If Movie Legend Errol Flynn was alive today he would be 100. The best years of his life were spent adventuring in New Guinea from 1927 -1932.
As they sailed up the Sepik, ravenous crocodiles lurked in the water. Natives armed with poisonous darts fired frequently on the boat. Strange cries of gibberish emitted in the night as cannibals called along the river warning other natives of their presence. Heat, flies, dengue fever and malaria again played on the Americans and their young Captain Errol Flynn. They were the first whites there and were extremely fortunate to escape with their scalps.
Back to Moresby
The Sepik trip was a quite a success. The American film-makers had the footage they required and Errol his dough. Now was his time to return to the Capital where he tried in vain to win a stable job as a, “Kiap,” or Patrol Officer. The administration knew already of his feckless reputation, so he was denied any role, in the quest to govern this crazy place. Even in a land where the government was kooky he was considered a bounder. But it wasn’t all that bad. The young Errol, now twenty or so, landed a job as manager on a tobacco plantation, near Laloki, just outside Port Moresby.
There he stayed for a few years. Jack Hindes, a famous Patrol Officer, visited Errol a few times and was impressed with the young man’s management of this growing tobacco industry. Errol was also loving the pretty native girls and it’s recalled how he spent amorous times with them in the crystal streams of the Laloki River, totally in love.
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Rabaul, New Britain and New Ireland
As time went by, Errol was restless once again. The outer islands of the Archipelago called. This time he decided, with some money from the tobacco plantation, to visit Rabaul where he discovered a nest of likeminded louches. He wrote of the spirit of the place – scoundrels, whores and wastrels populated Rabaul. He loved the fights, the drinking and the whoreing. It was all to his taste. The malaria and other unmentionables also got him. He was to carry these pre-existing conditions with him for the rest of his days. But, heck, he was alive! He was truly alive.
Five Years is Enough
By 1932, young Errol had drunk his cup of life in this remote and wild, wild land. He made money, as all the whites who go there do, and he was still young and good-looking. From here he decided to head for the United Kingdom with his fortune. He started an acting career in minor plays then the odd film. From then on the rest is history.
Today we celebrate the hundredth anniversary of his birth. Here was one soul who chose, against amazing odds, to really live. No-one since has replicated his wicked, wicked ways. Happy Birthday, Flynn!
Niugini Tales
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