much of the country is still unmapped or uncontrolled. Japanese soldiers remain in the mountains. Sorcerers and spirits rule the native people, and a cargo cult is creating unrest in her husband's district on the Rai Coast. In Saidor Story, we accompany bride Norma Griffin as she tries to negotiate this harsh, sometimes hostile, frontier world. We get to know a very diverse station community; we explore the minutiae of domestic life on a remote outpost in the Pacific; we participate in adventures unimaginable to suburban Australia. Norma tells her story with humour and verve. Her distinctive style and her photographs bring to life a vanished and almost forgotten time, place and people.