Travel Story «Rabaul»

Papua New Guinea | 0 Comments 20 February 2008 - Last Update 20 February 2008

February 20, 2008

Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

Total Distance Traveled 12,859.7 miles
Population 5,545,268 (all of Papua New Guinea)
Language English, pidgin English, Mota and 715 indigenous languages
Currency Kina

Rabaul, meaning ‘mangrove’ in Tolia, was built on a reclaimed mangrove swamp at the edge of Simpson Harbour. The town was established by the German Empire in the early 1900s as the capital of their colony Deutsch Neu Guinea. At the start of WWI, Allied forces, primarily Australian, occupied the area on September 11, 1914 by assaulting a German Radio station at Bitapaka. After the war, it became the Australian mandatory Territory of New Guinea until attacked by the Japanese.

During WWII it was a base for the Japanese in the South Pacific. At its peak strength, the Japanese fortress of Rabaul included five airfields, a seaplane and submarine base, plus a huge naval anchorage with support facilities and a Japanese garrison that numbered almost 200,000 personnel. As the allied offensive surged toward Rabaul from the Solomons and New Guinea, the installations came under a relentless air assault. It was decided not to invade Rabaul but to bypass it and let it “wither on the vine”. As “Operation Cartwheel” gradually destroyed Rabaul’s usefulness, Admiral Halsey stated, “We will change the name of Rabaul to rubble.” To escape the savage air assault, the Japanese moved underground, honeycombing the hills around Rabaul with hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, including hospitals, repair facilities and barracks. Many allied POW’s and local inhabitants experienced extreme deprivations while digging these tunnels.

Mother Nature has also had a hand in Rabaul’s violent history. A cataclysmic explosion some 1,400 years ago formed a huge caldera into which the Pacific poured forming Simpson Harbour, one of the South Pacific’s finest anchorages.

Another powerful, explosive eruption in 1994 forced Rabaul’s abandonment. On the morning of September 19, 1994, two volcanic cones, Vulcan, which was formed during a large eruption in 1878 and Tavurvur began erupting on the opposite sides of the harbour from the town. An airplane pilot reported the ash cloud was 30 km above Rabaul. The ash that fell over the town was as much as 75 cm deep (2 feet). Heavy rains turned the ash to mud that finally dried to be nearly as hard as cement. The roofs of many building collapsed from the weight.

Papua New Guinea is an extraordinary country of dense jungle covered mountains and rain forests. Its Melanesian people are dark skinned with fuzzy hair and smiling faces. These are the friendliest people, always having a smile and a hello behind a shy demeanor. They are soft spoken and retiring. The children are happy and energetic. Why is it that the people and children who seem to have nothing, by our standards, seem the happiest?