Gope Board (Hohao)

In 1963 I was HT at Arehava PS in the Gulf of Papua.   I asked a carver to carve me a traditional Gope Board.   The fellow who carved it had lost a leg and I thought it must have been a crocodile that took it, but he told me he had an infection and eventually had the leg amputated.   I  imagine he was transported to the district HQ of Kerema where there was a hospital of sorts.

When I was on leave in Australia that year I gave the Gope Board to friends Margaret and Haddon.  Later when I returned to W.A. I borrowed back the original and made a copy.  Margaret and Haddon later gave me back the Gope Board and so now I have two.  The copy lives outside on a wall the other original is inside out of the weather.