Manus Island Radio, in the small settlement of Lorengau, was built during the occupation of New Guinea by Australian forces in World War 1, primarily as a communications post to Australian military headquarters in Rabaul. For many years, Lorengau was a relay station for communications between Aitape and Rabaul. Lorengau was the site of the district government headquarters, and by the mid1920s the region was considered safe enough for Australian wives to join their husbands who held administrative postings or who had been sent to this most northerly of radio stations.
Food and mail for the settlement was brought by boat every six weeks. Fresh food lasted only a few days as there was no refrigeration, so most food was canned, and supplemented by occasional fresh vegetables grown in the area. The wireless building was a one-roomed native-type hut, located on a flat near the beach. It was built with a sacsac leaf room which, although providing coolness in the summer months, leaked badly during the wet season. This hut had a sleep-out verandah at the back which overlooked a crocodile infested river. Fortunately, by 1932, the bush along the river bank had been cleared; this substantially reduced the population of malaria-bearing mosquitos.
The verandah of the radio house at Lorenou, Manus island, 1939.
The main work of the radio station was contact between local administration and Rabaul, and some public traffic from the settlers.
Manus Island was attacked by the Japanese in January 1942. The operator abandoned the station shortly afterwards and took to the bush with the radio set, finally sailing to the mainland to be rescued in May that year. The station was re-opened by OTC in 1950, but was staffed and operated by the Royal Australian Navy.
