This is Where the NGVR Fought in 1942

An Administrative Conference, ttended by all District Commis ioners, was held in Honiara from tay 8-12. The High Commissioner

(Mr. R. C. S. Stanley) opened the Conference and discussea Native Administration matters with Dis trict Commissioners.

This plain pillar of concrete, plus sorted junk that has been dumped [?]ere (a discarded water tank can be seen the left), marks the spot where the abaul detachment of the NGVR resisted [?]e Jap landing on the shores of Blanche [?]ay, New Britain, in the dawn of January [?], 1942.

In April, 1953, when this photograph as taken, the spot was a scene of [?]mplete neglect. It is impossible to get user to the pillar than this because of aist-high grass, and the uninformed sitor, in the unlikely event of his ever [?]ing down the overgrown track that ads to it, would imagine that it was only lother piece of war junk.

There is nothing on the hunk of cement show what it is, and some months ago, [?]e are informed, it was hauled out of the a where it had toppled, by a public

spirited Rabaul firm and placed where it is shown in the photograph. A small metal plaque affixed to the pillar, describ ing something of the events of January 23, 1943, would be in order. So would a little periodic grass cutting. In its short life, the Gazelle Peninsula has acquired an extraordinary amount of history— sufficient anyway for an embryo Historical Society. Failing this, perhaps a com mittee of the Town Advisory Council might take on the job of marking historic spots and keeping them in order.

In Sydney, relatives and friends of the New Guinea men who were lost from New Britain sedulously keep all anni versaries. And someone in Rabaul apparently thought sufficiently of the NGVR’s effort to put the cement pillar there in the first place. Why then does not Rabaul carry on the good work by making the spot at least accessible?