Lae and Madang in 1947

By “Skyline"

THIS strange umbrella-like contraption

(shown in photograph on the right), was once known familiarly to hun dreds of thousands of American and Australian troops. It is Charing Cross.

Lae, New Guinea, and, it is said, that thousands of service vehicles were directed past it day and night, by military policemen during the war in that area.

To-day it does not need anyone on point duty although it is still as busy an intersection as any other in Lae which is rumoured to have a population of 600 now, against 80 pre-war.

Present-day Lae is a wilderness of abandoned army camps with the popula tion living (or existing) over a large area.

Before last year’s CDC auctions, a large sign-board advertising a “Stupendous Clearance Sale” was erected on Charing Cross. This can be seen in the photo graph.

On a recent air trip between Lae and Madang further north I could not help but be struck by the difference in ap pearance between the two townships.

There was great damage at Madang also, but this little town has retained its beauty and perhaps because it is less scatttered than Lae, seems to be beginning to feel itself again. Its avenues, particularly those where the rain trees grow, are very lovely—it is fortunate that they escaped destruction.

On the way to the hospital a bronze plaque has been erected in commemora tion of the deliverance of Madang from the enemy. This plaque is shown in the photograph on the left. The inscription reads: “sth Australian Division. A Platoon of the 90th Battalion and a

patrol of the 87/60 Battalion defeated a small Japanese rearguard and entered Madang on 24th April, 1944.”