Kaliboro Point, New Guinea. August 1959. The Coastwatchers Memorial Light at Madang Harbour. It ...

Kaliboro Point, New Guinea. August 1959. The Coastwatchers Memorial Light at Madang Harbour. It is a memorial to the coastwatchers still living and to those thirty-eight who were killed while carrying out their solitary and dangerous work during the Second World War, and to the loyal natives who made it possible for the coastwatchers to remain at their posts. The coastwatchers group was developed before and during the war by RAN Intelligence, who recruited planters and patrol officers from New Guinea and other islands north of Australia, to provide timely intelligence of enemy movements by land, sea or air. The coastwatchers played a crucial part in providing the intelligence for the Allies during the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Solomon Island campaigns. There were more than 100 coastwatching stations in a 4000 kilometre crescent from the western border of Papua New Guinea through the Solomon Islands to Vila in the New Hebrides. The light was officially switched on for the first time on 15 August 1959, by Senator John Gorton, Minister for the Navy, in the presence of Brigadier D. M. Cleland, Administrator of Papua New Guinea, Commander E. Feldt, who organised and expanded the organisation, Captain C. M. White, US Naval Attache in Australia, other officials and local residents as well as an estimated 3,000 natives. (Donor A. Waddell)