PORT MORESBY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 September 1942, Page 4

PORT MORESBY

AUSTRALIA’S BASTION EARLY HISTORY.

CRUISE OF THE BASILISK

Port Moresby, Australia s northern bastion against invasion, has acnicvea world-wide fame, but how many of us remember the man after whom it was named? writes James S. Mornsby n lhe “Sydney Morning Herald. Admiral John Moresby did much to put the New Guinea region on tne map. In 1873, when the then Captain Moresby commanded H.M.S. Basilisx. Port Moresby was just another harbour of a practically unexplored island. Nobody seemed to have the faintest interest in it. ' , . . i ■ Moresby, who had hoisted his pennant for service on the Australian station, foresaw that there might be an opportunity to extend the very limited knowledge of the coast near Torres Strait and his request to the Admiralty for surveying instruments was granted. i The earnestness of the man can be discovered in the following passage taken from his life story “Two Admirals”: — “I looked over my prizes eagerly wondering whether, after all, their use would justify the. confidence of the hydrographer. This in truth was the impetus which led to the last extensive maritime discoveries possible between the Arctic and Antarctic circles—in other words, the exploration of some six hundred miles in and out of the then unvisitpd coast of New Guinea, and the addition to the chart of 140 islands and islets, besides the discovery of Port Moresby, now the capital of New Guinea, and many other excellent harbours and. harbourages, all eventually resulting in the addition of the colony of New Guinea to the Empire.” So it was that the explorer set out. After reaching Sydney he was assigned the task of apprehending black-birders and to that end macle several trips towards and about Cape York. He was always interested in lhe land which lay across Torres Strait, and on the voyage beginning January 5, 1873, finally picked his way through, uncharted reefs to anchor in Rcdscar Bay, on the south coast of New Guinea. This had been visited once or twice before by Owen Stanley and by misbut the surrounding country was unknown. THE FIRST SHIP. Skirting the coast in a pinnace he eventually arrived at a fine harbour which was almost land-locked. Determining that his should be the first ship to drop anchor there he returned to Redscar Bay and with the Basilisk made his way down the coast to the harbour. To quote again from “Two Admirals”:—

“At ten o’clock on February 20 the Basilisk was off the opening we had found in the reef, henceforth to be known as Basilisk Pass, and from the foretop I conned her into the still waters of Port Moresby, past Jane Island, into the land-locked Fairfax Harbour, where we anchored in five fathoms. As we broke into these unknown waters I determined that the outer and inner harbours should bear the names of my father.” He was referring to his father, Admiral Sir Fairfox Moresby, who fought with Nelson against Villeneuve; the island was named after his wife, Jane Moresby. After leaving Port Moresby, he proceeded down the coast and up _ the north-eastern side of New Guinea, where he charted entirely unknown coastline for six hundred miles. He had previously taken possession of eastern New Guinea formally in the King’s name.

“WASTING TIME.” The results of his discoveries were far-reaching. The most immediate, but not most important 1 , consequence was that a direct sea route to China from eastern Australia vzas opened up by way of the strait between the eastern lip of the island and dangerous reefs close by. The other results were a long time in manifesting themselves. When Captain Moresby returned to England he was given an official reprimand for wasting time, and his “discoveries,” as he know them to be, were merely called “interesting surveys.” As the years went by, Port Moresby became more and more the centre of the new Pacific sphere opened up to the north of Australia. But it is only very recently that it has leapt into prominence in the news as our northernmost stronghold in the Pacific, and the stepping-off place for attacks on the Japanese. It is an interesting sidelight on the Admiral's beliefs that he knew and respected the Japanese people. He thought that. Australia should look to Japan as a future ally in the Pacific. If he had known that the people whom he thought would be our friends would one day look with covetous eyes upon Australia, and invade the island that he had endeavoured with so little success to open up, I am convinced that he would have been even more persistent in his Empirebuilding efforts.