Arawa Photos Before the Crisis
Once upon a time, there was thriving coastal town on the east coast of the island of Bougainville.
Arawa, before the crisis, more pics at the end of this post
Known as Arawa, it was built on an old coconut plantation that began along a beautiful sandy stretch of beach known locally as Loloho. The town stretched all the way to the port of Kieta.
It was a town in the shadow of the great Crown Prince Mountain Range that was home to one of the largest copper and gold mines of its time, the Panguna Copper Mine.
Arawa was home to many. It was home to the locals who watched as the mine grew and industry grew and the population of the outsiders grew.
It was home to expatriates who came to call it home. It was home to people from the New Guinea Islands and New Guinea mainland that came to work there. It was home to the thousands of settlers and drifters who arrived there, hoping to find some sort life. The population was just over 130,000 people with 3000 being expatriates.
It had banks, schools, modern, fully staffed hospitals and large shopping centers long before any other place in Papua New Guinea. It had buses and long wide graveled roads with no potholes. It had electricity and running water. It was a town of music and sound and the hustle, bustle of its modern streets was legendary all over an under-developed pacific.
On the weekends boats with sails unfurled cruised its waters while AFL and Rugby League games drew boisterous crowds and motorbike rallies were a huge annual event.
It was an amazing place, a happening spot for all those who lived there.
But one day it all changed….but that’s a story that only the survivors, the people of Arawa, Kieta, Panguna, Kongara and the nearby islands and those who called Arawa home at one time in their lives, can tell you about.
These photos where provided by Chris and Zhon of Bougainville. Thankyou and I am sharing them here.
Hope you all go to Arawa one day…even if you never called it home.
To Find out more on Bougainville and Arawa visit the Bougainville Tourism Office website. And learn more about Papua New Guinea here.
-
- Islands of the coast of Arawa
-
- Bougainvilleans and BCL workers, Loloho Power Plant
-
- R.J Cornelius, Former Managing Director of BCL
-
- Bougainville, Arawa Map
-
- Kokopau, Small Buka, Buka Passage
-
- Offshore Islands of Bougainville
-
- Loloho – Arawa, before the crisis, more pics at the end of this post
-
- Crowne Prince Range of Bougainville
-
- A Bougainville Village back then
-
- Bougainville kid in a patch of land being cleared for gardens.
-
- Bougainvilleans
-
- BCL Apprentice Training
-
- BCL Concentrator Instrument Workshop
-
- BCL apprentice and supervisor
-
- BCL electric shovel and dump trucks
-
- Arawa, So organised
-
- Panguna Town
-
- Keita
-
- Birempa
-
- Kawerong Haus – Single Quarters
-
- Customs check, Aropa Airport
-
- PNGBC Banking Services
-
- swimming carnival at Panguna
-
- Arawa police & family
-
- BCL worker
{googleAds}
{/googleAds}
Related posts:
11 comments
thanks for sharing dis photos guys.arawa truly was a town like no other. I was born there,but just a lil” child when the crisis broke out,but still have vivid memories of an amazing town.can’t imagine how it would have developed into today had it not been for the crisis.
It is really sad to see these pictures but I’m sure God will restore it in the near future.
May God bless Bougainville!
Wow, what a great website.This brings back so many fond memories of Bougainville.Love that photo of the Davars Hotel pool.It was one of my favourite haunts.Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Maurice
Unreal I just saw a picture of myself, then Lorraine Serono, with my grade one classmates of Bovo International (sitting near the radio with my favourite red skirt). I can remember Fiona, Claire ( I think), Karina (I think), Shane, John, and Ishmael. After seeing those pics my children want to move there! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Lorraine, glad that you enjoyed them : )
Jaive
Thank you for posting all the wonderful photos to whoever did, got misty eyed on my trip down memory lane I just Loved it Thanks heaps and heaps.
love it, so many glorious memories
Thankyou for posting the pics. so many fond memories
This was the Bougainville before the conflict. Bougainvilleans were no bodies! Relegated, belittled and outcasts in our own land by foreigns dogs starting from the infidel Papua New Guineans and beyond.
Thank you, Bougainville crisis for saving us
Leave a Comment