"Port Moresby - Hot and Humid! " a Port Moresby Travel Page by Bwana_Brown

I spent three years in Papua New Guinea, based in it's capital city of Port Moresby, between 1979-1982. I had previously spent 3 years in Zambia and then worked for 4 years in my home province of New Brunswick, Canada before the need for new adventures and a warmer climate struck my wife and I. In response to an advert in the back of an electrical magazine, I applied for and was given a contract job to work for the Papua New Guinea Electricity Commission. The country had become independent only in 1975 and was looking for some technical help in keeping its power system working.

Port Moresby is located in an area called the National Capital District or NCD. It is on the southern coast of the country and surrounds part of Fairfax Harbour and was named after British Captain John Moresby, who discovered its harbour in 1873. The following year a mission station was established at the village of Hanuabada, a traditional Papuan village and home to the Motuan people. The houses of this village still stand on their traditional wooden stilts down on the waterfront. During the Second World War, the small town of Port Moresby was transformed into a large military camp, accommodating tens of thousands of troops during the Pacific campaigns. At the end of the war Port Moresby was the only town of any size left standing in Papua New Guinea and was chosen by the governing Australian administration to be the seat of government. As a result, this magnet has drawn tribal people to it from all over the country and has led to a gradual deterioration of the security situation here as the population has now swollen to about 300,000. It was still manageable during my time in the country but I'm not so sure if it still is.

It was quite an experience living in this remote country and, on this page, I have tried to convey a sense of what it was like living there at that time. For an overview of Port Moresby and surrounding area, check out my 'General' tips.