Huon Peninsula

The area was the site of the Huon Peninsula campaign of World War II, in 1943-44 as Japanese troops retreating from Lae fought their way over the Finisterre Mountains to Madang on the north coast.

[1] In the 19th century, Christian missionaries established missions on the peninsula, leading to significant changes in the region's social and cultural landscape.

The campaign formed the initial part of an offensive that the Allies launched in the Pacific in late 1943 and resulted in the Japanese being pushed north from Lae to Sio on the northern coast of New Guinea over the course of a four-month period.

The Huon Peninsula is a part of the New Guinea Orogen, which is a mountain range that was formed as a result of the collision between the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates.

These tracts span the interval from 33,000 to 52,000 years ago, and the uplift events are believed to be coseismic, meaning they are caused by earthquakes.

[3] The amplitude of uplift events averages around 3 meters, and generally increases from northwest to southeast in keeping with the regional late Quaternary trend.

The Huon Peninsula also experiences occasional tropical cyclones and monsoons, which can bring extremely heavy rain and strong winds.

Additionally, small-scale farming is common in the area, with many families growing crops such as bananas, taro, and sweet potato for subsistence and sale.

Some of the most popular cultural experiences on the peninsula include the Baining Fire Dance,[6] the Morobe Show,[7] and the Sepik River Crocodile Festival.

[8] Some of the most notable sites include the Madang Museum,[9] the War Cemetery in Lae,[10] and the ruins of the Japanese wartime base at Salamaua.

[11] The rainforests that cover these remote mountains provide habitats for many birds and animals and have been designated the Huon Peninsula montane rain forests ecoregion.

[14] The raised beach coastal terraces of Huon were added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on June 6, 2006 in the Mixed (Cultural + Natural) category.