|  |
|
| |
|
| Missing In Action (MIA) | Prisoners Of War (POW) | Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) |
| Chronology | Locations | Aircraft | Ships | Submit Info | How You Can Help | Donate |
|
Australian Army USAAF 1c942  Frances Lasker 1947  Bruce Adams 1970    Justin Taylan 2000   Justin Taylan 2006 |
Location Paga Hill Battery was located on Paga Hill overlooking the Basilisk Passage, Fairfax Harbor and Port Moresby. One of the Port Moresby Gun Batteries. Also known as Paga Hill Battery, Paga Battery, Paga Fortress or Paga Gun Fortress. Offshore was the anti-submarine net guarding the entrance to Fairfax Harbor. Construction During 1939, the Royal Australian Engineers (RAE) began construction of defenses atop Paga Hill to defend Port Moresby and Fairfax Harbor. The Paga Hill Battery had two 6" Mark XI naval guns emplaced in concrete mounts supported by two 6 Pounder 10 CWT "D. E. Lights'. Wartime History In February 1942, when Japanese air raids against Port Moresby commenced, the concrete gun mounts were still drying, forcing the gunners to wait until the middle of the month before the battery could go into action. Aside from ranging and proving fire, this gun battery never fired at any enemy target. During the Pacific War, the Australian Army Engineers 19th Fortress Company directed the Paga Hill defenses. d Postwar In 1946, the Paga Hill Battery was decommissioned and the guns removed. Today The concrete of the batteries and bunkers still remain today. The structures at Paga Hill have to some extent been filled in with dirt and other debris. Graffiti is to be found widely here and some of the structures are in use as dwellings by villagers or for storage. The service tunnel that runs from the top of Paga Hill, forward to the gun structures is sealed. Mike Boyd recalls in 1964-66: "When I first started working in the Commonwealth Public Service, I was working with the Public Works Department and lived in Paga Point in 1964-66. I fact I used to park the car on top of the upper gun emplacement. The lower gun was about 30-40 yards away and a little lower down the hill. They would have been 2 or 3 hundred feet up and right on the crown of the hill at the point. About 100 yards or so must have been a control center, as the timers called it the 'radio town'. There was a 8 inch gun emplacement further down the hill, to the right of these two emplacements. The star pickets and even some of the wire were still in place and there were no trees." The area was also declared a conservation reserve and zoned as open space. In the middle 1990s a property developer seemingly acquired the land title to Paga Hill, and was all set to develop it for high value real estate, but no development happened until 2014 with the construction of a fringing ring road around Paga Hill. References The 'Letter' Batteries by Reg Kidd & Ray Neal details the history of this gun battery The Coastal Gun Batteries of Port Moresby - Then & Now by John Douglas Post Courier "War memorial under threat" by Konopa Kana December 15, 2010 Contribute
Information Last Updated
|
 Photo Archive |
| Discussion Forum | Daily Updates | Reviews | Museums | Interviews & Oral Histories |
|
