Rabaul readies for war anniversary
The 70th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific ( VP Day) will be celebrated on August 15, marking the end of World War 2 with Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allies.
The commemoration will be particularly poignant in Rabaul, where the Japanese perpetrated a massacre of Australian troops.
The Rabaul events include a Dawn Service, a Gunfire breakfast at the Rabaul Yacht Club, and lunch and Two-Up at the Ralum Club.
War historian and PNG trekking operator David Howell says that during World War 2 Rabaul was a strategic asset having an excellent harbour and two nearby airfields, at Lakunai and Vunakanau.
The 1396-strong Australian Lark Force was sent there to protect it from Japanese invasion, but was overrun by 5000 Japanese troops on January 23, 1942.
“Resistance lasted only hours before the Australians were ordered to disperse in an ‘every man for himself’ withdrawal,” Howell says. “No contingency plans were in place for retreat, chaos ensued and Lark Force disintegrated.”
The soldiers fled into the jungle, along what is known today as the Lark Force Wilderness Track.
Although some men escaped by boat, most were captured. On February 3, 160 were massacred at the Tol Plantation on the shores of Wide Bay.
Months later, 845 Australian soldiers and 208 civilians, captured at New Britain and New Ireland, were killed when the Japanese transport ship Montevideo Maru was mistakenly sunk by the submarine USS Sturgeon.
New Britain remained the main Japanese base throughout the Pacific War, and it was from here that Japanese campaigns, such as Kokoda and Guadalcanal, were launched.
Today, the 60-kilometre Lark Force Wilderness Track can be undertaken with a number of commercial operators, including a 10-day walk with Howell’s Kokoda Historical.
“The trek takes hikers into the heart of the jungle where the massacre took place,” Howell says. “There’s a memorial there and we make a short stop for a service to honour the men that died.”
The escorted trek starts in Rabaul with a tour of Japanese underground tunnels and a visit to the New Guinea Club, which has survived volcanic eruptions, Japanese occupation and Allied bombing.
The trekking proper includes creek crossings and log bridges, with accommodation in village guesthouses and camps.
Air Niugini flies regularly from Port Moresby and Cairns to Rabaul. See airniugini.com.pg.
For more about the Lark Force Wilderness Track, see kokodahistorical.com.au. The next trek will start on August 17. ■ The Pacific Games baton relay, which started a 100-day journey around Papua New Guinea in March, has captured the hearts and minds of the nation.
Large crowds have greeted the baton as it has been carried over roads (pictured), bush tracks, rivers and up mountains to each of PNG’s 22 provinces.
The Games, due to start in Port Moresby on July 4, will attract thousands of athletes and spectators, over 16 days and 14 venues.
The PNG team has 600 athletes competing in sports such as athletics, weightlifting, boxing, cricket, netball and swimming.
In all, there will be 4000 athletes competing from 24 countries, many of them housed in the new Games village at the University of PNG.
Air Niugini is a major supporter of the Games and the exclusive carrier of the athletes and officials.
The airline has emblazoned three of its aircraft – two Boeing 737s and a Fokker 100 – with the logo of the 2015 Pacific Games, which shows a lagatoi (doublehulled canoe).
For more about the Games, see portmoresby2015.com.
Games schedule and update, page 90.