“The former capital of New Britain has a history of destruction and resurrection – the city rebuilt after a massive 1937 volcanic eruption only to be destroyed by Allied bombing in World War II. In 1994, the eruption of Mt. Tavurvur dropped hot ash and rock on Rabaul, leading to its partial abandonment. Since that cataclysm, the city has slowly returned to life – hotels have resumed operating, the market continues to trade, and the harbor remains one of the most impressive in the entire Pacific basin.
During World War II, Rabaul served as a forward operating base for the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. Allied bombing forced the Japanese defenders underground, into a complex system of bunkers and tunnels on the Gazelle Peninsula.” – Princess Patter
As the Pacific Princess pulled in to Simpson Harbour, we sighted several volcanic cones from our balcony. At least one of the cones appeared to be active and had smoke rising from its crater.
Another hot day as we were again approaching the equator. We were led to expect mosquitos carrying malaria, dengue and/or zika … dilapidated old transport without air conditioning … and crowds of impoverished natives begging for US dollars! We were pleasantly surprised to find that a breeze off the ocean kept the mosquitos away (we had, none the less, coated ourselves with deet!) … the transport was mostly fairly new Toyota Mini Buses with air conditioning that was more than adequate … and, although this is clearly not a wealthy nation, the people were nicely dressed, they appeared to be well fed and they most certainly were not begging.
I should note here that Rabaul was our port but the city of Rabaul has a rather disastrous history. It was destroyed by volcanic eruption in 1937 and then heavily bombed during World War II. As the capital of East New Britain, the city was rebuilt but, again, it was buried in volcanic ash during an eruption in 1994. At that point the capital was moved to Kokopo about 20 minutes southeast of Rabaul. Despite the fact that the old city of Rabaul is now covered in approximately 6 feet of volcanic ash, it currently has a population of over 300,000 residents.
We opted for a group tour. Our guide, Willie, was a first year college student majoring in English who intended to become a teacher. This was lucky as Papua New Guinea has about 715 native languages and pidgin is in wider use than English. Our tour group consisted of 8 passengers, a driver and the guide. We traveled in a comfortable minibus. We began by traveling south from Rabaul on the coast road. Our first stop was a tunnel carved into the side of the hillside a couple of hundred feed above the shore. In the tunnel were the rusting hulks of three Japanese barges. We were told that the Japanese used prisoners of war and impressed natives to dig the tunnels (apparently they are all over the island) and to then lay rails from the shore and pull the barges up the hillside into the tunnel for protection from Allied bombing.
From the barge tunnel we traveled on to the capital city of Kokopo. Kokopo has a population of approximately 500,000 residents. It is a somewhat modern resort city. The main crops in the area are cocoanut oil and copra. According to our guide about two cruise liners dock in Rabaul each month. So tourism is becoming a bigger part of the economy.
Our first stop in Kokopo was the War Museum (East New Britain Historical & Cultural Centre Kokopo Museum) which consisted primarily of the rusting remains of Japanese tanks and guns left on the island after the war. These are supplemented by some native cultural artifacts and two small crocodiles in a wire pen in back.
Our next stop was Queen Emma’s steps. Queen Emma was not royalty nor was she a native of New Guinea. Her parents were an American and a Polynesian. She was born in San Francisco and migrated to the South Pacific with her first or second husband. She finally settled in the Rabaul/Kokopo area and entered into the copra trade. She made a fortune in the copra trade and built a grand house near Kokopo. She was apparently treated as royalty and, hence, the sobriquet, Queen. All that remains of her grand house is the steps. I suspect that the steps are on the tour primarily to promote the locally owned hotel and convention centre which now owns the property.
The final stop on our tour was the Bita Paka War Cemetery. The cemetery is maintained by the Australian Government and primarily is the last resting place of Australian soldiers killed in World War i and World War II. It also has a memorial that lists all the names of Australian soldiers that went missing in action and are presumed dead as a result of the battles fought between Australia and Japan in Papua New Guinea.
