Michael "Mick" James Leahy MBE

MBE

MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...

(26 February 1901 - 7 March 1979) was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n explorer and colonialist, famed for his discovery of the Highlands area of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

. He photographed, filmed and published many of his explorations widely.

Early life

Leahy was born in Toowoomba, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, the fourth of nine children of Irish migrants Daniel Leahy, a railway guard, and his wife Ellen, née Stone. After an education at the Christian Brothers' College in Toowoomba, Leahy initially worked as a railway clerk before leaving to become a freelance timber cutter. He abandoned this in 1926 upon hearing about the Edie Creek gold strike in New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

. He was soon followed to New Guinea by his brothers Paddy, Jim and Danny, while another brother, Tom, remained in Toowoomba.

After suffering from an almost fatal bout of malaria upon trying to reach the gold fields, Leahy instead took a construction and labour management job.

Explorer

Mick Leahy with Mick Dwyer walked across New Guinea in 1930 and disproved the prevailing opinion that the interior of the island was unpopulated.

Mick and his brother Danny were leaders of the 1933 expedition that opened up the Wahgi valley of the Western Highlands.

He was one of the first Europeans to reach and climb the country's second tallest mountain

Mountain

Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...

 – Mount Giluwe

Mount Giluwe

Mount Giluwe is the second highest mountain in Papua New Guinea at . It is located in the Southern Highlands province and is an old shield volcano with vast alpine grasslands. Ancient volcanic plugs form its two summits, with the central peak the highest and an east peak about away at...

 (1934). However, Jack Hides

Jack Hides

Jack Gordon Hides was an explorer of the then-Australian-controlled territories of Papua and New Guinea, now modern Papua New Guinea. He served as a Patrol Officer from 1931 to 1936, and led several expeditions in the early 1930s....

 had also laid claim to be the first to discover Mount Giluwe, so Leahy went to England in 1935 and forced the Royal Geographical Society

Royal Geographical Society

The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...

 to set up a hearing into the two opposing claims. The following year Leahy was awarded a grant from the Society and published his discoveries in their journal.

During the Second World War he joined the Royal Australian Air Force

Royal Australian Air Force

The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...

 as a flight lieutenant and was assigned to the US chief engineer to build an airstrip in Telefomin

Telefomin

Telefomin is a station town on the border of Sandaun and Western Provinces in Papua New Guinea. The town started during the Second World War after Mick Leahy was assigned to engineer an air-strip in 1944 for the United States for use against the Imperial Japanese Army forces based in New Guinea.The...

. For his services during the war Leahy was awarded the US Medal of Freedom with bronze palm in 1948, appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (MBE) in 1952 and made an honorary member of the Explorers Club in 1959.

The 1983 award-winning documentary film 'First Contact' is about the exploration of the Wahgi Valley and Mount Hagen

Mount Hagen

Mount Hagen is third largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is the capital of the Western Highlands Province and is located in the large fertile Wahgi Valley in central mainland Papua New Guinea, at an elevation of ....

 in Papua New Guinea based on much of Leahy's footage.

He died at Zenag in Morobe

Morobe

Morobe may refer to several places in Papua New Guinea:*Morobe Province*Morobe, Papua New Guinea*Morobe Goldfield *Morobe Bay...

province, in 1979.