BY SEAN KEOGH

Yesterday, we took a look at Port Moresby in the sixties. Today, thanks to the keen eyes and diligent typing of Phil Fitzpatrick, we roll back another 20 years to the forties. This is an extract. The full article 'Temporary in post-war Moresby' is available as a download below.

PORT MORESBY can at least, perhaps, feel superior to the rubble towns of Rabaul and Lae, but there is little ground for much satisfaction in this.

Certainly the other towns were left even more desolate and look even less tidy.  Certainly Moresby has a new picture theatre tastefully designed for tropical conditions – although the shows are a little old by the time they reach this part of the circuit. 

Certainly there is a reasonable pub, and another, is soon to open; but the beer lasts only a few days after each boat, and the boats are none too frequent.  Lucky Rabaul still has its native market (Bung) at which anything and everything in the fresh food line can still be bought for a stick of tobacco.

So that, with the many small frictions which upset local residents in these days of change, there is little incentive to municipal patriotism.  The water supply is overtaxed and breaks down every few days.  Fresh food runs out between boats. 

Petrol is extremely short, and many people who want to get to town are faced with the prospect of walking, which may be a matter of three or four miles. 

The cost of living is extremely high, with eggs 4/6 per dozen, tea 6/6 per lb., and bread 2/4 per loaf.  Every second person trying to maintain a wife in the Territory will tell you that his deferred pay is rapidly slipping through his fingers.

Houses are in desperately short supply.  A large number of married men are living in the numerous messes; their chances of bringing their wives up to live with them will be remote for some time to come. 

Since the resumption of Civil Administration only about forty houses have been built for the hundreds of Administration personnel wanting them, and a large number of these are sisalkraft  "temporary temporaries". 

The word "temporary" is the town's pass-word. 

No one knows whether it is to be the permanent capital, whether the two Territories of Papua and New Guinea will permanently be administered jointly, whether there is any economic future in New Guinea or, in short, what the future holds for anyone.

Download the complete article here