Much has been written about the so-called patrol officers, or kiaps, in colonial Papua New Guinea (PNG). That material includes some books by kiaps, recording their memoirs of their time in PNG, and some by historians and others trying to understand the colonial experience and its impacts on contemporary PNG. The accounts by kiaps record interesting human experiences in a country of remarkable diversity, and the inside workings of what was for most Papua New Guineans the main manifestation of government. A few of these accounts also provide insights into major developments in PNG.