When the War Came – New Guinea Islands 1942

With its spectacular harbour, Rabaul was once known as the Pearl of the Pacific. The port was an important export and import point.

On January 23, 1942, the Japanese invaded, transformed the town into a Pacific fortress and used it to launch campaigns at Kokoda as well as the battles of Midway and the Coral Sea.

Unlike many of the infamous battles staged from Rabaul, the story of the port town has been little told. But this book, a social history, aims to correct the oversight with a bewitching collection of personal and family stories. It also recounts the sinking of the Montevideo Maru.

The individual stories transport the reader to another time. The story of Gladys Baker is one of 149 stories (the book runs to about 500 pages), written, in many cases, by descendants of those whose lives were lost to war.

Baker scribbled notes on scraps of paper. Her story is told by Ally Martell, who says that the news that Rabaul had been bombed came by drums and smoke signals. “It was a clear day and the smoke signals had been seen on the mainland 64 miles (103 kilometres) away. On January 24 I loaded my pinnace (a small boat), Langu II , and set out to make food dumps ...” Baker’s remarkable story includes an encounter with a Japanese sea plane. But the feisty plantation owner is credited with saving the lives of 240 sick and wounded who escaped from Rabaul. The introductory pages of When the War Came include a powerful contribution from Max Uechtritz, born in Rabaul, who was a director of news at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and at Al Jazeera English. He writes: “The war is long gone but the pain and anger of descendants of victims will not fade away. The anger could be eased – by giving the events of Rabaul 1942 due respect and recognition.” The book, made up of black and white photographs that place it in the time it portrays, seems to do just that.

When the War Came has been produced by the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia. There are limited copies available. See pngaa.org.