Feature
By Bob Connolly
MELBOURNE, Australia (Radio Australia, Sept. 14, 2016) – The last time filmmaker Bob Connolly was in the Papua New Guinea Highlands, he was caught up in one of the bloodiest tribal wars in the region's history. That was 25 years ago. Now, Connolly has returned to the Highlands to catch up with the key characters from his award-winning trilogy of documentaries centred on the Leahy family, made with his late partner Robin Anderson in the 1980s and 90s.
My house is full of souvenirs from our years in the PNG Highlands, among them arrow-pitted shields, gold lipped pearlshells from a moka ceremony and a black palm bow I no longer have the strength to draw back.
But the souvenir that means most to me has sadly disappeared, lost a decade ago when my attic became an upstairs bedroom for my two daughters.
It was a nondescript piece of cane, twisted in the shape of a figure eight, about the size of a...