Marienberg, Papua New Guinea
Marienberg (sometimes misspelled as Marienburg) is a town located near the mouth of the Sepik River in Marienberg Rural LLG, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea.[1]
History[edit]
In 1913, in what was then German New Guinea, missionaries of the Catholic Society of the Divine Word established a settlement here.[2] It was the first European settlement on the Sepik. The settlement's main industry was milling timber.[3] To facilitate this, one the first railways in the country was built to transport timber from the river to the sawmill. It was drawn by buffalo.[4]
The town was occupied during the Japanese invasion of Papua New Guinea in 1942.[5] Bombing and subsequent re-occupation of the town by Allied forces led to the destruction of the sawmill, houses and church constructed there.[6] These were rebuilt and, by the 1960s the area had a thriving milling business again. Shortly before independence in 1975, labor disputes led to the mismanagement and decline of the business and ultimately all industry ceased there.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ PacificWrecks.com. "Pacific Wrecks". pacificwrecks.com. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
- ^ "Volga German Institute". volga.domains.unf.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
- ^ "Two-Car Garage in Marienberg - DETAIL inspiration". inspiration.detail.de. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
- ^ Vianna, Fernando de Mello (1979-06-17). The International Geographic Encyclopedia and Atlas. Springer. ISBN 978-1-349-05002-4.
- ^ Rolands, Adam (2011-06-09). Counts of Marienberg. E-Books Publisher. ISBN 978-1-78069-017-9.
- ^ Hunt, I. L. "American Military Government of Occupied Germany" (PDF). Army Military Government.