Coastwatchers' Memorial, Madang
Coastwatchers' Memorial, Madang, Papua New Guinea
This memorial is a working lighthouse and is maintained by local authorities. The Coastwatching Organisation, created and administered by the Royal Australian Navy, operated in the islands north and north-east of Australia from the earliest days of the war in the Pacific in WW2. Civilians and military personnel, who continued their work in enemy held territory throughout the war, staffed this organisation at extreme risk to themselves and those native people who assisted them.
Coastwatchers made the first sighting of Japanese forces by identifying large flying boats off Madang in December 1941.
See the PNG memorials in historical perspective: