The station was a one man operation - an outstation - one of the earlier stations to be established by the Royal Australian Navy in New Guinea during World War 1.
In July 1930, AWA upgraded Kieta station, building a prefabricated bungalow which was a vast improvement on the one wooden shack with leaf roof.
Kieta radio station, 1930. (Photograph from the AWA magazine, The Radiogram,
Vol II, No 1, December 1930.)
Prior to this, the station had also been equipped with a short-wave receiver and transmitter, and telephonic communications were established between the radio station and the district offices and residents in Kieta.
There was little social life at Kieta. A steamer visited the island every six weeks bringing mail and supplies. There was one shop/hotel in the town and a tennis court.
During World War II, Kieta was abandoned. The station was destroyed and put to the torch on 23 January 1942, when the local District Officer gave orders for the island to be evacuated.
