IT'S OUR HOME & THE ONLY ONE WE'VE GOT!

DUST OVER RABAUL, August 2008. Rabaul Town (us) immediately under the dust cloud!This mid-year season, Rabaul Town, has experienced the WORST ash fallout from Mt. Tavuruvr Volcano (Matupit) in my personal opinion/experience. The eruption of 1994, was of course, DISASTROUS, and I don't wish to downplay this fact, but this year 2008, Tavurvur appears to have produced the largest and most consistent amount of ash (sand really) since then.

We are under seige and overwhelmed.

At the Rabaul Hotel, we have valued staff on the roofs, in the garden & its surrounds, every day, with shovels and wheel barrows digging out the ash that has accumulated over night.

It is a horrible and tedious job, but it has to be done or the roofs will collapse.

Rabaul Town is not so pretty these days. Unfortunately, not like its halcyon days when it was described as the "Peal of the Pacific"! It is more like the "Sand Dune of the Pacific"!

To add insult to injury, we have had shabby and sensational reporting by the local Newspaper, who reported on at least three occasions, that the ash was life threatening!

This led to mass hysteria and panic by the workers of Rabaul and the closure of some much needed utilities like the Hospital, the Technical School and the Bank, which declared it would only open 'till 1.p.m. daily. The Power company also would not attend to R & M until "conditions improved"!

There was even a threat by the authorities to 'close the town' and declare a STATE OF EMERGENCY. The last time the Army was called in to facilitate a SOE, they arrived with backpacks and departed with approx. 5 containers load of looted goods!

We as business operators could not allow this. If we were to close down, it would be the nail in the coffin and more importantly, how would the surrounding areas get their goods to the people? We are still the third largest Port in PNG, importing and exporting and the feeding straw to Kokopo Town and indeed, the whole Islands Region.

The East New Britain Chamber of Commerce, presided over by my Husband Bruce Alexander, led the charge. The Newspaper in question would have to produce the so called document that proved the ash was poisonous, IMMEDIATELY!

It took a week of sharp dialogue, but in the end they could not produce the report and during the weekend and then on Monday, we received three articles stating the ash was NOT HARMFUL !

The Newspaper even attempted to produced good will and positive thought to the people of Rabaul.

During this very testing time, an Executive Member of the Chamber and fellow Rabaul Town resident & businessman, Mr Nic Lyons (Rabaul Metal Industry) wrote a letter to the same Newspaper explaining his position, which became OUR POSITION and it's BRILLIANT.

What can I say? It brings a tear to my eye and is exactly HOW IT IS and HOW I FEEL.

I also believe it was the 'icing on the cake', especially since the articles were exposed as false and misleading.

I feel it only appropriate that the rest of the world read it.

Here it is............

Whilst those of us who have chosen to live and work in Rabaul do understand that events involving our volcano have a certain level of newsworthiness, many of us also feel that there is an untoward element of almost salacious pleasure being taken in our discomfort by those who write, edit & publish stories about our situation.

The business community of Rabaul feels that they are being particularly poorly treated by an estate that should be their ally (given where advertising revenue comes from).

Does the press not understand that the business community in Rabaul pay taxes like everyone else and yet, as soon as there is any increase in the level of dust at Rabaul, those in charge of the services (which we have already paid for) withdraw them from us? There are no concessions, rebates, double deductions, subsidies or anything else available to Rabaul based businesses, despite the difficult physical and economic conditions we operate under.

Neither is our plight ever reported on, except in articles that have an underlying implication that we shouldn't be here at all.

It should also be appreciated that many of us have nowhere else to go.

The authorities have made no offers of alternative locations for us. There have been no alternative port sites identified. There have been no offers of compulsory purchase of our properties or our businesses. States of emergency and natural disasters may be declared but none of that money filters down to those of us on the receiving end of Tavurvur's output to help us clean up or mitigate the effects of the corrosive ash.

So we just battle on, with relatively little complaint, dealing every day with levels of service that would make weaker people give up hope. The power providers, water supply, hospitals, schools, banks, all provide us with mediocre services at best and then they just give up as soon as the slenderest justification for a few days off comes their way in the form of a dust cloud.

Civic services here are so poorly organised and under-funded that businesses have no site available to dump the tonnes and tonnes of ash that we dig off our premises every day. The composition of the Town Council is such that the Chamber of Commerce has no representative on the council. The roads are falling apart, there are no street lights, the storm drains and sit traps are choked with ash and mud, the list goes on and on. But we pay our state lease rentals on our properties, we pay land tax to the provincial authorities, we pay GST, we pay Income tax, we pay Company tax, we buy business licences, we pay corporate LLG tax, we pay garbage fees. The list goes on and on. We pay and we pay and we pay. But services are not provided, no alternative is offered and our situation is un-reported..

The article your paper saw fit to publish at the beginning of this week and again as the front page leader today "Unhealthy Rabaul" will almost certainly provide the spur for further withdrawal or downgrading of services. It may even provoke a knee jerk somewhere in Waigani that leads to an attempt to close the town or declare an emergency. You no doubt feel that its wording and content were justified and, indeed, it may have been. But it is regrettable (and inexplicable) that the source documentation for your story could not be made available to stakeholders so that we could assess for ourselves the precise nature of the risk and danger that we have lived under for the last decade and more.

It is also to be regretted that in your Rabaul coverage of the last 15 years has your newspaper ever chosen to speculate on what will become of the many thousands of people who live in this Watom/Kombiu/Balanataman area of the Gazelle once the businesses that have been the sole source of their livelihoods have been driven into closure by those who govern or by those responsible for providing them with power, water, banking, telephone, civic services and daily news.

And when those businesses are finally forced to the wall, the nation as a whole will be the poorer because the Rabaul people of all races are one of the most closely bonded, public spirited, peaceful, compassionate and properly multicultural communities in Papua New Guinea. The nation's press should be champions of our struggle to survive and not the carpenter's mate holding the next nail to be hammered into our coffins.

Just because it is dusty doesn't mean we're dirty and just because some of the town is destroyed doesn't mean nobody lives here.

We're tired of reporters that drive in to our town, take a picture of the dust and drive off again.

Rabaul isn't Movie World and its not Toy Town but its definitely not Jurassic Park.

Its our home, and the only one we've got.

Regards

Nicholas Lyons
Executive Member
East New Britain Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Speldewinde's Visit After 34 Years

I have the honour of hosting Wilhelm & Gaye Speldewinde from Canberra, who are visiting Rabaul after a 34 year absence. Gaye taught at Rabaul Primary School from 1973 - 1974 and Wilhelm was a kiap. Here are photos of Gaye and her Grade 3 Class, of which I was a member, but apparently on leave at the time.

Can you identify any of these children?


The other photo shows the Staff of the School at the time. Of those I can recall are Stu Woodger (Principal), Wendy Simpson (nee Stevens), Di O'Donnell, Mr. Godsall.... and our memory stops there. Can you identify any others?

Email me at: rabaulhotel@global.net.pg

Rabaul Historical Society Celebrates ERROL FLYNN'S BIRTHDAY !

The 20th June was our Favourite Swash Buckling, Womansing, Drug Popping, Big Screen Hero and Ex-Rabaul Resident's Birthday !

HAPPY BIRTHDAY hunky ERROL FLYNN.


INJECT VODKA INTO AN ORANGE TO CELEBRATE!!

The 20th June was our Favourite Swash Buckling, Womansing, Drug Popping, Big Screen Hero and Ex-Rabaul Resident's Birthday !

The 18-year-old Errol Flynn – with an already shady background - arrived in New Guinea in October 1927 to make his fortune on the newly discovered goldfields at Edie Creek.

From his arrival he tried unsuccessfully to bluff himself into money as a cadet patrol officer, gold prospector, slave recruiter, dynamiter of fish, trapper of birds, manager of coconut and tobacco plantations, air cargo clerk, copra trader, charter boat captain, pearl diver and diamond smuggler. He was also a prolific writer and contributed regularly to Australian newspapers and magazines with absorbing tales about the untamed jungles of New Guinea.

Flynn soon discovered that the Australian government had a severe shortage of patrol officers, and he hoped to bluff his way through in Rabaul, but this colonial career was short-lived when his background was discovered.

He moved restlessly from one job to another, acquiring many different skills but no great competence. Hoping to get rich fast, he lived by his wits and ran up many debts.

In Rabaul, although considered a likeable and capable young man, his reputation for roguery quickly spread and he ceased to be with the Administration.

His best memory of Rabaul was of “a wonderful saloon” where you encountered “everything the world could yield up – miners, recruiters, con men, thieves, beachcombers, prospectors – cubicles both downstairs and upstairs, several phonographs playing, cards…”

Long after Flynn had left he was remembered around Rabaul, mostly for the unpaid bills he left behind. Even after he became famous as a film star, he never paid any of those bills.

If people wrote asking him to pay, he would send them autographed photographs of him, saying these were worth much more than what he owed them.

The story is told of the famous occasion when a film of Flynn’s was showing in Rabaul, and at the end of the credits, a dentist to whom Flynn owned a large account jumped up and shouted: “And teeth by Eric Wein.”

Flynn has been called many names: adventurer, thief, lover, liar, murderer, and Hollywood legend. He probably didn’t do much good while he was here, but nevertheless, he placed PNG on the world map as a place where a young man can find himself.

Errol Flynn, the likeable rogue :

Famous Quotes:
"I like my whisky OLD and my women YOUNG"

"The public has always expected me to be a playboy and a decent chap never lets his public down"

"Women won't let me stay single and I won't let myself stay married"

RABAUL - VOLCANO TOWN !


This is a daylight view of picturesque Simpson Harbour, Rabaul, with Tavurvur Volcano smoking in the background, taken from the Rabaul Volcano Observatory, 2008.


This photo was taken from the same spot at the Rabaul Volcano Observatory during the evening hours, with Tavurvur Volcano erupting in April 2008

'WINGS OF CANVAS'
OR
EARLY FLIGHTS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA.
1917 and 1920
By Steve Saunders of the Rabaul Historical Society

According to Sinclair's 'Wings of Gold' (1978) the start of aviation in PNG was in 1922. Although he does mention that two aircraft, a BE2a land plane and a Maurice Farman floatplane (or ~28% of Australia's airforce!) were shipped to PNG aboard HMAS Una in Nov. 1914 to aid in the second phase of the take over of German New Guinea. The capitulation occurred rapidly however, and the planes were not unpacked. The date of 1922 relates to civil aviation, but if we explore the military side of things a little more, the fleeting shadows of some almost forgotten wings appear over the Solomon Sea up to half a decade earlier.

In 1914 the success of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force in taking Rabaul and other German Possessions in the SW Pacific, and Japan's blockade of the German Tsingtao Naval base in China, denied the German East Asiatic Squadron its bases, coaling stations and communications in the Western Pacific. Admiral Von Spee withdrew intending to operate from friendly, or at least neutral ports around South America. But whilst looking to steal British coal from Stanley in the Falkland Islands, the squadron was meet and destroyed by a powerful Royal Navy (RN) squadron sent for that purpose. Exactly one-month earlier, to the day, Germany's first successful south-sea's raider the Emden had been hunted-down and forced to beach on the Cocos Islands during the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN) first serious sea engagement.

As such Australia was apparently left with no immediate maritime threat and the bulk of her small Navy set sail for imperial duties in the waters around Europe, the Middle East and in the Indian Ocean.

A sea-borne threat, however, was not too long in returning. Imperial Germany was not going to completely forget her former colonial areas or leave the upstart Australians in peace. The German raiders SMS Wolf and Seeadler arrived on the scene in mid 1917. Of special interest is the fact that the Wolf carried a seaplane, a Friedrichshafen FF33E, nicknamed Wölfchen or 'The Young Wolf' (n.b. not 'wolf cub'), on what was to become a 100,000 km and 15 month long piratical odyssey.

The black painted German raider SMS Wolf, parts of her hull are false and would drop to reveal six 15 cm guns, four 50 cm torpedo tubes and numerous smaller weapons. Her most useful weapon however, the Wölfchen can be seen aft of the main superstructure. This aircraft was launched several times in early Aug. 1917 in the Solomon Sea between Bougainville and New Britain. (Wikipedia)

On the 6th Aug. 1917 the Wolf captured the Burns-Philip steamer Matunga en-route from Sydney (via Brisbane) when only a few hours steaming time from Rabaul. The capture almost did not happen; the Wölfchen came close to being destroyed on the 12th July during a landing accident. A damaged float strut broke, the propeller sliced into a float and the engine and fuselage were submerged. Ingenuity and intense labours had her rebuilt and flying by the 27th July. The very next day the Wolf intercepted a radio message from the Matunga saying that she was carrying 500 tons of navy coal for the captured SMS Komet, now renamed HMAS Una, and was due to reach Rabaul on the 7th Aug. So the Germans steamed north-westward from their position west of the Solomon Islands and were soon lurking at an appropriate spot south of Saint George's Channel. At intervals over the next few days the recently rebuilt seaplane was sent aloft searching for their quarry and soon after 7:45 p.m. on Sunday 5th Aug. the pilot and navigator, Oberflugmeister Paul Fabeck and Vizeflugmeister Mathaus Stein, sighted the Matunga. The unmarked seaplane returned to the Wolf was winched on board and through the night they shadowed their unsuspecting prey. The plane was re-launched at 07:00 am on the 6th and now flying a German Imperial Navy battle flag from a wing strut soon made their nationality and intent known to the Matunga. According to F. G. Trayes (1919) the little Wölfchen on her own forced the Rabaul bound ship to heave to, probably by the Navigator displaying their carbonit bombs. The Wolf caught up lowered her launch and the Matunga was boarded. This was to the particular dismay of 16 members of the Rabaul military garrison including a colonel, a major and three captains who where returning from leave, and later to Rabaul's towns-folk, as the Matunga was carrying an entire months supply of alcohol!

The Wölfchen or 'The Young Wolf', aboard the German raider SMS Wolf. This was probably the first aircraft to fly in Papua New Guinea airspace, when it forced the SS Matunga to stop only a few hours from Rabaul, early August 1917. To keep their nationality and military intent secret from observers the Wölfche was unmarked. The above markings were added on the Wolf's return to Germany for propaganda purposes. (Wikipedia)

The Wolf escorting the Matunga with a prize crew on board then passed north of Buka and sailed north-westward up the east coast of New Ireland before turning west around New Hanover. They passed close to Manus heading for Waigeo Island (the large island floating above the beak of West Papua's Bird's head). Here the Matunga was finally looted of all useful cargo, including two or three horses which were later eaten and a bonus 1,000 tons of coal intended for the administration's steamers, (this had not been mentioned in the intercepted radio message); she was then sunk. During this voyage around the periphery of the New Guinea Islands, it is probable that the Wölfchen would have been aloft often to warn the Wolf of the approach of Australian or Japanese warships (allies in the 1914-18 war) or of potential prey.

So almost certainly the first few flights in the airspace of Papua New Guinea were made by a German Friedrichshafen seaplane called the Wölfchen beginning a couple of days before 5th Aug. 1917, although it is unlikely it ever touched or even passed over land.

Out of the six German seaplane manufacturers Friedrichshafen's were the most numerous type, making up 36% of the Imperial Navy's Seeflugzege fleet (for some reason Albatros has become synonymous with WWI German seaplanes, but they only supplied 7%). Friedrichshafen's were known for their reliability, ease of flying, ruggedness and stability when on the water. They were ordered in large numbers for use as Germany's eyes over the North Sea, a place where most other seaplanes tended to founder. The company was part financed by Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin, and his support included the use of a huge airship hanger at Friedrichshafen, on the shores of Lake Constance for final assembly of the aircraft.

On its return to Germany the Wölfchen became a national hero. The little worn-out seaplane was used extensively for propaganda photos and consigned to a museum, the High Command even commissioned a copy to undertake morale lifting public appearances.

And what of those Rabaul residents, military men and crew who had been anticipating their imminent arrival at the sleepy backwater of Rabaul? With eventually over four hundred captives from other vessels, most of the military men and the crew spent seven months on board the Wolf and were then interned in Germany until the war ended. The women, children and civilian males of non-military age and a couple of army medical officers where transferred to Wolf's prize ship the Igotz Mendi. These people to avoid the British blockade of Germany had travelled into the Arctic Circle north of Iceland, still wearing the clothes they were captured in. They finally escaped when the ship ran aground on 24th Feb. 1918 only 100 m off the Danish coast at the very gates of a wintry, war ravaged and starving Germany. (When travelling to Rabaul, a night offloaded by Air Niugini doesn't seem so bad after all!)

And that other raider the Seeadler? Having rounded Cape Horn and knowing copra was used for making munitions she was heading toward the main production centres to try to disrupt traffic, but ran aground on one of the Society Islands. Making sure they were well armed the plucky captain, two officers and three sailors then sailed to Wakaya island (Fiji) in a small launch intending to steal another ship. Here, the impressively monikered Commander Count Felix von Luckner and crew were arrested by a British bobby, Sub-Inspector Hills, waving an empty revolver. Although captain of a ship disguised as a merchantmen, but armed with cruiser calibre weapons, the Count considered himself a Gentleman and refused to fight a man in uniform whilst he himself was in civvies! But shortly he was to escape for awhile in the prison-commandant's launch…, but that's another story.

@ @ @ @ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

Meanwhile during their overseas adventures HMAS Australia, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney took on the role of float plane carriers for the Royal Naval Air Service and gained much experience with several types of seaplane.

The RAN had toyed with the idea of a Naval Air Service as early as 1913, and in 1917 had tried, unsuccessfully, to borrow a RN 'aircraft carrier' in response to the appearance of the Wolf and Seeadler. In Oct. 1917 Commander Cumberledge of HMAS Brisbane, now minus her British seaplane and returned to patrol around New Guinea and the Solomons, was saying "the ideal method of watching this part of the world would be by seaplane; the smallest type could always find smooth water from which to operate". But at that time there were no such aircraft available to the Australians. Plans or funding at least for a RANAS were still someway off when peace broke out on 11th Nov. 1918. So early in 1919 those HMAS ships still away from home gave their seaplanes back to the newly formed RAF and aircraftless, but no doubt with glad hearts headed south.

The RAN was not to stay flightless for long however. In 1920, included in Britain's Imperial Gift Scheme to Australia of 128 aircraft where two AVRO 504L's, twin seat float planes. The AVRO 504 was designed in 1913 as a land based 'standard service' machine, but even at the prototype stage it was tried with floats. The AVRO 504 had a successful war. Early on, before fast fighters made their appearance, 504's had the distinction (if that’s the right word) of being the first planes to strafe ground troops. The type was also the first to be used in an organised bombing raid on Germany, when three attacked the Zeppelin sheds in Friedrichshafen (small World!) 21st Nov. 1914. It was also the first Allied type to be downed by enemy fire. Later however, because of its relatively slow speed it was mainly used as a trainer and non-belligerent general-purpose machine. It was extremely successful in these roles ensuring a long service life in many countries around the world. But...

AVRO 504L H3042 with well weathered floats being worked on in Melbourne. It seems that on about 12th Oct. 1920 this aircraft became the second aircraft to fly in PNG, but only just! (RAAF)

AVRO 504L - H3042 was placed onboard HMAS Melbourne on 29th Sep. 1920 and possibly because of Cumberledge's 1917 and then repeated pro-seaplane comments promptly commenced a cruise to the New Guinea Islands. This was a public relations exercise to impress the populace of the recently mandated territories with British Empire technology and show the Australian flag; specifically at 'localities with the greatest number of German Companies and Planters'. H3042 was photographed on the beach in Rabaul during this trip; unfortunately it would appear it was paddled there!

A crowd, possibly with smirking Germans and embarrassed Aussies to the fore and unimpressed locals to the rear, inspect the impotent AVRO 504L H3042 in Rabaul Oct. 1920. The second aircraft to fly in PNG, and the first to breakdown! (AWM)

Although AVRO 504L H3042 was to become the second aircraft to fly in Papua New Guinean airspace, the cruise was viewed as a failure. The main report on the trip, filed as 'HMAS 'Melbourne' Cruise to Mandate Islands. Failure of Seaplane allotted by Air Board for Cruise', is boldly stamped Confidential and as with any Australian failure, forgotten.

Not only did the seaplane disappoint, the Commodore complained - 'BOUGAINVILLE and the ADMIRALTY ISLANDS and other desired places could not…(be) visited on this occasion - an opportunity which may not occur again - for want of a few hundred tons of Australian Coal the failure to show the flag… being apparently due to coal strikes or their probability'. And - 'The wireless… was so bad and slow, that I was practically isolated…'

The report states that whilst in the Woodlark Islands on 11-12th Oct., H3042 actually rose 200 feet into the air with Ft Lt Freyer-Smith at the controls - 'greatly impressing the natives', but then had to land due to engine problems in the 'very hot and damp' air. What must have been an un-well little 130 HP Clerget rotary engine was unable to produce enough power to keep it aloft, and later, even pull it from the water. The Melbourne carried on to Rabaul arriving 14th Oct., but despite a change of aero-engine there were no more flights. On the 20th the Melbourne left the seaplane in Rabaul for further tests and continued on to New Ireland. The Commodore was still optimistic when he left, instructing Freyer-Smith and observer 'to carry out a survey of Mioko harbour etc'. The Melbourne returned to Rabaul for two days on the 25th to embark the seaplane, but there had been no survey.

After the plane's fruitless dashes across Simpson Harbour in an attempt to get airborne there is the comment - 'the affect on the natives of the inability of the seaplane to fly was bad as the Germans will put it about that a German machine would have done so...'. The exploits of the Wölfchen were well known by this time, Commander Nerger having published a rather self-congratulatory book (1918) about the Wolf's voyage and F. G. Trayes in 1919 had published one about his experiences as a Wolf captive. The Wölfchen had managed 56 reconnaissance flights and spent 61 hours and 25 minutes in the air during their voyage. By the time the Melbourne returned to Australia H3042 had one truncated flight of perhaps three or four minutes to her credit! ('Vorsprung Durch Technic!') As a foil to what the German's were 'putting about' the Commodore 'endeavoured to initiate a propaganda that the machine was not a real seaplane but only a land machine experimentally converted with an unsuitable engine lacking in reserve of power necessary for flying in damp tropical air…'. This may explain the rather strange title of the AWM's image of the AVRO at Rabaul, 'Conversion of hmas melbourne rabaul, new guinea.jpg.'

In the AVRO's defence there must have been serious mechanical, fuel, or maintenance issues onboard, not just 'hot and damp air'. A seaplane's lot is to operate in damp air, and the model had flown in many hotter and as humid places; the design was well liked and usually known for its reliability. The AVRO had a 130 HP engine and fully loaded weighed ~860 kg, the Friedrichshafen had 150 HP and weighed ~1535 kg, so lack of 'reserve of power' alone can not explain their different performances, as when working properly the AVRO had the better power to weight ratio. When they got back to Cairns, H3042 got to 2000 ft, but still the engine's 'revolutions' was not considered sufficient for a safe public display; the Mayor was informed and an anticipated display cancelled.

The Commodore of the Melbourne notes that he hopped that - 'if possible machines, which will fly for certain, may be sent up next year'. But it looks like a military aircraft did not make it back to Rabaul until 1926 when GPCapt. Williams and McIntyre toured Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in a DH-50A aircraft fitted with floats. With Supermarine Seagull Mk III A9-3, surveying Rabaul in 1928. (anyone with more information about 1920's flights over Rabaul?)

The final comment on the Australian Air Board's début in PNG is a hand-written scrawl (dated 7 Jan 1921) on the front page of the report, which notes: 'Report has been perused. The Air Board is now taking steps to obtain 12 up-to-date seaplanes each with an engine of 375 HP from London for use from HMA ships'. Six (an accountant's dozen?) Fairey IIID seaplanes powered by 375 HP Rolls-Royce Eagle engines were on the books by the end of 1921, bought by the RAN, but received by the newly formed RAAF. So the cruise was not a complete failure as the experience gained ensured that when the Australian Airforce came into being in March 1921 (made 'Royal' in August that year) it was to get state-of-the-art seaplanes.

Incidentally H3042 had been the first aircraft to land on the Yarra River 26/06/1920. After the New Guinea cruise fiasco she was relegated to shore bases and became A3-47 in 1921 and in 1926 was converted to spare parts (military parlance for scrapped!).

@ @ @ ¤ ¤ ¤ l l l

There is some irony in the fact that the first aircraft to visit Rabaul was an AVRO 504 as in 1921 Japan acquired 30 of them; 20 land and 10 float planes. These were used as trainers for naval pilots and then the fledgling Nakajima Aircraft Manufacturing Company started production of the model, honing their skills before they started to make designs of their own. So perhaps it could be imagined that in 1942 that first AVRO's descendents were returning to prove what could actually be done.

Until just a year or two before the First World War aviation was still a very primitive affair, aircraft were mainly designed and built on a trail and error basis, as such few ventured far from airfields, so one had never visited Papua or New Guinea. The two aircraft loaded aboard HMAS Una in 1914 could have been the first to fly in PNG but logistics, and apathy toward aviation by the traditional service men in charge, kept them in their crates. Both the first and second aircraft to fly in PNG, the Friedrichshafen and the AVRO were both on unique missions and their contribution to PNG aviation were as fleeting firsts, but being totally reliant on their mother ships they were not really trail blazing pioneers (especially the AVRO!). WWI had, however, led to great innovation and technical advances leading to increased endurance and load carrying capabilities. So as documented in Sinclair's 'Wings of Gold' (1978) aviation in PNG finally took-off unambiguously in 1922, soon to be spurred on to great things by the lure of gold in remote places.

To commemorate PNG's almost forgotten earliest wood and canvas flights, 90 and 87 years ago, the Rabaul Historical Society is making 1:19 scale models of the Friedrichshafen and AVRO for the New Guinea Club museum. SJS 01-2007

After 87 years AVRO 504L, H3042, finally flies over Rabaul (model in front of a mural at the New Guinea Club Museum).



Acknowledgements

Especial thanks to: -

Jon Woodhead, (of the University of Melbourne who fished the 1920 Cruise report from the bowls of the National Australian Archives in Melbourne and sent me copies of relevant pages).

Erica Ryan, (of the National Library of Australia, who pointed me in the direction of a couple of web documents).

An article about the New Guinea Club prior to the Fire of 1993, written by then Club Manager Shane Jenkinson!

The HISTORIC NEW GUINEA CLUB

Significantly important in Rabaul History, the Club was founded in 1919 in the premises of Non-Commissioned Officers WW1.

The Club House as you see it today was built in 1937. It survived the volcanic eruption of that year but suffered heavy damage during WWII.

One of the first functions at the Club House was a formal Ball celebrating the ascension of King George VI.

The New Guinea Club also instigated and for many years held the Frangipani Ball.

Rebuilt in 1949 after WWII, the Club prospered. Our Tennis courts had been destroyed and Admiral Yamamoto had built his Command Bunker there. This portion was donated by the Club to the Historical Society and remains today.

The New Guinea Club is the only Club in Rabaul with full facilities, namely: Accommodation, lunch, dinner, private bar, garden bar, snooker hall, dining room, lounges, television, conference facilities and gardens.

The Law Bowls Green was commissioned in 1962 and is played on competitively day and night, the Volley Ball Courts were recently installed and more than 300 players compete weekly.

Friday Night is family night with Happy House, Raffles, Key Draw and Snooker Red Ball Competition.

With currently in excess of 300 Members the Club is arguably the largest in Rabaul.

As a member of the Club, you can join the Snooker Team, Darts Team, Cricket Team, Volleyball Team, and Bowls Team or just be SOCIAL! Bring a friend to our FABULOUS FRIDAY BUFFET LUNCH - best value in Town.

We hope to see you soon at,

THE NEW GUINEA CLUB
Central Avenue
PO Box 30
Rabaul
East New Britain.