By Malum Nalu
The airport was in the middle of town, streets were lined with flowers, electricity and water supplies were reliable, and families gathered to watch police parades outside the old post office.
It was a small, friendly town where everybody seemed to know everybody, and community spirit was something people treasured.
Fifty-seven years later, Keith, the 80-year-old founder and Managing Director of KK Kingston Ltd, remembers those days with great affection.
He has watched Lae grow from a quiet country town into Papua New Guinea's industrial capital, established one of the country's major manufacturing companies, and witnessed enormous changes in the city he still calls home.
I sat down with Keith in Lae on Saturday, October 10, 2026, to talk about his remarkable journey, his memories of old Lae, and his hopes for the city's future.
What emerged was a nostalgic and inspirational story of entrepreneurship, perseverance and an enduring love for Lae.
THE LAE OF 1969
Keith was born in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1946, and trained as a boilermaker after growing up with a fascination for aircraft and engineering.
When he arrived in Lae in 1969, he had been living in a small two-room dwelling beside a river in Northern District (now province).
Coming to Lae was like arriving in a big city.
"Back in those days, of course, Lae had a very big expatriate population," he recalled.
"But Lae was a very vibrant little town.
"The planes landed on the old airstrip in the middle of town.
"You could go and check your bag in at the airport and you could sit in the office working.
"And then when you heard the plane arrive, you would race down and then board the plane and leave.
"It was just a little, tiny, friendly country town."
Keith remembers the restaurants, the social gatherings and the annual Morobe Show Ball, which was one of the biggest events on the town's social calendar.
"Lae was a great little town, very social town," he said.
"We used to have the Morobe Show Ball.
"It was like the social event of the calendar for the year."
Those were the days when friendships were easily made, families enjoyed community activities and people took pride in their town.
Little did Keith realise that Lae would become his home for the next 57 years.
FROM A GARAGE TO A MANUFACTURING GIANT
In 1972, three years after arriving in Lae and three years before Papua New Guinea gained Independence, Keith established what would become KK Kingston Ltd.
The business began modestly, operating from a garage and supplying machinery and tools to local industries.
Keith says he never arrived in Lae with a grand plan to establish a major manufacturing company.
It was simply a matter of recognising an opportunity.
"I once asked somebody, what's the difference between an entrepreneur and an opportunist?" he recalled.
"Nobody's ever been able to tell me exactly what the difference is.
"It wasn't that I chose Lae in which to make a business.
"It was the fact that I was just here and an opportunity presented itself and I just took advantage of it."
The business initially imported machinery and tools before expanding into manufacturing chemicals and plastic bottles.
As demand increased, the company diversified into other products.
"The business originally was not in manufacturing," Keith explained.
"The business originally was in importing and selling machinery and tools which people needed.
"And then there was a need for plastic bottles.
"Really, I guess the business just grew because there were opportunities or people came looking for supply because those things that were required for their businesses just didn't exist."
Keith admits that some people thought his ideas were crazy.
"I think a lot of people thought I was completely crazy and they were probably right to some degree because I saw opportunities long before other people did," he said.
Over the decades, KK Kingston grew into a major manufacturing company, employing hundreds of Papua New Guineans.
Today, it still employs well over 200 people.
For a business that began in a garage, it is an extraordinary achievement.
MEMORIES OF A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE TOWN
Some of Keith's fondest memories are of the Lae of the 1970s, when the town was clean, beautifully maintained and full of community life.
He remembers the old post office, with its clock tower and flagpole, where families gathered on certain Friday evenings to watch police parades.
"The police used to march and they had a band," he recalled.
"It was a kind of a festive afternoon or early evening where they would march down and they would lower the flag and play music.
"And all the families would be there and the children would run around and it was a kind of a festive time."
Keith also remembers a town with good roads, reliable electricity, well-maintained gardens and numerous restaurants where friends gathered.
"Look, you know, it was just such a vibrant little town," he said.
"There must have been, apart from the yacht club and the golf club, at least 10 restaurants in this town where you could go and have a great meal.
"And the place was clean, neat and tidy.
"And people had a lot of pride in the town in which they lived."
But what he misses most is the community spirit.
"There was this sense of being, a sense of community," Keith recalled.
"And when something went wrong, when something sad or bad happened, the community pulled together."
He remembers the sadness of losing close friends when their employment contracts ended and they returned overseas.
He also remembers the community rallying around families when two of his friends died in an aircraft accident.
For Keith, it was the people, more than anything else, who made old Lae special.
A CITY THAT HAS CHANGED
After 57 years, Keith has seen Lae change dramatically.
And he does not hide his disappointment at the deterioration of infrastructure, public services and civic pride.
"The very old Lae had all good roads, good electricity supply, good water supply," he said.
"We've lost all those things."
He worries that younger generations have grown up without knowing what the city was once like.
"If you take a, let's say a 25 or 30-year-old Papua New Guinean today, they don't know Lae, they don't know what a good road is, they don't know what good electrical supply is, they don't know what good law and order is.
"They accept what they live in now.
"And that's sad because this used to be, as I said, a wonderful social little town where you never saw a rusty roof."
Keith remembers the flower-lined streets and beautifully maintained gardens of his younger days.
"When I first came here, the streets were lined with flowers," he recalled.
He believes restoring Lae's former beauty requires strong leadership, enforcement of regulations and a renewed sense of community pride.
"You've got to rebuild pride in your community," he said.
THE CHILDREN WHO MADE HIM THINK
One of the most moving moments of our conversation came when Keith recalled seeing thousands of schoolchildren walking through Lae one morning.
He had forgotten his passport while travelling to Nadzab Airport and was returning to town with Jerry, a longtime Papua New Guinean employee who has worked with him for more than 35 years.
As they drove, Keith noticed the children heading to their different schools.
The sight made him think deeply about their future.
"I could see all these young children in their school uniforms, thousands of them going to the different schools," he recalled.
"And I said to him, Jerry, you know, it's great to see all these young children going to school, but I think it is terribly sad because these young children are going to school thinking that when they get educated they're going to find a job.
"How many of these thousands of young children we're seeing, how many of them will get a job?"
For Keith, unemployment remains one of the greatest challenges facing Lae and Papua New Guinea.
He believes manufacturing could provide opportunities for thousands of young people.
Having visited factories in countries such as India, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia, he wonders why Papua New Guinea cannot establish similar industries.
"Why can't we be manufacturing people's clothing in this country?" he asked.
"We import it all.
"Why can't we do what Fiji did and create a manufacturing industry for clothing?
"We should be making it ourselves."
He believes reliable electricity, water, land and security are essential to attracting industries that could employ thousands of Papua New Guineans.
"If they employ 2,000, 3,000 people earning money, then something good will have been achieved," he said.
LAE WILL ALWAYS BE HOME
Although Keith was born in Australia, Papua New Guinea has been home for most of his adult life.
A passionate game fisherman, he has travelled extensively throughout the country, exploring remote rivers and islands and developing a deep appreciation of its natural beauty.
"I've been all around the country and on my own boat," he said.
"I've explored places where we were the first person to cast a fishing lure in a river for black bass or trolling around the Louisiade Islands."
Those experiences have strengthened his belief that Papua New Guinea has enormous untapped potential, particularly in tourism.
"I see so many opportunities for PNG and we just don't seem to be achieving those things," he said.
Keith has a home in Australia, but Lae remains deeply embedded in his life.
"I guess I have two homes," he said.
"I have a home in Australia and we enjoy spending time there.
"But Lae's been home for a very long time.
"PNG's been home for a very long time."
ONE LAST WALK THROUGH OLD LAE
Towards the end of our conversation, I asked Keith what he would do if he could take one final walk through the Lae of the 1970s.
Which places would he visit?
Who would he want to see?
What memories would return?
"Gosh, that's a hard one to answer," he said.
He thought about the restaurants, the friendships, the clean streets and the wonderful sense of community.
He remembered a town where people took pride in their surroundings and came together when someone needed help.
He also spoke about his dream of seeing more public parks and recreational areas, particularly around the old airport and waterfront, where families could gather and children could play.
Keith acknowledges efforts by Lae MP and Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso to improve the city, but believes much more can be achieved.
For him, restoring Lae's greatness begins with restoring pride in the city.
"We still think of Lae as home and the preferred place, if you like," he said.
"But it could be much better than it is.
"And I think it requires leadership and communication.
"And first thing is just start making people feel proud of their city again."
At 80, Keith Kingston has every reason to look back with pride.
He arrived in Lae in 1969 as a young tradesman, established a business three years later, and watched it grow into one of Papua New Guinea's established manufacturing companies.
He has witnessed Independence, economic growth, changing generations and the transformation of a small country town into a major industrial city.
Yet despite all the changes, he has never lost his belief in Lae.
His story is a reminder that success does not always begin with wealth or grand plans.
Sometimes it begins with a young man, a garage, a few tools and the courage to recognise an opportunity.
Fifty-seven years later, Keith Kingston is still looking towards the future, still thinking about the industries that could be established, the jobs that could be created and the city that could once again become a place of beauty and pride.
The Lae of 1969 may never return exactly as it was.
The old airport is gone, the familiar faces have changed, and the beautiful little town has grown into a sprawling city.
But the spirit that made Lae special can be rediscovered.
For Keith Kingston, Lae was the place where opportunity presented itself in 1969.
He seized it, built a business and made a life.
And after 57 years, Lae is still home.
ENDS
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