{"id":832,"date":"2022-01-14T00:13:46","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T00:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kadence.pixel-show.com\/?p=832"},"modified":"2025-06-02T06:17:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T06:17:12","slug":"5-tips-for-magical-holiday-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.rabaulhistorical.org.pg\/index.php\/2022\/01\/14\/5-tips-for-magical-holiday-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udd70\ufe0f Time Travel to Wartime Rabaul \u2013 1942 to 1945"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We begin our Tour from Kokopo to Rabaul, along Williams Road. The road is named after one of the first Australians to die in the Great War. Able Seaman William \u2018Bill\u2019 Williams
died in action whilst capturing the German Wireless Station at Bitapaka in 1914. Most Australians seem to think \u201cGallipoli\u201d was their first battle. However, the battle for German New Guinea, was Australia’s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where was the first EVER battle as a sovereign nation?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First EVER battle as a sovereign nation. We make a short visit to Rabaul \u201cBitapaka\u201d War Cemetery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Australians associate their military history with the trenches of Gallipoli in 1915<\/strong>. But few realize that Australia\u2019s first battle as a sovereign nation<\/strong> took place in German New Guinea<\/strong> \u2014 specifically, at Bitapaka<\/strong> near Rabaul on 11 September 1914<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s right. Before Gallipoli, before the Western Front, there was Able Seaman William “Bill” Williams<\/strong>, who was killed during the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force’s assault on a German wireless station at Bitapaka. The battle marked Australia’s military debut on the world stage, a lesser-known yet significant chapter in the nation\u2019s wartime history. Back onto Williams Road, through the new City of Kokopo we see a glimpse of the old Pre WW1 German Town, then known as Herbertshoe. On the left, on the hill, the German MSC Mission of Vunapope \u2013 \u2018the place of the pope\u201d & on the right the Ralum Golf Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our tour begins in Kokopo<\/strong>, East New Britain’s vibrant capital. As we head along Williams Road<\/strong>, named in honour of Bill Williams, we not only travel physically, but we begin a journey back in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kokopo was once Herbertsh\u00f6he<\/strong>, the capital of German New Guinea<\/strong> in the early 1900s. German colonial buildings and structures still dot the landscape, some hidden behind modern developments, others still proudly standing as relics of the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the left<\/strong>, nestled on a hill, you\u2019ll spot the historic Vunapope Catholic Mission<\/strong> \u2013 meaning “place of the Pope.” Established by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC)<\/strong> in the 1890s, Vunapope served as a religious sanctuary through war, disease, and colonial upheaval. During WWII, it also operated as a hospital and a neutral zone respected by both Allied and Japanese forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the right<\/strong>, the Ralum Golf Club<\/strong> sits on what was once the estate of the legendary Queen Emma<\/strong>\u2014a powerful and wealthy businesswoman of Samoan-American descent, whose influence spanned across the South Pacific. Her plantation empire was central to German commercial interests before WWI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n