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In 2016, Gordon Peake answers a job advertisement for a role with the government of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, a collection of islands on the eastern fringe of Papua New Guinea looking to strike out as a country of its own. In his day job he sees at first hand the challenges of trying to stand up new government systems. Away from the office he travels with former rebels, follows an anthropologist's ghost and visits landmarks from the region's conflict. In 2019, he witnesses joy and euphoria as the people of Bougainville vote in a referendum on their future. Out of these encounters emerges an unforgettable portrait of this potential nation-in-waiting. Blending narrative history, travelogue and personal reminiscences, Unsung Land, Aspiring Nation is an engaging memoir as well as an insightful meditation on the realities of nation-making and international development.

"Joanne Wallis is a lecturer in the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. She has previously taught at the University of Cambridge, the University of Melbourne and Swinburne University. She completed her PhD in politics and international studies at the University of Cambridge in 2011. From January 2009 to January 2012 she was an honorary Fellow of the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. In 2006, she was a Fulbright Scholar at the Walker Institute of International and Area Studies at the University of South Carolina. She has also worked as a lawyer and has conducted research consultancies for Australian and international NGOs. Her research considers the role that constitution making plays in building states and nations in post-conflict societies, with a particular emphasis on the opportunities for engagement between liberal and local approaches to law, governance and development"--

The economic recovery following the closure of the Bougainville Copper Ltd mine in 1989 is described

Population structure, reproduction, condition, movements and habitat
preference were assessed for western barred bandicoots
(Perameles bougainville) on Dorre and Bernier Islands
over seven trapping sessions between 1988 and 1995. Data comes from 372
captures of bandicoots in 2535 trap-nights (an average of 14·7 captures
per 100 trap-nights). Trap success was 5.7–25.8% on Dorre and
5.7–7.6% on Bernier. Recaptures within a trip made up 29%
of bandicoot captures. The overall sex ratio (excluding recaptures) was skewed
heavily towards males at 1.7: 1 for trapped animals, but varied between male
and female dominance at any time according to reproductive status of females.
Sex ratio of pouch young was 1.2: 1. Production of young was concentrated in
the wetter winter months. The smallest western barred bandicoot with pouch
young weighed 175 g. Bandicoots showed a pattern of increasing litter size
with size of mother. Females with young had an average litter size of 1.8,
with young reaching independence at about 100 g body weight. Large testes size
relative to body size in males suggested a promiscuous mating system. Body
condition could be predicted by sex (females were typically in better
condition than males) and by rainfall over the previous 2 months. Some sexual
dimorphism was evident, with females having longer heads and typically being
heavier than males. There was no detected dimorphism between island
populations. Movements of bandicoots appeared limited, with the median
distance moved by animals captured more than once within a 9–11-day
trapping session being 154 m. There was no significant difference in movements
between the sexes, with males moving a median distance of 160 m and females
138 m within trapping sessions. The greatest movement by a male was 1020 m
while the greatest distance moved by a female was 490 m. Only 13% of
recorded movements were greater than 400 m. Home ranges overlapped, with
51% of traps catching more than one individual and as many as five
males being caught at the same trap site. Bandicoots were widely dispersed
through all habitats surveyed. Bandicoots appeared to suffer a substantial
reduction in numbers on Dorre Island in a prolonged drought extending from
October 1986 to April 1989, reducing overall trap success to less than
6% in the 1988 survey.

Politics and government; Social conditions; Papua new guinea

This paper examined conflicts and regional security in the Pacific. The paper has as its focus the roles of Australia and New Zealand (and the Pacific Islands Forum) in managing security in the Pacific using Papua New Guinea (Bougainville) and the Solomon Islands as case studies. It documented their peacekeeping experiences, and interrogated whether these operations were successes or not and why. Furthermore, the author explored whether the peacekeeping experiences in the Pacific and lessons learnt from these operations might be applicable to, and/or be helpful in developing a useful peacekeeping model for other regions. The argument of this paper is that, although Australia and New Zealand regional security management role is based on security concerns of the region but the national interests of these dominant states are also at play and a key factor that shape the nature and direction of interventions. As well, the dynamics of these operations have revolved around interaction between and among local, regional and global political factors. The author argued that peacekeeping in the Pacific (especially in Bougainville and the Solomon Islands) may not offer an appropriate peacekeeping model in such-conflict ridden settings as Africa where armed violence are more complex, protracted and involve full-scale military actions as opposed to low-intensity and localised conflicts in the Pacific, but some of the peacekeeping lessons from the region may be helpful to other peace operations, especially Peacekeeping the 'Pacific Way'.

Describes the political crisis resulting from the hiring of mercenary troops, Feb. 1997, to quell the rebellion in Bougainville, which began in 1988 over environmental damage done by the Panguna copper mine, and the peace agreement brokered by New Zealand.