Lae
Lae is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River on the northern coast of Huon Gulf. It is at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is the main land transport corridor between the Highlands Region and the coast. Lae is the largest cargo port of the country and is the industrial hub of Papua New Guinea. The city is known as the Garden City and home of the Papua New Guinea University of Technology.
History
Lucas divides the history of Lae into four periods; the mission phase, the gold phase, the timber and agricultural phase and the industrial boom with the opening of the Highlands Highway.Between 1884 and 1918 the German New Guinea Company established trading posts in Kaiser Wilhelmsland, German New Guinea and on 12 July 1886, a German missionary, Johann Flierl, a pioneer missionary for the Southern Australian Lutheran Synod and the Neuendettelsau Mission Society, sailed to Simbang in Finschhafen, Kaiser-Wilhelmsland and arrived at Lae shortly after. The mission society provided clergy and religious education for Lutheran settlements in Missouri, Iowa and Ohio, Australia, and anywhere else "free thinking" Lutherans had settled.
After World War I, Eastern New Guinea came under British control and many of the Germanic names were replaced by English or indigenous ones. Adolf Haven was then referred to as Morobe Harbour. Australian officials or kiaps were stationed at various locations within the area and in 1921 the military administration transitioned to a civilian administration, a gold prospector named Cecil John Levien was appointed District Officer of Morobe.
File:RSLmonument.jpg|thumb|left|Monument at the old RSL building. Site marks the location when on 16 September 1943 Kenneth Eather from 25th Brigade raised the Australian flag following the defeat of the Japanese.
On 1 January 1923 Levien acquired a mining right for the area and shortly after formed a syndicate called Guinea Gold . The Guinea Gold syndicate formed Guinea Airways Limited in November 1927. In 1927 Levien arranged for the construction of the airstrip at Lae to assist the gold mine productions around Wau.
Lae was declared a town under the New Guinea Boundaries Ordinance on 31 March 1931 at the height of the gold rush era and Lae became the prototype for New Guinean towns built up around airstrips. The Europeans lived to the East of Lae Airfield while the New Guineans lived to the West. Cargo arrived in Lae and then was transported by air to the goldfields in Wau.
In July 1937, Lae made world news when American aviator Amelia Earhart was last seen flying out of the airport on her way back to the United States. She was never seen again.
When the volcanic eruptions occurred in Rabaul in 1937, a decision was made to transfer the capital of the Territory of New Guinea to Lae. World War II impeded the transfer and the town was occupied by the Empire of Japan on 8 March 1942. Lae, Rabaul and Salamaua became the major Japanese bases in New Guinea.
The naval Battle of the Bismarck Sea in March 1943 was fought over the Japanese attempt to reinforce Lae with troops sent by sea from Rabaul, an attempt foiled by sustained Allied attack on the Japanese troop transports. In mid-1943, after defeats in the Kokoda Track campaign, the Battle of Buna–Gona and the Battle of Wau, the Japanese retreated to Lae and Salamaua. However, the Salamaua–Lae campaign involved many weeks of fierce fighting, before the town fell to the Allies on 16 September.
In 1971 the Australian Colonial Administration established the first properly constituted Local Government of Lae town and in 1972 Lae was proclaimed a city. Lae's development after the war is directly linked to the development of the highlands. Coffee and tea were being grown and a port was needed. Later priority was given on road access, and the Highlands Highway came into existence. The mineral boom occurred in the 1980s and 1990s.
Geology
Lae is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and geologic instability has produced numerous faults, resulting in earthquakes.Lae sits between the larger Indo-Australian plate and the Pacific plate on the South Bismarck plate in the Ramu-Markham Fault Zone where the New Guinea Highlands Deforming Zone and South Bismarck tectonic plates are converging at up to 50 mm/yr. The city is caught in a giant geological vise and the seismic hazard is significant.
More than 15 years of measurements have been analysed with results indicating how rapidly Lae city and its survey network is deforming.
The Ramu-Markham Fault Zone, which follows the northern edge of the Markham Valley, is the active plate boundary between the South Bismarck plate and tectonostratigraphic terranes within the New Guinea Highlands Deforming Zone. The Ramu-Markham Fault Zone has generated large thrust earthquakes. Geological evidence suggests that major earthquakes in pre-historic times have occurred in the Lae area, and that there is the potential for another large earthquake to occur anytime within the next 100 years.
Mount Lunaman
Mount Lunaman is high and has a radio tower at the highest point marked by red fixed obstruction lights to assist navigation. At the base of Mount Lunaman at the southern and south-eastern face are the suburbs of Voco Point and Chinatown. The terraces are located to the West of Mount Lunaman.Mount Lunaman is known to the locals as Lo' Wamung, which means "first hill", Hospital Hill and Fortress Hill by the German settlers.
Mount Lunaman and the Lae urban area have been the subject of several tectonic studies relating to plate shift.
Mount Lunaman was an important landmark for both Japanese and the Allies:
After the war it was believed that Mount Lunaman contained the remains of many Japanese soldiers who defended Lae using tunnels:
Government
The Lae City Council is also known as Lae Urban Local-Level Government. It is an Urban Municipal Authority, responsible for the policy decisions, management and administration of the city, by way of providing the municipal services to the residents of the city.The Lae Urban Local-Level Government is a third-tier government. The political structure consists of the Lord Mayor as the head, who is elected by the people, with five elected, and three nominated Councilors. The six elected Councilors representing the six Wards in the city. The nominated Councilors represented the Chamber of Commerce, the Workers Federation Union, and the Women, Youth and Churches.
Roads
The Lae City has 137 kilometers of roads, which the National Government is responsible for the maintenance of the Independence Drive, the Markham Road, and the Milford Haven Road, while the Lae City Council maintains the rest of the roads in the city. Due to lack of funding, almost all the roads have deteriorated over the years.Electricity
In recent years PNG, including Lae has been experiencing problems with electricity supply. . In May 2023 a memorandum of agreement between AG Investment and the Morobe Province Development Authority was signed for the Finschhafen District Hydropower Project.Climate
Lae features a tropical rainforest climate under Köppen's climate classification, more subject to the Intertropical Convergence Zone than the trade winds and with no cyclones so equatorial. The area experiences an extraordinary amount of precipitation, averaging roughly of rainfall annually. In fact in no month does Lae, on average, see less than of precipitation. Temperatures show little variance during a typical year in the city, with January temperatures averaging roughly and July temperatures averaging.Economy
Industry
Lae is strategically located in that it can supply the Highlands, Islands, Southern and Momase regions. Large businesses include:- Mainland Holdings Ltd
- DuluxGroup Ltd
- Consort Express Lines
- Paradise Foods Limited
- Halla Cement
- HBS PNG Limited
- iPi Group
- Trukai Rice
- SP Brewery
- Bismark Maritime
- South Pacific Steel
- Papindo Group of Companies
- Prima Smallgoods
- Lae Biscuit Factory
- Citylink Motel
- MMK Transport
- Barlow Industries Ltd
- Mapai Transport
- PNG Metal Fabricators Ltd
- Araweld Ltd
- Homestate Co-operation
- NCI Packaging Ltd
- Esteens Deering Ltd
- Niugini Electrical Ltd
Markets