Shortly prior to the capture of Rabaul by the Japanese in 1942, Australian women and children were given evacuation orders to return to Australia.
Up until now, their story has been a neglected area of Australian history, but a retired serviceman and Macquarie University Master of Research candidate wants to tell their story.
John Reeves first became aware of the evacuation while attending the centenary of Australia's first World War I battle in Rabaul in 2014.
Orders to compulsorily evacuate the women and children were broadcast over Rabaul radio on December 16,18 and 20, 1941. Males aged older than 16 were to stay with their fathers. In some cases, younger boys stayed behind too.
Mr Reeves said some of the women travelled through cyclonic weather from as far north as Bougainville, others missed the boat and had to be airlifted out.
When they arrived in Australia, many were forced to fend for themselves, with no support from the government, and no family connections after years living abroad.
"They came back with absolutely nothing and they had to find jobs and didn't know what had happened to their husbands," he said.
He said many of the women were unable to work and care for their children and had to either put them up for adoption or hand them over to an orphanage.
Mr Reeves has already heard some incredible stories of resilience throughout the course of his research.
He told the story of a mother and daughter who were both evacuated. The daughter managed to secure work as a typist, for a salary of just 2 pounds, but somehow, the mother was able to return to Papua New Guinea and retrieve the family's jewels. This allowed the women to secure a home loan, purchase a car, and some 100 day old chooks, which they raised in the oven until they were old enough to eat.
Mr Reeves said there was no evacuation plan in place for the men. Most of them were captured as prisoners of war and perished on board Japanese transport ship Montevideo Maru. The ship was torpedoed by the US submarine USS Sturgeon on July 1, 1942, leading to the drownings of 1054 people.
It wasn't until 1945 that the federal government learned their fate, and it wasn't until "much later" that telegrams started to be sent out, as the government waited for more facts.
"There was this whole period of hoping and waiting and being anxious, then coming to the realisation, 'no he's dead, he's not coming home."
Mr Reeves is interested in hearing from any surviving evacuees. For more information email john.reeves1@hdr.mq.edu.au.
