Ballalae warplanes shipped to Australia

From Solomon Star today. The plot thickens.
I wonder what the new Solomons government will be able to do about this?

Submitted by drupal on Mon, 2008-01-07 14:39. Headlines
BY EDNAL PALMER

WARPLANE remains controversially removed from Ballalae Island then held in a Ports Authority shed in Honiara have been quietly shipped to Australia.
The four World War Two Japanese planes were removed from Ballalae in the Shortland Islands but trouble then erupted.
Ninamo Otuana, who claims registered title over the island, said he was pursuing the matter in court. He said he had sought an injunction to stop the planes being shipped overseas from Honiara.
Mr Otuana alleged a small group of high profile people benefited from the deal under the name of the FAMOA trust board.
However, a Solomon Islands Ports Authority source confirmed the warplanes were shipped to Australia last month in two containers.
SITE
Ballalae was the site of a big Japanese airbase during World War Two. Hundreds of British prisoners of war were used by the Japanese to build the Ballalae runway and then massacred there.
After the war the island was said to contain one of the largest collections of Japanese World War Two planes still intact.
The latest removal stirred anger amongst people who said the continuing removal of planes from Ballalae is stealing the area’s heritage. It was also taking tourism benefits away from future generations of Solomon Islanders.
The then Opposition - now the Sikua Government - also voiced concern about the deal and whether it benefited the country. However, the plane removal is believed to have had support within the Sogavare Government.
An Australian by the name of Craig Turner is the person reported to have been spearheading the project to get the war relics overseas.
In 2003 Mr Turner was said to have been appointed senior advisor and director of the project by the then Tourism Minister, Alex Bartlett.
LICENCE
As part of his remuneration package, he was said to have been granted an exclusive licence to remove 11 World War Two aircraft from Ballalae.
He was said to have been required among other tasks to assist with the development of a satellite museum at Ballalae and to train Solomon Islanders in conservation techniques.
A reliable source said Mr Turner said he had been director of an aircraft salvage museum. But the source said there was no evidence that this place existed.
The source said that the appropriateness of granting an exclusive license to export items of national heritage to an advisor as part of his salary should be questioned.
The source said the planes and plane parts removed from Ballalae have been used in aircraft restoration overseas. This has generated millions of dollars for the overseas restorers when the planes are bought and exhibited.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGdF0G-4v5E

Thank you for posting this. It is a broadcast from the local Solomon Islands TV news. Interestingly, shortly after this happened, the Prime Minister was voted out in a vote of no confidence. The Tourism Minister who authorised it lost his seat in the last election.

You can get a real insight into the story from Justin on pacificwrecks database - which is where I first heard about it - he was writing a brilliant blog whilst they were waiting for the wheels of justice to grind.

There's been removal & salvage for years - but the problem is money talks & it's all short term. There's no point people like me who are plane wreck fans going there to see the stuff if the best bits have been nicked to go in someone's private collection.

I appreciate the American's who want to salvage & believe it's necessary, have this thing about recovery at all costs, they don't like leaving anything of theirs behind - I'm not quite sure why this is - I think it's a very complicated neurosis.

It's certainly not something Justin suffers from

I think we believe that the locals should have the wrecks & charge a fee for them to be viewed. If the wrecks disintegrate & rot over time - so be it. Better that the locals earn out of it than one individual who wants a big boy toy collection.

At the time I did link the story to the BBC - because of the PoWs who were on Ballalae, but they never picked up the story. I did wonder there & then about the difference between 'our brave lads' - when they have a story they want to hang it on, & 'our brave lads' when they don't have a story to hang it on, & frankly can't be arsed to report something on the other side of the world, although it was a killing field for British troops. I read about the PoWs on Ballalae, & IMHO they were bloody brave.

My interest in Solomon Islands has little to do with WWII, and much to do with their own culture. However, it makes me angry when their own people rip them off, which is what was happening in that case.