Doctor’s Wife in Papua

by Margaret Spencer

Robert Hale, 1964, [First Edition], black and white photographic plates, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, minor rubbing to edges and corners, previous owners inscription whited out on front endpaper, dustjacket shows a little edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing, bumping and chipping to edges and corners (see photographs)

“To the north-east of Papua lies Fergusson Island, one of the D’Entrecasteaux group, which is administered by Australia.  It was to this isolated island and to the medical station at Mapamoiwa that Margaret Spencer and her doctor husband came.  There they found a group pf dedicated young Australians working courageously among thirty thousand primitive natives only recently removed from cannibalism and headhunting.
Their special task was malaria control which entailed visiting the numerous scattered islands and settlements.  They learnt to understand the people and the problems of evolution from stone age savagery to modern self-government.  Hunting, fishing and living with the natives provided a valuable insight into a little-known area of eh world and its inhabitants.”