Sinclair conducted extensive exploratory and pacification patrols in Morobe and the Southern Highlands, opening the Koroba station in 1955, the Lake Kopiago base camp in 1956 and exploring then uncontrolled areas as far as the Strickland River.

In 1959 he married Janece (Jan) Marie McGrath and they had three children. In an important way, Sinclair owed his later career as a successful author to Jan.

Also in 1959, he was appointed as officer in charge of the Wau sub-district, later serving in similar roles in Finschhafen and Lae before moving to the Eastern Highlands in 1968 as district commissioner.

Sinclair retired in 1975 around the time Papua New Guinea’s independence and embarked on his second career as a prolific recorder of PNG history, becoming a full-time author.

His first book, ‘Behind the Ranges’¸ had been published in 1966 and told of his exploratory work in Morobe and the Southern Highlands. His publishing oeuvre ultimately came to comprise nearly 40 books (see bibliography below).

Sinclair was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1992, an honorary doctorate from the Australian National University in 1999 and a Companion in the Order of the Star of Melanesia in 2008.

“We were so fortunate to have Jim Sinclair among us,” said Peter Salmon, publisher of the Ex Kiap website.

Fellow kiap turned author Phil Fitzpatrick said: “Jim acted as a kind of focus point for kiaps. He was a quiet, gentle man; very humble”.

“Jim was one of nature’s gentlemen,” Peter Brindley, who served under him in the Eastern Highlands in 1970, told the Ex Kiap website. “The world is a lesser place now.”

“One of the old school,” said Ross Johnson. “His passing represents the end of an era. “Rest in peace, my friend, bihain bi mi lukim yu.”

Long time PNG resident Rob Parer CMG OBE observed that “Jim was certainly PNG’s man of letters. He wrote such complete accounts of so many diverse subjects. Thousands of pages.”

And Parer disclosed how close Papua New Guinea and Australia had come to being denied Sinclair’s chronicles. “A short time after she married him, Jan said she saw him tearing up a huge pile of sheets of paper held together by long bolts,” Parer said.

“When she asked him what he was doing, Jim said ‘just some stuff I’ve written and everyone in New Guinea writes stuff.’

“Jan stopped him, and the rest is history,” Parer added.

Select Bibliography

Behind the Ranges: Patrolling in New Guinea, Melbourne University Press, 1966.

The Outside Man: Jack Hides of Papua, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1969 (reprinted 1971)

Sepik Pilot: Wing Commander Bobby Gibbes DSO, DFC and Bar, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1971 (reprinted 1977)

The Highlanders, Jacaranda Press, Brisbane, 1973 (reprinted 1980)

Wigmen of Papua, Jacaranda Press, Brisbane, 1973

Faces of New Guinea, Jacaranda Press, Brisbane, 1973

The Arts of Papua New Guinea, Robert Brown & Associates, Port Moresby, 1977.

Colourful Papua New Guinea, Robert Brown & Associates, Port Moresby, 1977

Wings of Gold: How the Aeroplane Developed New Guinea, Pacific Publications, Sydney, 1978 (reprinted 1983)

Up From South, by Jack O’Neill with notes and background by James Sinclair. Oxford  University Press, 1979

Cape York to Coolangatta, Jacaranda Press, Brisbane, 1981

Kiap: Australia’s Patrol Officers in Papua New Guinea, Pacific Publications, Sydney, 1981 (reprinted 1983

South Pacific Brewery, Robert Brown & Associates, Bathurst, 1983

Uniting a Nation: The Telecommunication and Postal Services of Papua New Guinea, Oxford University Press, Sydney, 1984

Papua New Guinea: The First 100 Years, Robert Brown & Associates, Bathurst, 1985 (reprinted 1989)

Balus: The Aeroplane in Papua New Guinea. Vol One: The Early Years, Robert Brown & Associates, Bathurst, 1986

Balus: The Aeroplane in Papua New Guinea. Vol Two: The Rise of Talair, Robert Brown & Associates, Bathurst, 1988

Balus: The Aeroplane in Papua New Guiea. Vol Three: Wings of a Nation, Robert Brown& Associates, Bathurst, 1990

Last Frontiers: The Explorations of Ivan Champion of Papua, Pacific Press, Gold Coast, 1988

To Find a Path: The Life and Times of the Royal Pacific Islands Regiment. Vol One:

Yesterday’s Heroes 1885-1950, Boolarong Press, Brisbane, 1990

To Find a Path: Vol Two: Keeping the Peace 1945-1975, Crawford House Press, Bathurst, 1992

South Pacific: The Games of 1990, Crawford House Press, Bathurst, 1991

PTC: Uniting a Nation Through the 1980’s, Crawford House Press, Bathurst, 1993.

The Money Tree: Coffee in Papua New Guinea, Crawford House Press, Bathurst, 1995

Golden Gateway: Lae and the Province of Morobe, Crawford House Press, Bathurst, 1998

MastaMak: The Land Surveyors of Papua New Guinea, Crawford House Publishing, Adelaide, 2001

The Papua Club, Crawford House Publishing, Adelaide, 2002

Madang. Divine Word University Press, Madang, 2005

Steamships Trading Company, Alan Caudell & Associates, Cairns, 2008

Gavamani: The Magisterial Service of British New Guinea, Crawford House Publishing, Adelaide, 2009

Mr B: The Life and Times of Sir Brian Bell, Alan Caudell & Associates, Cairns, 2010

Diwai: A History of Divine Word University, 2013

The Middle Kingdom – a major history of the Highlands Districts of PNG from the beginnings to Independence, Crawford House Publishing, Adelaide, 2014

The Creek: Edie Creek and the Morobe goldfield, Crawford House Publishing, Adelaide, 2015