Wau, Papua New Guinea
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A satellite image of Wau and her mines, looking towards Bulolo
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 Wau
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| Coordinates: 7°20′20″S 146°43′00″E / 7.33889°S 146.71667°ECoordinates: 7°20′20″S 146°43′00″E / 7.33889°S 146.71667°E | |
| Country | Papua New Guinea |
| Province | Morobe Province |
| Elevation | 1,080 m (3,540 ft) |
| Population (2005 est) | |
| • Total | 5,000 |
| • Rank | 26th |
| Time zone | AEST (UTC+10) |
| Location |
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| Climate | Af |
Wau is a town in Papua New Guinea, in the province of Morobe. It has a population of approx 5,000 and situated at an altitude of around 1100m. Wau was the site of a Gold rush during the 1920s and 30's when prospective gold diggers arrived at the coast at Salamaua and struggled inland along the Black Cat Track.
At the Battle of Wau, in January 1943, during World War II, the Australian Army stopped an advance by the Japanese. A road was established soon after World War II to Lae and this fostered the further development of local timber and agricultural industries that were originally established in support of the mining industry. While much of the mineral reserves have been extracted, industrial gold mining continues at Edie Creek and at the newly established Hidden Valley Gold Mine operated by Morobe Goldfields (a subsidiary of Harmony Gold - South Africa).
The Wau Ecology Institute is a biological research station situated near Wau.
The first strike at Wau, the start of what would be known as the Morobe Goldfield, was made at Koranga Creek by William ‘Shark-Eye’ Park, probably towards the end of 1921. Park and his partner, Jack Nettleton, ran a clandestine mining operation for twelve months from April 1922 until a new Mining Ordinance enabled them to get their gold out legally. Nettleton, it is known, took out 6000 troy ounces, or about 190 kg, of gold in August 1923.
Only a handful of miners worked the field, rich as it was, until 1924. From 1924 to 1926 perhaps 20 miners were on the field producing about 200 kg of gold a year. The real rush began in 1926 with much bigger discoveries at Edie Creek, above Wau. The new rush made air transport viable and Wau's airstrip opened in 1927 by the Parer brothers originally of Spanish descent. In 1928 there were 200 miners and production was about three tonnes a year.
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Wikipedia