Sangara, Papua New Guinea

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Sangara
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Sangara
Location within Papua New Guinea
Coordinates: 8°49′23″S148°6′7″E / 8.82306°S 148.10194°E / -8.82306; 148.10194
Country Papua New Guinea
Province Oro (Northern)
District Sohe District
LLG Higatura Rural LLG
Time zone AEST (UTC+10)
Climate Af

Sangara is a settlement in south-eastern Papua New Guinea. It is located to the east of Kokoda.

Papua New Guinea constitutional monarchy in Oceania

Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an Oceanian country that occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The western half of New Guinea forms the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua.

Kokoda Place in Oro, Papua New Guinea

Kokoda is a station town in the Oro Province of Papua New Guinea. It is famous as the northern end of the Kokoda Track, site of the eponymous Kokoda Track campaign of World War II. In that campaign, it had strategic significance because it had the only airfield along the Track. In the decades preceding, it had been a foothills settlement near the gold fields.

Contents

History

During the Second World War the area saw fighting between the Japanese forces and the allies (primarily Australians). Missionaries were once active in the area and a mission station was established in Sangara. [1] [2] In 1948, Martyrs Memorial School for boys was established in Sangara, named in honour of 11 Anglican missionaries. [3]

Economy

The Sangara also constitute a tribe in the area. They are known for setting up markets along the road to Buna Bay to Yodda Goldfield and trading taro with tobacco and glass bottles. [4]

Buna Bay is a bay and port on the southeast coast of Papua New Guinea. An important shipping port, it was developed for the purpose of transporting agricultural products overseas. The Sangara plantations of coffee, rubber and sugar were traditionally transported cargo to Buna Bay and sent it overseas thence, particularly from the late 1920s.

Sangara is a notable area of coffee production, lying in the foothills. [5] 18 commercial coffee plantations were established in 1926, paving the way for commercial production from 1928. [6] Louis Austen, a retired sea-captain, once managed a government coffee plantation near Sangara. [1] Historically there were also major rubber plantations in the area; the rubber was transported to the port at Buna Bay and then shipped overseas. [7] [8] Sangara was also an important location for the sugar industry in the country. In 1928 a group of Cairns-based investors founded the Sangara Sugar Estates, Ltd., and proposed the payment of capital worth £500,000 to promote sugar production in Papua New Guinea. [9] The company was reported to have applied for some 8100 hectares of land. [6] The sugar industry in Sangara though was reportedly not as successful as the rubber industry and some of the plantations were later converted to produce rubber. [10]

Coffee production in Papua New Guinea

Coffee production in Papua New Guinea is the country’s second largest agricultural export, after oil palm, and employs approximately 2.5 million people. It accounts for approximately 1% of world production, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Cairns City in Queensland, Australia

Cairns is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It is on the east coast of Far North Queensland. The city is the 5th-most-populous in Queensland and ranks 14th overall in Australia.

See also

Related Research Articles

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New Guinea Force

New Guinea Force was a military command unit for Australian and native troops from the Territories of Papua and New Guinea serving in the New Guinea campaign during World War II. Formed in April 1942, when the Australian First Army was formed from the Australian I Corps after it returned from the Middle East, it was responsible for planning and directing all operations within the territory up until October 1944. General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area Operational Instruction No.7 of 25 May 1942, issued by Commander-Allied-Forces, General Douglas MacArthur, placed all Australian and US Army, Air Force and Navy Forces in the Port Moresby Area under the control of New Guinea Force. Over the course of its existence, New Guinea Force was commanded by some of the Australian Army's most notable commanders, including Sydney Rowell, Sir Edmund Herring and Sir Leslie Morshead.

Papuan Infantry Battalion

The Papuan Infantry Battalion (PIB) was a unit of the Australian Army raised in the Territory of Papua for service during the Second World War. Formed in early 1940 in Port Moresby to help defend the territory in the event of a Japanese invasion, its soldiers were primarily Papuan natives led by Australian officers and non-commissioned officers. Following the outbreak of the Pacific War, the PIB served in many of the Allied campaigns in New Guinea; however, due to the nature of its role its sub-units mainly operated separately, attached to larger Australian and US Army units and formations. Slow in forming, the first members of the PIB were not officially posted in until March 1941. By 1942 it consisted of only three companies, all of which were under-strength and poorly equipped. It was subsequently employed on scouting, reconnaissance and surveillance patrols against the Japanese, where the natural bushcraft of its native soldiers could be used to their advantage. The PIB was sent forward in June 1942 to patrol the northern coast of Papua and was dispersed over a wide area. These small parties were the first to make contact with the Imperial Japanese forces upon their landing in Papua, before participating in the Kokoda Track campaign. As part of Maroubra Force, the PIB fought alongside the Australian 39th Battalion at Kokoda, Deniki, and Isurava as the Japanese forced them back along the Kokoda track, but was withdrawn before the campaign finally turned in favour of the Australians.

Soputa is a village located inland from Gona, Buna and Sanananda in Oro province, Papua New Guinea. The village is located at the crossroads of the Kokoda-Sananada Road and Buna-Kokoda Road. Trails lead to Buna and Sananada.

Invasion of Buna–Gona

The Invasion of Buna–Gona, called Operation RI by the Japanese, was a military operation by Imperial Japanese forces to occupy the Buna–Gona area in the Territory of Papua during the Pacific campaign of the Second World War. The initial landings and advance on Kokoda occurred between 21 and 27 July 1942. The Japanese invaded and occupied the location in preparation for an overland attack on Port Moresby along the Kokoda Track. The landing marked the start of the Kokoda Track campaign. The landings were not directly opposed by land forces but were engaged by elements of Maroubra Force as they advanced on Kokoda. This initially included B Company of the 39th Battalion, patrols of the Papuan Infantry Battalion (PIB) operating in the area and a small number of the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) that became attached to the force. The Australians were initially repulsed near Oivi but subsequently regrouped to defend Kokoda in an initial battle there from 28–29 July.

Agriculture in Papua New Guinea has a more than 7,000 years old history. Currently around 85% of Papua New Guinea's population lives from semi-subsistence agriculture.

Battle of Oivi–Gorari

The Battle of Oivi–Gorari was the final major battle of the Kokoda Track campaign before the Battle of Buna–Gona. Following the capture of Kokoda by Australian forces on 2 November, the Allies began flying in fresh supplies of ammunition and food to ease the supply problems that had slowed their advance north after the climactic battle around Ioribaiwa, which coupled with reverses elsewhere, had stopped the Japanese advance on Port Moresby.

Herbert Thomson Kienzle

Captain Herbert Thomson "Bert" Kienzle was an Australian soldier and plantation owner from the Territory of Papua. He is notable for his contribution as officer in charge of native labour supporting Australian forces fighting along the Kokoda Track. He identified and named the dry lake beds, Myola, that were to become an important supply dropping area and staging point during the Kokoda Track campaign. In later life, he was recognised for his contribution to the development of Papua New Guinea.

References

  1. 1 2 Aerts, Theo (1994). The martyrs of Papua New Guinea: 333 missionary lives lost during World War II. University of Papua New Guinea Press. ISBN   9980-84-053-6.
  2. Tomkins, Dorothea, Hughes, Brian (1969). The road from Gona. Angus and Robertson.
  3. Barker, John (2008). Ancestral Lines: The Maisin of Papua New Guinea and the Fate of the Rainforest. University of Toronto Press. p. 33. ISBN   1-4426-0105-1.
  4. Murray, John Hubert (2009). Papua Or British New Guinea. READ BOOKS. p. 105. ISBN   1-4446-7727-6.
  5. Mair, Lucy Philip (1970). Australia in New Guinea. Melbourne University Press.
  6. 1 2 Denoon, Donald, Snowden, Catherine (1980). A History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea: a time to plant and a time to uproot. Papua New Guinea. Dept. of Primary Industry. Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies.
  7. Pacific Publication (Aust.) Pty. Ltd (1961). The handbook of Papua and New Guinea.
  8. "A Chronology of Tramways and Railways in Papua New Guinea" (PDF). www.pngbuai.com.
  9. International Sugar Journal (1931)
  10. Lewis, David Charles (1996). The plantation dream: developing British New Guinea and Papua 1884-1942. The Journal of Pacific History. ISBN   0-9595477-8-9.