Jack Hides

Jack Gordon Hides (24 June 1906 – 19 June 1938) was an explorer of the then-Australian-controlled territories of Papua and New Guinea, now modern Papua New Guinea. He served as a Patrol Officer from 1931 to 1936, and led several expeditions in the early 1930s.

Life He was born in Port Moresby, the son of the head gaoler of the Port Moresby Gaol. He received a limited education at schools in Port Moresby and Queensland. He was a good swimmer, sprinter, and amateur boxer. In 1932 he married in Australia and later became the father of two children.

His first work in the Papuan public service was in July 1925, and in May 1926 he transferred to a cadet patrol officer. In February 1928 he became a Patrol Officer, and in 1934 became Assistant Resident Magistrate, 2nd grade, serving at various bases until 1936. His work in 1931–1932 leading patrols from Kerema into the partially unexplored Kukukuku country demonstrated considerable leadership skills. In temperament he was bold and courageous, although he has received criticism that some of the loss of life during his missions could have been avoided by more careful planning or caution.

Hides was able to escape, but continued to meet unfriendly natives, and was forced to fight in total at least nine skirmishes during the patrol, and shot at least 32 tribesmen – often in defence, sometimes due to misinterpretations (see below). An inquiry into the patrol was rapidly carried out by Kikori resident magistrate Dickie Humphries, largely vindicating the killings as necessary for self-defence. Hides received some criticism for the bloodshed, especially after another patrol was launched in the same area the next year (led by Ivan Champion and C.J. Adamson) with no resulting deaths, but he nonetheless was praised by Hubert Murray, who called his patrol "the most difficult and dangerous" ever carried out in Papua.

Final expedition and death He had discovered some gold in the upper reaches of the Strickland River, and in 1936 he resigned from the Papuan public service to lead a private gold prospecting expedition up the river in February 1937, with the backing of investors in Sydney. His companion David Lyall became seriously ill on the journey, and they were forced to retreat to the coast, where Lyall died in September. He also lost a number of carriers from beriberi. Depressed by the experience, he returned to Sydney, where he died the following year from pneumonia.

Writings

Books Through Wildest Papua. London: Blackie and Son, 1935 Papuan Wonderland. London: Blackie and Son, 1936 Savage Patrol. New York: National Travel Club, 1936 Savages in Serge. Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1938 Beyond the Kubea Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1939

Magazines Pacific Islands Monthly 4:10, 1934 (cover photograph) "A Great Feast at Evesi." The Papuan Villager 6:1, 1934 "A Papuan Patrol." The Australian Geographer 2:8, 1935 "They Collect Heads!" Pacific Islands Monthly 6:7, 1936 (cover photograph)