Australian military issue suede boots : Chief Negotiator G Ruediger, Bougainville Peace Monitoring Group

Pair of worn light brown suede Australian military issue size 280/100 'Terra' boots without toecaps. Each boot has four pairs of brass eyelets and five pairs of riveted loops to retain the green nylon laces. The top loop has a brass D ring with a plastic lock down stud which retains the lace in position even when untied. There are a pair of mesh covered ventilation holes located at each instep. The boot uppers from the heel to the ankle are of pale brown woven nylon, with a reinforcing strip of nylon webbing stitched across them. The upper ankle support section is made of padded brown suede leather. The soles are of dark green rubber, over an inner layer of lighter olive green rubber. The suede tongues are lined with green fabric, and each has a built-in Velcro pocket. The removable insoles are made of rubber with an upper surface of leather. Under the arch of both boots is stamped into the rubber sole the size '280/100 / MONDOPOINT' and the Government broad arrow symbol. There are remnants of mud still caked in some parts of the sole.

These boots were worn by Guy Ruediger while serving with the Peace Monitoring Group (PMG) during his deployment to Bougainville in 2002-2003. He was the Chief Negotiator between 17 January to 11 April 2003 (including handovers). He had previously served as Deputy Chief Negotiator from August to November 2000.

The Peace Monitoring Group (PMG) operated on Bougainville from 1998 to 2003. The PMG comprised a mix of military and civilian personnel from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Vanuatu. They played an important role in facilitating the peace process between Papua New Guinea and Bougainville, by monitoring the ceasefire, increasing awareness of the peace process and providing a neutral presence to assist the discussion of important issues regarding the future of Bougainville.

The PMG was deployed in on 1 May 1998, taking over from the New Zealand-led Truce Monitoring Group (TMG) that had been in place since December 1997. Its headquarters were variously located at Arawa and Loloho in central Bougainville. It had teamsites and barebases across the island, including in the north (Buka, Wakunai), South (Tonu/Konga, Buin) and centre (Arawa, Sirikatau).

Throughout its deployment the PMG Logistics Unit provided helicopter, land and sea transport, medical, dental, engineering, catering and supply support through its contingent based at Loloho. As the situation allowed, the PMG was drawn down from a maximum of around 300 personnel to 195, and then again to 75 - its strength at the time the PMG withdrew in August 2003. In total over 5000 unarmed personnel, including over 3500 Australian Defence Force personnel and over 300 Australian civilians, deployed with the PMG.

Under Article 330(c) of the Bougainville Peace Agreement the parties to the peace process agreed that the PMG should withdraw around the middle of, and not later than the end of, 2002. Following requests from the PNG Government, Australia agreed to maintain the PMG beyond the end of 2002. Assessing the peace process to be sufficiently robust to warrant the withdrawal of its military contingent, Australia announced in February 2003 that its PMG contingent would cease operations on 30 June 2003, and withdraw shortly afterwards. This decision was supported by a similar announcement from New Zealand.

On 30 June the PMG held a ceremony to mark the cessation of operations and hand over to the Bougainville Transition Team. The final contingent of the PMG withdrew in HMAS Tobruk on 23 August 2003.