Originally captured on colour 16mm film, this home movie is from the George Gilltrap collection. George Edward Gilltrap (born Giltrap, 1911-1966) was a vintage car enthusiast who established Gilltrap’s Motor Museum in Rotorua before relocating with his family from New Zealand to Australia in 1959 where he established Gilltrap’s Gold Coast Auto Museum.
New Guinea. Trip to salvage ex-US Military jeep parts etc. c.1952. Vila Star (Port Vila) chartered to bring them back to New Zealand.
Views of city by night, mannequin in shop window, street with neon lights. Aerial views from plane with wing in foreground, vegetation including palm trees, unsealed roads, coastline, settlements, view from the window while landing.
Military compound and aerodrome, sign: ‘DOUANE TERREIN VERBODEN TOEGANG’. Personnel watching large chrome DC-4 aeroplane’s motor start up. Plane labelled ‘K.L.M’ and ‘THE FLYING DUTCHMAN’ on one side and ‘DE VLIEGENDE HOLLANDER’ on the other side taxis on to runway.
Man and child in [outrigger] canoe. A youth throws spears and dives from wharf. Boat plane taking off. White man walking up path. Child climbing palm tree trunk. Person holding reptile with stick. Man passing coconuts to man in [military utility vehicle]. Military signage. Flag blowing at top of flagpole. Two local men smile for the camera. Field of rusting vehicles and oil drums. Man slashing at plant growth around rusted vehicle wrecks.
Pole house settlement over water. Local families. Man demonstrating bow and arrow for camera. Women with babies at hip. People rowing [outrigger] canoes. Man showing stills camera to local villagers. Two men pose with spears for camera.
[Aniti-aircraft gun] amongst vegetation. Local women at roadside. Group of people lift [waka] from water. Man driving [military utility vehicle] towing trailer with missing tyre and loaded with scrap. Crew paddling large [waka-type double outrigger] with carved prow and stern. Three men climb into [military utility vehicle] and then pull in to salvage site. Chassis and other parts being moved by small crane and chain. Man cutting with a blowtorch. Vehicle wrecks amongst the regrowth. Approximately ten people sharing ride in [military utility vehicle]. Unloading and stacking parts from [military utility vehicle] deck. Aerial views of town / villages and bay. Young woman passenger with flowers. Aerial views of islands. Man and woman on ship’s deck. Flatbed truck approaching with load. Salvaged vehicles and scrap metal being loaded in to ships hold. Men back at scrap fields surveying and dismantling parts. Woman poses with men at military compound. Landscapes, [military utility vehicle] driving through shots. Men beside small airplane. Aerial views of landscapes and villages. Man below sign; ‘WEWAK’ in front of ‘GOVERNMENT STORES’ building. People unloading personal belongings from [DC-3] aeroplane. Aerial views of braided river, view from plane window coming in to land. Man parking jeep in front of ‘Theatre LAE’ building. Commemorative plaque to United States of America and Australian paratroop workers. [Military utility vehicle] parked on roadside, views of [jungle] vegetation including banana palms. [military utility vehicle] parked on river crossing. Forrest lined road, tall trees, felled log, view of river and forest beyond from riverbank. Commemorative plaque about 7th Australian division and interaction with Japanese in 1943. Sawmill and workers. Rusting shipwreck. Store front; ‘BURNS PHILP (NEW GUINEA) LTD’. Men boarding aeroplane ‘NEW GUINEA TRADER’ with ‘ROYAL AIRMAIL’ emblem on side. Men under aircraft [checking under carriage]. Plane taking off. Plane labelled ‘MALAYAN TRADER’. View from plane, mountains, wing, propellor, clouds, houses. View from plane taking off. ‘QUANTAS Air TERMINAL’. Views of plane wing and ocean below, cockpit.
Ship (possibly the Vila Star) docked at wharf [possibly in Tauranga New Zealand]. Car parking on wharf and driver shaking hands with man on ship. [Crew] disembarking ship. Trucks arriving at ‘GILLTRAP’S’ [Motors] and having salvaged parts and vehicles unloaded. Gilltrap trucks with hoists moving salvaged machinery. Contractor trucks from ‘GRAYSON BROs (ROTORUA)’, ‘W.R. BEAUMONT (NGONGOTAHA)’, ‘Norm Floyd (ROTORUA)’ at work. Footage of salvaged metal and parts at Gilltrap's wet and muddy yard and more being unloaded from trucks. [Military utility vehicle] being attended to under bonnet by three men while small boy watches, [military utility vehicle] driven out of yard. Men working on truck engine, truck crane lowering heavy load on to back of truck. Loaded truck driving past Gilltrap’s building then heading off down dirt road. Features trucks painted bright orange from Gilltrap’s fleet.