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Scandal of Rabaul’s Abandoned Civilian

THE motor-vessel Herstein, fro which was recently salvagi the propeller shown on o' cover this month, was the centr feature in one of the greate scandals in the Pacific war.

The vessel arrived in Rabaj somewhere about mid-Januai 1942, and was ordered to remai to load copra. By this time tl writing was clearly on the ws for the 300 or so European ma civilian men who were thei Nominally, the defence of Rabaf was in the hands of the Arir garrison which had been station*, there for a couple of years, ar certain civil defence plans hi been made, but when it came the point, chaos prevailed ar finally, when invasion was immi:. ent, each man was told to sh;. for himself.

When it was seen that neithr

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(From previous page) .e Military authorities nor Can rra had made any plans for the otection of the civilians aband led in Rabaul, the then Govern ent Secretary, Mr. H. H. Page, 10 was at that time Acting Ad- Lnistrator, radioed Canberra, on least two occasions, begging that e large Herstein be utilised to rry away South the civiilan pulation.

Permission was refused. A few ys later, on January 23, the Japs ided in Rabaul, the garrison was erwhelmed in a matter of hours d in the next few weeks about ) civilians were rounded up and sen prisoner by the Japs (hun eds of soldiers were also taken isoner). These civilians and .litary—were shipped away from ibaul to Japan in the following ne on the Montevideo Maru. She is bombed and sank with all nds. There were no survivors..

During the invasion of Rabaul, ■rstein was bombed by the Japs, • on fire, and subsequently sank, [n the years since 1942 there ve been numerous demands for inquiry into the scandal of the andoned civilians at Rabaul. The swer has always been stony mce. Why Mr. Page’s request s not granted we will probably ver know now—but some guilty ;n in Canberra have the deaths hundreds of New Guinea’s finest m on their conscience.