When war broke out, the plan for a high-powered station was abandoned, and the Germans hastily erected a low-powered station to communicate with German naval vessels in the region.
Shortly after Bita Paka started transmitting, Australian troops were sent to capture the radio station. Although overpowering the German forces, the Australians discovered that the Germans had felled the radio mast and destroyed much of the equipment.
Several days later, an Australian expeditionary force captured Rabaul and set up a temporary radio station at Government House using an ordinary Marconi 1.5 kw ships' radio, which made communication possible with vessels of the Royal Australian Navy and the Allied fleet.
On returning to Bita Paka, Australian troops found a large quantity of radio equipment buried in trenches and tanks, enabling them to construct a fully operational radio station. The Australian Government used much of this equipment, and the radio station at Bita Paka opened for operations in 1916 with the call sign VJZ.
Until 1928, communication from Bita Paka to Australia was either via Woodlark Island, Cooktown or Townsville. Several outstations had been built around New Guinea by this time, and the traffic load on Bita Paka had greatly increased.
Although new equipment had been installed by both the RAN and the Postmaster General's Department, the station was in need of modernisation by the time AWA took over in 1922. Further upgrading took place, but by 1928 it was decided that the traffic levels warranted a remote control station.
AWA operator Ted Bishton and his pedal-powered wireless, Rabaul, 1933.
Until 1928, communication from Bita Paka to Australia was either via Woodlark Island, Cooktown or Townsville. Several outstations had been build around New Guinea by this time, and the traffic load on Bita Paka had greatly increased.
Although new equipment had been installed by both the RAN and the Postmaster General's Department, the station was in need of modernisation by the time AWA took over in 1922. Further upgrading took place, but by 1928 it was decided that the traffic levels warranted a remote control station.
A new building, housing three complete receiving offices, was erected near the staff quarters, less than a kilometre from the old engine and transmitter buildings. The office of the land-line to Rabaul was also housed in this new building which handled shipping traffic and was the centre of communications from all outstations. A receiving and delivery office was situated at Rabaul. A direct communications link between Rabaul and Sydney was now complete.
In 1936, a new transmitting station was built at Malaguna, about three kilometres from the centre of Rabaul, and during 1935-36 a new duplex station was built at Blanche Bay in Rabaul itself.
The land-line to Bita Paka was abandoned, and the whole of Rabaul operations were centralised where they could be economically operated.
View of the engine, transmitters and battery room of the Bita Paka radio
station taken from 90 metres up the transmitter mast, 1936 - not only
was this long before OH&S (ie no ladder guards), but I'll bet this
shot wasn't taken with a hand held polaroid either!
The land~line to Bita Paka was abandoned, and the whole of Rabaul Operations were centralised where they could be economically operated. Rabaul lies on the north-east shore of Simpson Harbour on the island of New Britain and, in the early 1900s, was the largest port in New Guinea with much of its trade in copra and cocoa.
For radio operators in the early days, Bita Paka was seen as preferable to Rabaul because of its more moderate climate; in Rabaul, residents had to battle the hot and humid conditions. Conditions improved by the 1930s, however, with better and the installation of electric power.
In may 1937, Rabaul experienced one of the biggest natural disasters in its history when nearby Vulcan Island erupted, showering the town with ash and pumice and later with torrential rain and a tidal wave. This was followed by another explosion near Mount Mother.
Administrators frantically called for an evacuation of the town but, miraculously, the radio station only suffered minor damage and managed to contact Sydney. For the first few days after the eruption, the staff of Rabaul Radio worked 18-hour days trying to cope with the flow of traffic.
This natural disaster was followed a few years later by the tragedy of World War II. During the war, Rabaul became the centre of the Naval Coast Watching Scheme for the Territory of New Guinea, but had to be abandoned following the Japanese invasion in 1942.
The station at Rabaul was re-opened by the Commonwealth Government in February 1946.
Natives cleaning pumice from the roof of a staff cottage, Rabaul, 1937.
As usual, they got all the good jobs; leaving the hard, administrative
stuff to the white folks.
