He was born around 1921,“the nephew of a suspected sorcerer of Taupota village in Milne Bay district”, on the north coast of Papua, and was educated at mission schools, where he was influenced by Nita Inman, the schoolteacher, and the Reverend Edwin Nuagoro, a Papuan priest. In 1939, he entered St Aidan's Teacher Training College at Divari and in 1941 he became part of the staff at Sangara as a teacher and evangelist. On 21 July 1942 the Japanese invasion of New Guinea began.