Sir Pita Simogun ( – 11 April 1987) was a

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

n policeman, farmer and politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Council from 1951 to 1961 and then as a member of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

from 1964 to 1968, during which time he was also Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Police.

Biography

Simogun was born in Bargedem in

East Sepik East Sepik is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Wewak. East Sepik has an estimated population of 433,481 people (2010 census) and is 43,426 km square in size. History Cherubim Dambui was appointed as East Sepik's first premier b ...

around 1900, the son of Haletuo and Yesmari.Simogun, Sir Pita (1900–1987)
Australian Dictionary of Biography His parents both died while he was young, and he moved to a copra plantation at Salamaua with his adopted parents. He had no formal education, but joined the

Territory of New Guinea The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered United Nations trust territory on the island of New Guinea from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of Papua were established in an administrative union by the nam ...

police force around 1930.Peter Simogun: The story of 'a man of consequence'
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', May 1981, pp51–53 He initially served in the Kokopo and

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...

area, before being transferred to

Talasea Talasea is a village on the Talasea Peninsula, West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Indep ...

. He rose to become a lance corporal by 1935 and a sergeant by 1939, when he was posted to his home district of

Wewak Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city (seat) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak. Hi ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was part of the group of Wewak residents led by Bert Jones that walked to Wau. He stayed in

Goroka Goroka is the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It is a town of approximately 19,000 people (2000), above sea level. It has an airport (in the centre of town) and is on the " Highlands Highway", about 285 km from ...

before being transferred to

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

where he served as a drill instructor. In 1942 he began service as a

coastwatcher The Coastwatchers, also known as the Coast Watch Organisation, Combined Field Intelligence Service or Section C, Allied Intelligence Bureau, were Allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific islands during World War II t ...

and was dropped off near Cape Orford by an American submarine in April 1943. Between October 1943 and April 1944 his party switched to guerrilla operations, with Simogun leading attacks on the Japanese, only losing two of his men while killing around 260 Japanese soldiers. His service resulted in the award of the

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown. The current honour was created in 1922 to ...

. Following the war, he returned to the police,Vale, June 1987
PNGAA before settling in Urip village in 1948. He restarted the village coconut plantation, founded a Rural Progress Society to encourage rice growing, set up his own plantation and worked a truck driver. He also oversaw the building of a new coastal road, later named after him as the Sir Pita Simogun Highway, and established But-Boiken Local Government Council in 1956, serving as its president. He married three times and had eleven children. In

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

he was selected as one of the three nominated indigenous members of the new Legislative Council. He was reappointed in

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

and

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

. Prior to the 1961 general elections he joined the

United Progress Party United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

, but failed to be elected from the New Guinea mainland constituency. He contested the Wewak-Aitape Open seat in the 1964 general elections and was elected to the new House of Assembly. Following the elections, he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Police.First Under-Secretaries Are Best Of The Bunch
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', July 1964, p47 He served in the legislature until the 1968 elections. In 1967, he joined an oil palm settlement scheme, taking the lease of several plots of land in

West New Britain West New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea on the islands of New Britain. The provincial capital is Kimbe. The area of the province is 20,387 km² with a population of 264,264 as of the 2011 census. The province's only land border is w ...

, with most of the population of Urip following him. In the

1971 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1971 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lond ...

he was awarded an MBE, and he was knighted in the

1981 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1981 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate t ...

. He returned to Urip in the 1980s and died in Boram Hospital in

in April 1987 at the age of 87.Sir Pita Simogun
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', June 1987, p50 He was buried with full military honours in the army cemetery at Moem Barracks.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simogun, Pita Papua New Guinean police officers Papua New Guinean farmers Members of the Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea Members of the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea Papua New Guinean Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Papua New Guinean knights Papua New Guinean recipients of the British Empire Medal Papua New Guinean Knights Bachelor 1987 deaths Year of birth uncertain