27/07/2025
Sir John Kaputin of East New Britain, PNG .
As well as being a leading PNG politician post-independence, he was a trailblazer in his youth, being an accomplished sportsman, the first PNG man to marry a white woman (Christine Parkinson), and a leading figure in the Mataungan Association which campaigned for local land ownership rights in pre-independence PNG.
He was one of the first PNG nationals to study at an overseas University - the University of Hawaii in Honolulu - from 1966 – 1968. His lapel badge reads VIETNAM MORATORIUM WITHDRAW ALL TROOPS NOW and in the early 1970s he took part in several anti-Vietnam war protests at Australian Universities.
As an athlete he was in the first PNG team to take part in at the Commonwealth Games in Perth in 1962, and in rugby he was the first PNG player to play for the then whites-only Kone Tigers Club in 1960 and played in the inter-Territory competition.
When playing in Madang he was not allowed to stay at a local hotel as a black man, but was invited into the home of a local teacher in the town, Michael Somare, which was the start of a long political association.
He contested and easily won the 1972 General Elections and became the member for Rabaul Open for Papua New Guinea's first National Parliament. He later served as Minister for Finance and Foreign Minister and in 2005 was appointed secretary-general of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States.
His niece Rellie Kaputin shares his athletic prowess and has represented PNG at the Olympics as a jumper and holds the PNG national records for the high jump, long jump, and triple jump events.
