The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
New Guinea. Five nuns dressed in their habits arriving at Moresby. Left to right: Sister Auxilium of Vienna; Sister Alena of Holland; Sister Antoniella of Holland; Sister Vinciana of Holland; Sister Arnoldine of Germany. On 31 August 1943 five nuns, two missionaries and a lay brother who had escaped from the Japanese at Wewak, arrived at Port Moresby after a four month trek through the jungle. The party set out from Wewak on 28 April 1943, and travelled on foot through jungle and once over a 10,000 feet mountain range. The nuns made the heartbreaking journey clothed in the long flowing habits of their order, which they washed and repaired on the trek. When the nuns' shoes wore out the priests gave them theirs and continued the trek barefooted for a fortnight until the party was spotted by an Allied plane which later dropped food and shoes. The party eventually reached an Allied base and was then flown into Moresby. A number of the nuns had lived at Wewak for twenty years. For all of them it was their first trip in an aeroplane.
Port Moresby, New Guinea. The five nuns, who with two missionaries and a lay brother escaped the Japanese at Wewak and reached Port Moresby four months later. They made the journey in the flowing habi
Port Moresby, New Guinea. Two missionaries, Father K. Laumann (Germany), Father A. Cruysberg (Holland) and Brother A. Wiedmann (Germany) after their arrival in Port Moresby. Together with five nuns th
Vunapope, New Britain. Five nuns seated in a jeep trailer during their evacuation from the Mission in Ramale Valley to Rabaul. Contact with the internees was made by Allied troops and represenatives o
Father Gerard Peekel being assisted from a landing barge after being released by the Japanese during a surrender ceremony at Fangalawa Bay. Father Peekel along with five nuns, Sisters M Brigitta, M Aq
Vietnam. 1966-03-18. Father Gerry Cudmore, Catholic padre to the 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR), calls at an orphanage conducted by Catholic nuns at Tan Mai, a village on the outs
A group of sailors from the fishing party, on board HMAS Canberra, showing off their catch of the day. Note most of the men on the right are barefooted.
