Bougainville, PNG to be acknowledged as first field of Origin battle
– Pictures supplied
By ISAIAH MANISH IGISH
BOUGAINVILLE regional member Peter Tsiamalili Jr will tonight connect a piece of forgotten history when he carries a trophy made of Japanese artillery shell onto the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Game Two of the State of Origin series.
The trophy was awarded to Queensland who won a two-game series in what is possibly the first ever State of Origin match played on Sept 16, 1945, in Torokina, South Bougainville.
The trophy contains the names of the players and engraved with the words: “Interstate Rugby League Series, Bougainville”.
The trophy from the series, made from a 120mm Japanese Naval shell casing with handles either side mounted on a three-tiered wooden base, was rediscovered at a Brisbane Army Museum.
It will be taken from the museum in Caxton Street in Brisbane, near the venue of the first State of Origin in 1980, to Melbourne to be displayed alongside the current State of Origin Shield at the MCG tonight.
Acting Australian High Commissioner Dr Joanne Loundes yesterday invited Tsiamalili as a representative of Bougainville and Papua New Guinea to the game as “this will be a symbolic moment of the proud history Bougainville has in State of Origin history”.
Loundes said the trophy was symbolic of the connection Australia had with PNG and the significance of rugby league in PNG and would be on display at the MCG tonight.
“Australia, like PNG, is a sport-loving nation, proud of its diverse heritage and values. For millennia, our people have been linked, as near neighbours, close friends, and equals,” Loundes said in an invite to Tsiamalili.
“Our partnership is based on our common history, our close geography, and our shared vision for a peaceful, stable and prosperous region.
“On Sept 16, 1945 on a ground at Torokina, Bougainville a forgotten piece of military sports history took place.
“Soldiers from Queensland and New South Wales played a two-match rugby league series while stationed there during WWII. It is regarded as likely the first ever State of Origin match.”
The 1980 is widely considered as the year the first Origin game was played but historians and sports pundits acknowledge that the interstate rivalry pre-dates this seminal moment in the creation of one of Australia’s greatest sporting fixtures and series.
Queensland and NSW rugby league teams had in fact been playing each other regularly over the sport’s early years but there had been no official or widespread acceptance of the genesis point of the rivalry.
Tsiamalili said Australian Rugby League was now correcting that.
“What the ARL/NRL is doing is correcting the path. Because for many, many years, history says that the origin was birthed out of the 80s era,” Tsiamalili said.
“This recognition of the event being born out of Torokina is certainly a significant and a momentous occasion.
“Our name of Torokina will for the first time take up its position among many different competing interests but more in a more positive light.
“The history now that runs deep in Queensland, in New South Wales and in Australia is the history that was born out of Bougainville, but more importantly for a community, a group of people, a district of Bougainville, Torokina, which has been marginalised with development for many years, since 1945.
“But we’ve been very resilient and we remain focused. I see it as the shining light towards giving Torokina an opportunity to be given prominence in terms of support and development on the ground.”
He said Bougainville had been something of a trend-setter whether in politics, economic or sports.
“Bougainville has always set that foundation for greater PNG,” Tsiamalili said.
“If it means that the history of Bougainville will, again, give Papua New Guinea an edge to be in a better position to be named 18th team into the NRL, then so be it.”