The Australian War Graves Commission placed Rabaul as being in Papua New Guinea. Please find Rabaul under Rabaul - New Britain.

Port Moresby - Bomana

A driveway lined with shady trees, flowering shrubs and lawns leads from the main gate to the car park where there is an overall view of the cemetery. To the left and down a gentle slope are the white headstones guarding the 3,779 graves of those who died fighting in Papua and on Bougainville. Among these are 438 unidentified soldiers of the United Kingdom Forces (Royal Artillery) captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore and who died in captivity in the Solomon Islands.

At the far end lies the Remembrance Stone of richly grained pink sandstone. Slightly to the right, on a knoll, stretching its arms over all the graves stands the Cross of Sacrifice. The Memorial is higher up to the right on top of the hill dominating everything. A rotunda of cylindrical pillars encloses a circle of square columns, on the inside faces of which are bronze panels engraved with over 800 names of men who lost their lives in operations in Papua and who have no known grave.

The whole area is a scene of bright flowering shrubs, green lawns, shady trees, pink sandstone monuments and white headstones.

Bomana War Cemetery ANZAC Day April 2002

Princess Anne visiting Bomana Cemetery September 2005
Photograph courtesy of the Australian High Commission

Lae

This cemetery maintains the graves of 2,804 men who lost their lives during the Japanese southward drive, including Kokoda Trail, Buna, Gona and Salamaua from 1939 to 1945. The number also includes 426 unidentified soldiers of the United Indian Army who were taken by the Japanese during the fighting in Malaya and Hong Kong. They were recovered between But Airfield and Wewak.

The Lae Memorial commemorates 348 men of the Australian Army, Australian Merchant Navy and Royal Australian Air Force who have no known graves. This Memorial takes the form of engraved bronze tablets fixed to the walls linking the end columns of the colonnade.

An avenue of cameraria trees leads to the wide open gates suspended between two large pillars and lattice work of stone, hedged with flowering hibiscus, with a wide forecourt of lawn and surrounded by lush, tropical trees, shrubs and flowers. Rising from the forecourt is a wide, imposing flight of steps leading to a flat-roofed colonnade housing the Register and Visitors Book. Its central opening frames a view of the Cross of Sacrifice which is actually in the centre of an expanse of beautiful lawn studded with the bronze plaques that mark the graves. Enclosing the whole area is a thick jungle of vividly coloured trees, shrubs and avenues of lawns and hibiscus.

C.O.F.E.P.O.W

Children and Families of Far East Prisoners of War