Coastwatchers Memorial Madang
Description
This memorial is a working lighthouse with the names of those who gave their lives engraved around the base.
History
The Coastwatching Organisation, created and administered by the Royal Australian Navy, operated in the islands north and north-east of Australia from the earliest days of the war in the Pacific in the Second World War. Civilians and military personnel, who continued their work in enemy held territory throughout the war, staffed this organisation at extreme risk to themselves and those native people who assisted them.
The lighthouse commemorates the Coastwatchers, a group of allied soldiers who hid out in the bush along the north coast when it was under Japanese occupation during the Second World War. The Coastwatchers monitored Japanese ship, air and troop movements, and would then relay this information to their own commands. Coastwatchers made the first sighting of Japanese forces by identifying large flying boats off Madang in December 1941. The names of those who gave their lives are engraved in a memorial around the base of the lighthouse.
Construction Information
Erected by public subscription and the Commonwealth Government in 1959.
Location
Madang, Papua New Guinea.
The Coastwatchers Lighthouse is located on a promontory at the north-eastern corner of Madang town, by the entrance to Madang Harbour.
