Names Of Ng Civilian War

Honour Roll in Westminster Abbey

Victims Enshrined

The names of 479 New Guinea civilians who were lost in the Territory during the Pacific war—2os of them in the sinking of the Montevideo Maru —are amongst 6,000 names contained in seven volumes that now lie in a place of honour in West minster Abbey.

r[E Roll of Honour —containing war victims of 42 countries — was handed over to the Dean and the Chapter of the Abbey in London in early July. The volumes lie in the Memorial Case close to the West door and within a few paces of the Unknown Warrior’s Grave and the Chapel of St.

George. In the Chapel is the tablet commemorating the Service dead of two World Wars.

Few people now living in the Territory, remember —if they ever knew —the extent of the sacrifice required of the pre-war population of New Guinea.

Some of those 479 presumably are from Papua where several missionaries were murdered by the Japanese in the Northern District; and some, no doubt, are New Guinea Asians; but the over whelming majority of them, in cluding all the Montevideo Maru victims, were European residents of the old Mandated Territory, The male European population of the Territory in 1941 (including male children and all men in Coastwatchers or NGVR) was 2,582.

Women and children were evacuated at the end of that year; with few exceptions only the adult males were left to take the brunt of the Japanese invasion in early 1942.

Over 400 of them paid the penalty for Australia’s unpreparedness.

Could Have Been Saved As PIM had said many times, hundreds of them could have been saved in early 1942 had it not been for the dilatoriness of some guilty man or men in Canberra. The means was there to take them safely away from Rabaul. Only official sanction was missing.

These men have been dead now tor 16 years and nothing more can oe done for them, but place their names on an Honour Roll. That this has been done, and the names Placed permanently in the Nation’s most historic shrine, will give satis action to many who remember them.

Our information about the Roll of Honour has been courteously given Py Brigadier A. E. Brown, Secretary General of the Anzac Agency of

the Imperial War Grave Com mission, 660-662 Bridge Road, Richmond, Vic.

We have been informed, also, that facsimile copies of the page con taining any individual name in the Roll of Honour, together with a copy of the Introduction, all in a specially designed folder, and at a cost of 2/6Stg. each, can be obtained.

The names in the Books are listed by countries where the death occurred, so that it is likely that for the expenditure of just a few two-and-sixpences, the pages con taining all the New Guinea, and the Montevideo Maru names could be obtained. This fact might be of interest to New Guinea organisa tions who would like a copy of the New Guinea portions of the Roll of Honour as it now lies in West minster Abbey.