Planting Memories

Planting Memories follows the life of Culver Matley, who, in 1935, left his drought-ravaged home in Punnichy on the Canadian prairies and sailed to an unknown life on the island of Samarai and then on the Sogeri Plateau of Papua New Guinea.

Culver lived and worked on rubber plantations in Papua for 33 years. During WW2, he served as a driver mechanic with the 68 Light Aid Detachment in the Middle East. He met his wife, Margaret, an Australian Air Force nurse in PNG and together, they built a home and raised a family of five children on the Mororo and Eilogo plantations.

Based on family letters, photographs, and memories, Planting Memories recounts many Incidents that made up daily life in the PNG mountains. But as their adopted country faced the political and economic challenges of the 1960s, Culver and Margaret reluctantly decided to leave their home and move to Australia.