When Nuns Wore Soldier's Trousers
by Pat Studdy-Clift
ISBN 978 0 85905 469 0, (2009 new), Soft Cover, Saddle Stitched, 59 pages, illustrated, 90grams
$16.50 + POST
During the murderous Japanese campaign in New Guinea missionaries of all denominations were killed and their flocks dispersed. This is the story of a small group of German Catholic Sisters of the Divine Word Mission at Marienberg on the north coast, near the lower Sepik.
"This is a true story drawn mostly from Sr. Vinciana's diary, in which she captures her own and the other four Sisters' harrowing ascent through rugged jungle forests, skirting steep escarpments, clawing their way up mountains of rock, negotiating with antagonistic natives coupled with the constant ducking and weaving to avoid Japanese spotter planes.
Sr.Vinciana has now left this earthly life yet her written words have guided my pen as surely as if she was dictating to me.
Together with other archival sources this marathon flight to survival has been etched into the unheralded folk lore of The Divine Word Mission and rightly should stand besides the greatest women's achievements of the twentieth century.
Gird up your loins and trek with these Sisters as they make history in the wilds of Papua New Guinea."
From the back cover note by Pat Clift.
Pat Clift has written With Only Our Gloves On, Bush Justice (with Ron Brown), Darwin Dilemmas (with Ron Brown), The Lady Bushranger, and On the Banks of the Condamine, most of which have been published by Hesperian Press. Several have been made into documentaries.
Also the Papua New Guinea interest is her book in preparation on the history of a fascinating aircraft and its pilots/owners over the jungles of PNG.