by Ian Townsend
Brian Merchant, ‘The Next Gold Rush is Unfolding 5,000 Feet under the Sea’, Motherboard, 17 November 2015. (motherboard.vice.com/read/deep-sea-gold-rush).
CHAPTER 17
‘what we have we shall hold’: Hughes, quoted in the Rabaul Times and repeated in ‘Future of Mandate’, Cairns Post, 16 June 1938, p.14.
‘The ring of these South Pacific islands . . .’: Hughes quoted in Frank Owen, Tempestuous Journey: Lloyd George, His Life and Times, Hutchinson & Co., London, 1955. This may be a paraphrasing of another quote attributed to Hughes from the 1920 Paris Peace Conference: ‘Strategically the northern islands encompass Australia like fortresses. They are as necessary to Australia as water to a city.’
‘What Australia must do now . . .’: ‘Australian New Guinea’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 October 1938, p.10.
A. McLennan, ‘The Population Problem in Australian New Guinea’, The Australian Quarterly, Vol. 10, No.1, 1938, p.49.
AWM52, 8/3/22, 2/22 Battalion War Diary. Statement by A.J. Gaskin dated 6 February 1942, describes well-dressed Japanese arriving with cameras before the war.
‘embargo on iron ore exports to Japan . . .’: Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, Vol. 156, 19 May 1938, pp.1260–1262.
Details of Japan’s southward expansion are detailed in Iwamoto (1996), p.54, and Iwamoto (1999).
‘In spite of wars and the echoes of wars . . .’: ‘Nationwide News’, Pacific Islands Monthly, November 1939, Sydney, p.59.
Harry Morris, ‘Memories of New Guinea. Rabaul 1937–1942’, unpublished manuscript, 1998, describes life in Rabaul in the 1930s, including the practice of hanging pineapples from the ceiling.
CHAPTER 18
Enid Blyton, The Secret Island, Basil Blackwell, 1938.
Descriptions of the Coote family are from Diana Martell.
For an explanation of ignimbrite, see Johnson (2013), especially p.112. Also author correspondence with Wally Johnson and Chris McKee, December 2015.
Chris McKee, ‘Tavui Volcano: Neighbour of Rabaul and Likely Source of the Middle Holocene Penultimate Major Eruption in the Rabaul Area’, Bulletin of Volcanology, Vol. 77, No.9, 2015, pp.1–21. ‘Tavui is the likely source of the 6.9 ka BP Raluan Ignimbrite, the penultimate major eruption deposit in the Rabaul area.’
Christopher G. Newhall and Stephen Self, ‘The Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI): An Estimate of Explosive Magnitude for Historical Volcanism’, Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 87, Issue C2, 1982, pp.1231–1238.
Chris O. McKee, Vincent E. Neall and Robin Torrence, ‘A Remarkable Pulse of Large-Scale Volcanism on New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea’, Bulletin of Volcanology, Vol. 73, No.1, 2011, pp.27–37.
C.O. McKee, M.G. Baillie and P.J.A. Reimer, ‘A Revised Age of AD 667–699 for the Latest Major Eruption at Rabaul’, Bulletin of Volcanology, Vol. 77, No.65, 2015.
Steve J. Saunders, ‘The Shallow Plumbing System of Rabaul Caldera: A Partially Intruded Ring Fault?’, Bulletin of Volcanology, Vol. 63, No.6, 2001.
R.W. Johnson et al., ‘Volcanic Systems of the Northeastern Gazelle Peninsula, Papua New Guinea: Synopsis, Evaluation, and a Model for Rabaul Volcano’, Rabaul Volcano Workshop Report, Papua New Guinea Dept of Mineral Policy and Geohazards Management, and the Australian Agency for International Development, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 2010.
Chris McKee ‘Tavui Volcano: Neighbour of Rabaul and Likely Source of the Middle Holocene Penultimate Major Eruption in the Rabaul Area’, Bulletin of Volcanology, Vol. 77, No.9, September 2015.
CHAPTER 19
Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, The Story of Ferdinand, Hamish Hamilton, London, 1937.
‘Through it all we were not on very good terms . . .’: NAA: A518, 16-3-316, Letter from Phyllis Manson to James Halligan, 20 November 1946.
Nailsworth Infant Boys Admission Register 1937–40 and Nailsworth Primary Boys Admission Register 1939–41, held by Nailworth Primary School, South Australian Education Department (thanks to Neil Rossiter of the Prospect Local History Group).
Ancestry.com. (database on-line), ‘Bedford, Israel of Prinsted Osborneroad New Milton Hampshire died 26 April 1939 Probate London 21 August to Henry William Darling civil servant. Effects 7793 7s 8d.’, England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1966, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Provo, Utah, USA, 2010.
NAA: A518, 16-3-316, Letter from Messrs Conwell and Company solicitors to Curator’s Officer Papua and New Guinea 28 November 1951: ‘the deceased was a beneficiary under the Will of his father Israel Bedford wherein he is referred to as “Bedford — known as Alfred Harvey”.’
State Records NSW: Supreme Court of NSW, Probate Division; NRS 13660, Probate packets. Series 4-364487 Alfred Arthur Harvey (or Bedford) — Date of Death 31/05/1942. Granted on 22/06/1950.
On 3 September 1939, at 9.15pm, Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced Australia’s declaration of war with Germany. It was broadcast on every radio station and the speech was printed the next day in the national papers, including in ‘Australia Declares’, The West Australian, 4 September 1939, p.13.
Outport, ‘Correspondence,’ The Rabaul Times, 14 March 1941. A planter asks for government support as the trading routes with Europe close.
Harry Ralfs’s activities are described in various newspaper reports: ‘Mining’, The Argus (Melbourne), 27 November 1934, p.6; ‘Personal’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 April 1937, p.16; ‘Blythe River Iron-Ore’, The Mercury (Hobart), 19 March 1937, p.13; ‘Iron Ore’, The Canberra Times, 19 March 1937, p.1; ‘200 Manufacturers to Take Part’, The Courier-Mail, 11 October 1934, p.19.
‘She was 21 years of age . . .’: ‘Drugged to Death by Girl He Adored’, Truth (Sydney), 14 October 1934, p.21.
‘Victim of Obscure Poison’, The Courier-Mail, 15 September 1934, p.15.
‘Australian Ores’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 19 March 1937, p.12.
‘iron ore had been found in the Bainings . . .’: Fisher and Collins (2013), p.4.
‘A group of Japanese businessmen . . .’: NAA: A981, JAP 112, ‘Japan–Australia. Visit of A.A. Harvey to Japan’, 1940.
‘Answers to Correspondents’, Chronicle (Adelaide), 6 July 1939, p.60. After his father’s death in 1939, when Harvey learnt of his inheritance, he wrote to an Adelaide newspaper asking for a private reading by Louis de Wohl, a well-known German astrologer living in London. De Wohl ended up working for MI5 during the war. See ‘Britain Used Astrologer in Fight Against Hitler’, Associated Press, 3 March 2008.
NAA: A518, 16/3/316, p.146. Phyllis Manson said Jimmy was ‘in New Guinea about two years prior to his death’. Dickie had transferred from Nailsworth School to the Correspondence School at the end of 1939, so it’s likely both Dickie and Jimmy travelled to Rabaul together.
See also Nailsworth School register, 1937–40.
Eric Feldt, The Coast Watchers, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1946.
J.C.H. Gill, ‘The Last Days of Rabaul’, Journal of The Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 23 March 1961, p.34.
Leaf and Lawson (1937).
NAA: MP742/1, 336/1/1955, Part 3. ‘On 28 Feb 1940, Harvey was asked whether he would accept a crystal for his teleradio.’
NAA: A1713, S76. Affidavit by Alfred Harvey.
‘Mr A.A. Harvey . . . proposes to make a trip to Japan . . .’: NAA: A981, JAP 112.
Details of Tabuchi Yoshimatsu from Iwamoto (1996), pp.61–62.
‘He is considered to be most unreliable . . .’: NAA: A981, JAP 112.
Graham Manson describes Harvey’s visit to Sydney. There’s also a photograph of Joseph, Phyllis and Dickie at Manly in front of the monument to the landing of Captain Arthur Phillip.
The tea set still exists and is kept by Graham Manson.
NAA: MP742/1, 336/1/1955, Part 3. Although investigators after the war said they weren’t certain that Harvey had actually been issued with the crystal, they also stated that the crystal had later been withdrawn.
Jam
es Macknight ‘Mac’ Hamilton, ‘A Soldier from Rabaul, New Britain’, unpublished manuscript, 1943, pp 12–13. (Hamilton states that Harvey had received the crystal and used the X frequency to order beer for Christmas.)
NAA: MP742/1, 336/1/1955, Part 3. Includes a report that Harvey’s name had been crossed off the list of Ferdinand.
CHAPTER 20
C.H., ‘Rabaul Under Dust and Ashes’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 September 1941, p.11.
‘it appears that Rabaul has been rendered untenable . . .’: NAA: MP729/6, 16/401/493 ‘Defence of Rabaul’, p.67.
‘It is quite incorrect to say that Rabaul rendered untenable . . .’: NAA: MP729/6, 16/401/493 ‘Defence of Rabaul’, p.64.
N.H. Fisher, ‘The Gazelle Peninsula, New Britain, Earthquake of January 14, 1941’, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, January 1944, pp.1–12.
‘Rabaul Notes’, Townsville Daily Bulletin, 24 January 1941, p.7. ‘Rabaul residents were rudely awakened on January 14 at 2.28 a.m. when an earthquake registered an intensity of 9 on the Rossi-Forel scale at the local observatory.’
Clem Knight, The 1941/1943 Eruption of Matupi, Rabaul, New Britain, 1946. (Attached to a letter from Knight to Tony Taylor, 24 November 1960. Pacific Manuscripts Bureau PMB1291, 162.) Wiechert seismographs had been ordered from Germany, but the war broke out before they could be delivered. Fisher ordered Benioff seismographs from America, but they were taking too long, so Fisher designed his own and had the public works department build them in Rabaul.
Fisher describes militia training to Bob Collins (2013).
‘the greatest effort of preparedness that this country has ever made’: ‘The Storm Clouds Lowering’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 February 1941, p.6.
Nelson (1992), p.201. The Japanese went quietly home.
AWM60, 473/41, ‘Organization and Establishment of 2/22 Battalion AIF, Rabaul, Lark Force’. Three infantry battalions of the 8th Division were distributed in an arc across Australia’s north, at Ambon, Timor and Rabaul on New Britain. The three battalions were named Sparrow Force on Timor, Gull Force on Ambon and Lark Force at Rabaul. Lark Force at Rabaul, the 2/22nd Battalion, included the local Australian militia, the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, a coastal defence battery, an anti-aircraft battery, elements of the 2/10th Field Ambulance, and the 17th Anti-tank Battery, supported by 24 Squadron RAAF. Its role was to protect the airfields at Lakunai and Vunakanau as well as provide early warning of Japanese movements.
The descriptions of the guns rolling onto the observatory lawn and the origin of the ‘Little Hell’ nickname come from David Selby, Hell and High Fever, Ligare Book Printers, Riverwood, NSW, 2008.
‘blown to atoms’: C.H., ‘Rabaul Under Dust And Ashes’ (1941).
NAA: MP729/6, 16/401/493 ‘Defence of Rabaul’. Most Secret. From Chief of Naval Staff, Melbourne, to Naval Attaché, Washington, 17 October 1941.
NAA: A705, 7/1/1083 ‘Vunakanau Aerodrome’. One of the reasons Rabaul was a target for the Japanese was the possibility that it might be used as a base from which B-17s at Vunakanau could bomb the Japanese island of Truk.
Steven Bullard, Japanese Army Operations in the South Pacific Area: New Britain and Papua Campaigns, 1942–43, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 2007, p.3. ‘The occupation of Rabaul was therefore necessary to prevent this kind of attack and to ensure the safety of the fleet base at Truk.’
Harry Morris, ‘Memories of New Guinea. Rabaul 1937–1942’, unpublished manuscript, 1998. ‘Rabaul was advised to provide wind socks and a large amount of aviation fuel to prepare for the visit of a test aircraft. And when it duly arrived everyone was awe-struck at its size. Although without markings of any sort, the crew were quite loquacious, and described themselves as members of the American Air Force and the plane as a “Flying Fortress”. It was on the ground for three hours while it was refuelled and sundry people inspected the airfield throughout.’
Details of the equipment being sent from the US are in NAA: MP729/6, 16/401/493 ‘Defence of Rabaul’. See also Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN, Nimitz ‘Graybook’, 7 December 1941–31 August 1942, Vol. 1. ‘That intended for Rabaul has been made available but is still in San Francisco.’
CHAPTER 21
‘This is our darkest hour . . .’: National Broadcast by Prime Minister John Curtin, 8 December 1941 (john.curtin.edu.au/diary/primeminister/fulltext/fulltext%20prime%20minister_1941_4.html).
‘Wedding. Parker — Legge’, The Rabaul Times, 12 December 1941. The wedding was held on Saturday 6 December 1941, and the guests included Mrs Coote and Mrs Harvey.
‘Rabaul has its tin hat on . . .’: Gordon Thomas, ‘Rabaul Today. Fifth Spasm’, The Rabaul Times, 19 December 1941.
‘It had been that [the] carrier should sail for Base F. . .’: NAA: MP729/6, 16/401/493, p.16.
‘hostages to fortune’: NAA: MP729/6, 16/401/493, p.13. Prime Minister’s Department Cablegram from Chief of Naval Staff to Naval Attaché, Washington, 12 December 1941.
‘A Spleen Case’, The Rabaul Times, 5 December 1941. This court report details the death of Yambai on Lassul plantation.
‘Working a native with an enlarged spleen is a dangerous thing . . .’: ‘Rabaul Notes’, Townsville Daily Bulletin, 24 January 1941, p.7 (quoting an article from The Rabaul Times).
J.C.H. Gill, ‘The Last Days of Rabaul’, Journal of The Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 23 March 1961, p.643.
Bullard (2007). Japan’s South Seas Force, put together to take Rabaul, was mobilised in October 1941. It was supported by Inoue’s 4th Fleet after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The evacuation of civilian women and children from the remote plantations is described by Lilian Evensen, ‘A Few Facts on the Evacuation of Pondo December 1941’, unpublished and undated statement signed by Mrs L.M. Evensen. Also Peter Stone and Frank Holland, El Tigre: Frank Holland, M.B.E. — Commando, Coastwatcher, editor Peter Stone, with Mabel Holland and John Holland, Oceans Enterprises, Yarram, Victoria, 1999, pp.9–10.
Muriel Rooke, ‘Superb Job of Evacuation Brought Women Safely from Menaced New Guinea’, Australian Women’s Weekly, 7 February 1942, p.7. This includes a description of how the evacuation orders were delivered to the plantations of the Bainings. (Muriel Rooke was the former Muriel Peterson.)
‘Mr Harvey wouldn’t allow his wife to leave’: NAA: A518 16/3/316. A letter from Phyllis Manson to the New Guinea Trade Agent, 16 March 1942. Phyllis sent the letter after reading Muriel Rooke’s article in the Australian Women’s Weekly and contacting Muriel to ask about Marjorie, Jimmy, Dickie and George.
Hamilton (1942). Mac Hamilton quotes Harvey as having said: ‘Those whom God hath joined asunder let no man part’, paraphrasing Harvey’s quote of the Gospel according to Mark.
John Winterbotham, ‘Civilian Evacuees who were Evacuated from Rabaul and Port Moresby — Dec 1941’, Australian Military Research & Service Records (australian-pow-ww2.com/civillanevacuee_12.html). This is a list of those civilians evacuated.
Rooke (1942) as well as Evensen (1941) describe the evacuation by plane.
For more on Kathleen Bignell, see Christina Twomey’s Australia’s Forgotten Prisoners: Civilians Interned by the Japanese in World War Two, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, 2007, pp.183–185.
‘There Shall Be No Withdrawal’: Robert A. Mitchell, One Bloke’s Story 1937 to 1946: Henry Mitchell’s Escape From Rabaul, Development and Advisory Publications Australia, Dubbo, NSW, 1998, p.52.
CHAPTER 22
‘We who are about to die . . .’: Signal sent by Wing-Commander John Margrave Lerew to RAAF HQ, from Rabaul, 21 January 1942, following the loss of most of his planes and then being ordered to attack the enemy with ‘all available aircraft’ (awm.gov.au/collection/EXDOC168).
Details of the air raid are included in AWM54, 81/4/194, ‘RAAF Operations from Rabaul’, by Squadron Leader W.D. Brookes, February 1942.
NAA: A1196, 15/501/87, ‘Defence Scheme — territory of New Guinea (and evacuation o
f New Guinea & Papua)’. Cablegram from Page to Prime Minister’s Department dated 15 January 1942. ‘It now appears that the defence policy for the territory is to be limited to demonstrations of force rather than any serious attempt to hold the territory against any enemy attack in force and there are indications that such an attack will take place in the very near future. For these reasons it is considered urgent that consideration should be given to the position of civil population of the territory and if necessary their evacuation.’
Neville Threlfall, ‘The fateful order: “Continue loading copra”.’ MvM Newsletter, Montevideo Maru Memorial Committee, 3 July 2009, p.14. The Reverend Threlfall writes: ‘More likely a public servant in the Treasury made the decision, for that is where the reply originated. My authority for this is an interview with the late Jim Burke in 1981. Jim was employed in the Public Service of the Mandated Territory in 1941 . . . When he reported to External Territories in Australia he was told not to return to Rabaul and was seconded to the Treasury for the rest of the war. While working there Jim saw the original of the telegram: “Continue loading copra”.’
George Manson told his daughter, Bev McLean, about his visit to Rabaul and the air raid.
The movement of the Japanese fleet is described by Bruce Gamble, Darkest Hour: The True Story of Lark Force at Rabaul: Australia’s Worst Military Disaster of World War II, Zenith Press, Minnesota, 2006, p.73.
Bruce Gamble, Fortress Rabaul: The Battle for the Southwest Pacific, January 1942–April 1943, Zenith Press, Minneapolis, 2010, p.26.
Siri Holm Lawson, ‘M/S Herstein’, on warsailors.com, updated 20 October 2011 (warsailors.com/singleships/herstein.html) ‘Captain Gundersen was ashore visiting the agent’s office, but he saw her being bombed.’
Selby (2008), pp.27–28. David Selby describes the air raid.
AWM113, MH 1/121, Part 1, ‘Enquiry into the Japanese Landings at Rabaul, Timor and Ambon’. This includes a description of Philip Coote stumbling back into Rabaul after the air raid.
Ian Downs, The New Guinea Volunteer Rifles NGVR 1939–1943: A History, Pacific Press, Broadbeach Waters, Queensland, 1999, pp.57–58.