Jack Emanuel

Errol John Emanuel (13 December 1918 – 19 August 1971) was an Australian colonial administrator who served as district commissioner in the East New Britain district of Papua New Guinea. He was posthumously awarded the George Cross, the highest British (and Commonwealth) award for bravery out of combat, for gallantry displayed between July 1969 and 19 August 1971. Emanuel served as a police officer and fireman in Australia before accepting a posting as patrol officer (kiap) to the Australian-administered United Nations trust territory of New Guinea, shortly after the Second World War. Emanuel was appointed acting district commissioner for East New Britain in 1969, and was confirmed in this role in 1971. He was well-respected as a local government official and noted for his willingness to negotiate resolutions to local disputes without police escort. Emanuel was trying to discuss a resolution to a land dispute between European settlers and the Tolai people in August 1971 when he was stabbed to death during negotiations. His killers were brought to trial and his death shocked the Tolai who largely abandoned the dispute.

Early life Errol John Emanuel was born on 13 December 1918, in Enfield, New South Wales. He was the son of Robert and Elsie Emanuel and went by the name of Jack.

New Guinea

Patrol officer and assistant district commissioner

After the Second World War ended in 1945, Emanuel applied again for a posting to New Guinea, which soon became a United Nations trust territory of Australia. Between 1956 and 1965 Emanuel was posted to the Gazelle Peninsula in northeastern East New Britain as assistant district commissioner and became fluent in the language of the local Tolai people. In August 1958 during a visit by Emanuel to Navuneram to enforce the tax, a violent confrontation erupted. In an attempted show of force, Emanuel fired his pistol into the air; the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary contingent were also ordered, not by Emanuel, to fire above the villagers' heads. Some shots hit the villagers and two were killed.

The American missionary G. T. Bustin recalled meeting Emanuel in his 1959 autobiography Gospel Trail Blazing. He noted "I have never before met an officer who is the equal of Jack Emanuel. He never raises his voice when dealing with these people. He quietly slips among them and has them drop their spears and unstring their bows. He is always kind even when he has to be stern. He loves these poor people of the bush". Alma worked as a nurse in the Rabaul Infant Welfare Clinic. She died on 18 June 1965 and a group of the Tolai attended her funeral. Emanuel afterward married Ellen Agnes and had a third child. In November around 7,000 Tolai protested on the streets of Rabaul.

Emanuel was appointed to the district commissioner role full-time in 1971. Under Emanuel, who was liberal in outlook and well-liked by those living in his district, the Gazelle Peninsula achieved one of the highest literacy rates in the territory. He often travelled alone to meet with residents at night time in an attempt to build trust, despite receiving frequent death threats from anti-government factions. Emanuel often placed himself at the scenes of confrontations between the police and residents of his district; he frequently left the safety of the police lines to meet with aggrieved parties to discuss an alternative to bloodshed.

On 19 August 1971, a group of Tolai in war paint assembled at Kabaira plantation on the Gazelle Peninsula and were confronted by the police. Emanuel staggered back towards the police lines but collapsed and died before reaching them. |group=nb in Rabaul in January 1972; the charges of four of the men were dismissed at the start of the proceedings. As the men's defences might result in them implicating each other they were entitled to separate representation and each was provided with a lawyer; eight public solicitors and eight barristers (including two Queen's Counsel, QCs) were provided by legal aid. Additionally, funding by public collection across Australia allowed two of the men to be represented privately and a Melbourne-based QC and a Brisbane-based junior barrister travelled to Raboul to represent their clients. They later withdrew from the case as the funding ran out.

The trial was reported to have cost around AU$250,000 , but may have been up to double that. The Tolai people were generally shocked by the murder and the incident led to them largely abandoning the land protest movement. The territory received self-government in 1973 and in 1975 became the independent country of Papua New Guinea.

Emanuel was awarded the George Cross, the highest British and Commonwealth award for bravery out of combat, for gallantry displayed between July 1969 and 19 August 1971. A memorial to Emanuel stands in Canberra, Australia.