Setting up House (continued)

Figure 6 Gibbs and Chevrolet, Pandora Crescent, Port Moresby 1941. (Photograph courtesy of A. K. Hannay)

The opportunity to use the car was somewhat limited as the only roads suitable for travel were one from the town along the harbour to Konedobu, the Administrator's residence and Hanuabada village (Figure 7) on the eastern side of the harbour; another along Ela Beach which turned inland through what would later become the Seven-mile airstrip (Jackson's Strip) to Rouna Falls, about 50km from the town; and the road to the airport at Kila Kila (about 6km from the town) which branched from the road to the Seven-mile airstrip at the eastern end of Ela Beach. These were gravel roads with chronic corrugations. The condition of the road to the Seven-mile airstrip and Rouna Falls became progressively worse the further one progressed from the town.

Figure 7 Hanuabada village built on stilts over the water of Port Moresby harbour. (Photograph courtesy of A. K. Hannay)

Before Audrey arrived in Port Moresby I rarely drove beyond Kila Kila in one direction and the Hanuabada Papuan village on the eastern shore of the harbour in the other. After her arrival early in 1941 the car was useful for domestic and social purposes in addition to its primary function of driving to and from the meteorological office at Kila Kila aerodrome. It was a great advantage for getting around when it was hot and humid and during periods of torrential rain which were frequent during the wet season. We used it to make trips to Ela Beach and other picnic spots, for social visits and for collecting our consignments of fresh food, groceries and hardware arriving about once each month by ship from Sydney.

Bureau of Meteorology