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Goodenough Bay

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Coordinates: 9°55′S 149°55′E / 9.917°S 149.917°E / -9.917; 149.917
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This article is about the bay in Papua New Guinea. For the bay within King Sound in Western Australia, see King Sound.

Goodenough Bay
Black and white map focused on the western part of the bay
1956 map
Location of Goodenough Bay in Papua New Guinea
Location of Goodenough Bay in Papua New Guinea
Goodenough Bay
Location in Papua New Guinea
LocationMilne Bay Province
Coordinates9°55′S 149°55′E / 9.917°S 149.917°E / -9.917; 149.917
TypeBay
EtymologyNamed after James Graham Goodenough
Part ofSolomon Sea
Ocean/sea sourcesPacific Ocean
Basin countriesPapua New Guinea
Max. length40 km (25 mi)
Max. width37 km (23 mi)
Max. temperature35 °C (95 °F)
Min. temperature17 °C (63 °F)
Islands2
Location
Map

Goodenough Bay is a large bay on the northern coast of the Papuan Peninsula, in the southeast of the Papua New Guinean mainland. Located in Milne Bay Province, it spans roughly 40 kilometres (25 mi) by 37 kilometres (23 mi), with a coastline running from the eastern tip of Cape Vogel to a prominent headland called Cape Frere. It forms part of the Solomon Sea, within the south Pacific Ocean. The northern coast along Cape Vogel is hilly, while the southern coast along the main Papuan peninsula is steeper and connects inland to the Owen Stanley Range. The waters of the bay are deep, with few areas ships can easily anchor, although coastal areas contain a few coral reefs.

The bay lies along an active fault line, and likely formed during the Pliocene when what are now the D'Entrecasteaux Islands were pushed apart from mainland New Guinea. The area remains tectonically active. The local communities living around the bay speak a variety of different and sometimes largely unrelated Austronesian languages. The first European to survey the area was John Moresby, who named the bay after James Graham Goodenough. An Anglican mission was established at Dogura in 1891. In the Second World War the bay saw conflict during the New Guinea campaign, particularly around the Battle of Milne Bay.

Geography

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Green land with ocean on both sides
The Papuan Peninsula with the southern end Goodenough Bay to the north (top) with Cape Frere prominent in the middle. To the south of the peninsula (bottom) is Orangerie Bay.

Goodenough Bay is one of a series of bays along the northern coast of the Papuan Peninsula, with the Huon Gulf, Oro Bay, and Collingwood Bay to its west and Milne Bay to its east.[1] Goodenough Bay itself is about 40 kilometres (25 mi) from east to west and 37 kilometres (23 mi) from north to south.[2]: 556 

The northern coast is a relatively low-lying stretch of land that forms part of Cape Vogel.[3] The low and flat coastal hills on the western stretch of this coastline are around 100 metres (330 ft) high. Towards the end of the cape, they approach 180 metres (590 ft). These hills are densely forested.[2]: 557  The northeastern end of this peninsula and the northwest boundary of Goodenough Bay is the 10.7-metre (35 ft) high Glen Islet. This islet lies on a coral reef extending about 730 metres (2,400 ft) from the mainland which has a sandbank on its eastern side. The mainland closest to Glen Islet is known as Sibiribiri Point (9°43'S., 150°03'E.).[2]: 557–558 [4]

Rawdon Bay lies along the northern coast (9°47'S., 149°53'E.). Within it lie two small coral islets known as the Mosquito islets.[2]: 557  The larger islet is named Baniara. The water in this bay and around the islands contains coral reefs. Less than 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) east (9°46'S., 149°56'E.) of Rawdon Bay is Menapi Bay, which also contains a reef.[4] There are no notable coral reefs elsewhere in the bay.[5]

Map showing a small cape with a bay on either side
Cape Frere provides the southeast limit of Goodenough Bay. The very small Dogura Bay and the larger Bartle Bay are to its west.

There are no large rivers on the northern coast. Near the head of the bay, the Ruaba River flows from the Gwoira Range.[6] The head of the bay sees a marked change in coastal topography as Cape Vogel is replaced by the main Papuan peninsula. While mostly mountainous, alluvial plains have formed in some areas where rivers flowing down from the mountains enter the bay.[2]: 556–557 [7]: 11 

Much of the southern coast is a series of headlands separated by heavily sedimented smaller bays. The sediment inhibits coral settling in the bays, although some coral fringes the headlands.[8]: 4  Smaller bays along the southern coast include Rebuda Bay, Dogura Bay,[2]: 557  and Bartle Bay.[9] Bartle Bay is about 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi) wide, and has inputs from two navigable rivers and a stream. It is 89.6 metres (294 ft) deep at its head.[2]: 556  Inland the southern coast has a series of small plateaus around 230 metres (750 ft) high. Behind them lies the Owen Stanley Range, which include areas of limited forest cover[3] and peaks reaching 3,000 metres (9,800 ft).[7]: 13  This coastline is quite dry,[7]: 11  and instead of forest much of the southern coast is instead covered in grasses.[2]: 556 

Bathymetric map showing the steep coastal areas around Goodenough Bay
The coasts of Goodenough Bay steeply descend from the mountains to the seafloor

Just east of Bartle Bay is Cape Frere,[9] the eastern end of the bay (10°06'S., 150°10'E.).[3][2]: 555  This cape is over 900 metres (3,000 ft) high, with ravines leading down to the coast. This seafloor near Cape Frere is steep with no reef.[2]: 556  In general, the bay is quite deep,[2]: 556  reaching 1,000 metres (3,300 ft). The only suitable anchorages are in Rawdon Bay and Menapi Bay.[4]

The bay's depth likely results from geologic activity that has created a number of deep ocean chasms in the region.[10] The Owen-Stanley fault runs from the head of the bay along the southern coast, separating the Trobriand plate/Solomon Sea plate which contains Cape Vogel and most of the bay from the main Indo-Australian plate on which lies the southern coast.[11][12][13] This fault means the bay sometimes experiences earthquakes.[14] Smaller faultlines occur elsewhere in the bay.[8]: 2  Historical earthquakes are thought to have uplifted the southern coast.[8]: 9  Goodenough Bay likely formed in the Pliocene when the D'Entrecasteaux Islands became separated from the mainland.[15][16] The channel between these islands and Goodenough Bay is Ward Hunt Strait.[17]

The entire bay proper is classified as internal waters of Papua New Guinea.[18] The area around the bay is part of Alotau Urban LLG, part of Milne Bay Province.[19] Occasionally, wider definitions of the bay include the water stretching further east towards East Cape, and occasionally also the water stretching north to the D'Entrecasteaux Islands.[7]: 12–13 [20]: 147  The northern Papuan Peninsula coastline, including Goodenough Bay, is considered part of the Solomon Sea region of the south Pacific Ocean.[21]

The area has a dry season and a wet season, although temperatures remain roughly the same throughout the year, between 17 °C (63 °F) and 35 °C (95 °F). Rainfall differences between the seasons shift rivers between dry beds and flows up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) high. The April to December dry season of the southern coast is longer than in most other areas of the country.[7]: 14–15  Wind direction changes throughout the year, coming from all four main compass points at different times.[7]: 16 

Demographics

[edit]

On the southern coast, villages are often situated on the alluvial plains between the mountains and the sea. Taro cultivation in these areas relies on irrigation systems[7]: 11  which bring water from the mountains above through dams and canals.[22] There are social links between these villages, some of which have historical rivalries.[7]: 13 

The mission at Dogura is the headquarters of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea. The Ss Peter and Paul Cathedral was built in 1936, and the mission station also contains a bank, post office, hospital, primary school, high school, and a small airstrip.[7]: 14 

The people at the eastern tip of Cape Vogel speak Are.[23] The people living along the southern coast of Cape Vogel speak Gapapaiwa.[24] Other languages spoken around the bay include Umanakaina, Yakaikeke,[25] Kanasi, Dawawa, Ghayavi, and Ginuman.[23] Four coastal villages in the southern part of the bay near Cape Frere speak Wedau, with each village having a slightly different dialect.[7]: 16–17  In the Owen Stanely Range inland from these villages, Kakabai is spoken.[7]: 13  These languages are all Austronesian, but come from multiple mutually unintelligible subfamilies. Wedau was the local language in what became the Dogura mission. It was consequently adopted by Anglican missionaries, later becoming, to some extent, a lingua franca for the local area.[7]: 17–18 

For the village of Wamira on the southern coast, population growth has been counteracted by migration to towns and cities, leaving the population in the village at roughly 400 since records began in 1896. Wamira residents have been competitive in local labour markets due to their easier access to education at the nearby Dogura mission.[7]: 18–19  The people of Wamira are divided into two communities, each of which has developed its own cultural practices and has its own traditional leaders. The village as a whole elects one councillor to local government, usually chosen due to their familiarity with outsiders and formal politics than due to status within the village.[7]: 20–24 

History

[edit]

The coast trends W.N.W. from Cape Frere for some thirty miles to the bight of Goodenough Bay, which is marked by some fine waterfalls, which flash down its dark green mountain sides. So much river water is here discharged that the surface of the bay near the shore is quite fresh. A mud flat offered us a good anchorage here; and on some small islets off the coast, we obtained an abundant supply of pigeons.

Archeological finds show that there have long been links between the people in Goodenough Bay and those elsewhere in Southeast New Guinea, such as people from Collingwood Bay to the northwest and Milne Bay and offshore islands to the southeast. Stone art from Goodenough Bay is similar to that of Normanby Island. Numerous obsidian artefacts have also been found.[27] Petroglyphs have been found near a number of villages in the area.[28] The way stones were used may also indicate links with the Trobriand Islands.[29]: 320  Goodenough Bay rock art shows similar motifs to those made near the Sepik river, near Yos Sudarso Bay, on New Hanover Island, and in New Caledonia.[20]: 154 

F. E. Williams began an excavation of a stone circle at Boianai, slightly inland from the coast, in February 1926. This was one of the earliest excavations in the country. Boianai has large carvings and pavements. These artworks are associated with mythical beings, most prominently Wakeke, who is said to be the village founder.[28][27][20]: 149–150  The excavation by Williams was viewed poorly by those in Boianai, who at least until 1970 viewed it as a spiritual place.[20]: 154  Some myths are known from the area, and motifs such as a snake which has a human child also occur in other areas such as the New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands.[29]: 322–323 

The first European to explore the coast was British Captain John Moresby, who surveyed the area from 1873 to 1874 onboard HMS Basilisk. He named Goodenough Bay after another navy officer, Commodore James Graham Goodenough.[9][30]

Missionaries working in the southeast of Papua divided the area between them, with Goodenough Bay falling under the Anglican area. The headquarters of this Anglican mission was established in Dogura Bay in 1891 by Albert Alexander Maclaren and Copland King.[2]: 556–557 [30] Maclaren died from fever within the year. King became the head of the mission, which undertook not only missionary work but sought to reduce tribal violence.[31]: 256  Over time, the decrease in violence allowed those in local communities to travel further.[7]: 17–18 

Topographic map showing bay and island areas to its west
1944 map produced by the Australian Army showing the western part of Goodenough Bay and the Gwoira Range inland

Baptisms of Papuans began from around 1896. Around that time, Bartle Bay also became a waystation for miners from the Louisiade Archipelago and Queensland seeking gold in the Owen Stanley Range. These miners depended on local guides, who would take them within the territory of their community.[32] Some visitors collecting items from Goodenough Bay often found that it was rare to encounter women.[31]: 276  Some observed cannibalism.[29]: 319  There was one coconut plantation on the northern coast in 1940.[33]

In the New Guinea campaign of the Second World War, Goodenough Bay formed part of the strategic area between the Allied-held Milne Bay and the Japanese beachheads at Buna and Gona.[34] Japanese forces planned to attack Milne Bay in part through a landing at Goodenough Bay,[35] and later retreated through Goodenough Bay following the Battle of Milne Bay.[36] Some retreating Japanese fighters were shot down over the bay.[37] Later, Goodenough Bay served as a practice area for allied naval forces operating out of Goodenough Island.[38]

References

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  1. ^ Bob Doneley (2012). Toowoomba to Torokina: The 25th Battalion in Peace and War, 1918–1945. Simon and Schuster. p. 148. ISBN 9781921941603.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l East Indies Pilot: Islands eastward of Celebes and Timor, including New Guinea and Louisiade Archipelago. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). United States Hydrographic Office. 1923. pp. 555–558.
  3. ^ a b c Mission Field: A Monthly Record of the Proceedings of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Vol. 36. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. 1891. p. 63.
  4. ^ a b c United States. Defense Mapping Agency. Hydrographic/Topographic Center (2000). Sailing Directions (enroute) for New Guinea. Defense Mapping Agency, Hydrographic/Topographic Center. p. 185.
  5. ^ Mark Spalding; Corinna Ravilious; Edmund Peter Green (2001). World Atlas of Coral Reefs (illustrated ed.). University of California Press. p. 326. ISBN 9780520232556.
  6. ^ W. M. Strong (November 1916). "Notes on the North-Eastern Division of Papua (British New Guinea)". The Geographical Journal. 48 (5): 410. doi:10.2307/1779616.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Miriam Kahn (30 December 1993). Always Hungry, Never Greedy: Food and the Expression of Gender in a Melanesian Society. Waveland Press. ISBN 1478609184.
  8. ^ a b c James Biemiller; Frederick Taylor; Luc Lavier; Tsai-Luen Yu; Laura Wallace; Chuan-Chou Shen (28 October 2020). "Emerged Coral Reefs Record Holocene Low-Angle Normal Fault Earthquakes". Geophysical Research Letters. 47 (20). doi:10.1029/2020GL089301.
  9. ^ a b c Alfred Cort Haddon (1894). The Decorative Art of British New Guinea: A Study in Papuan Ethnography. Cunningham memoirs, Royal Irish Academy. Vol. 10. Academy House. p. 246.
  10. ^ Owen Arthur Jones (2012). Biology and Geology of Coral Reefs V1: Geology 1. Elsevier. pp. 179, 183. ISBN 9780323138680.
  11. ^ Gerald Lightfoot, ed. (1924). Proceedings of the Pan-Pacific Science Congress, Australia, 1923. H.J. Green. p. 770.
  12. ^ Guy Fitz; Paul Mann (October 2013). "Tectonic Uplift Mechanism of the Goodenough and Fergusson Island Gneiss Domes, Eastern Papua New Guinea: Constraints from Seismic Reflection and Well Data". Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 14 (10): 3988. doi:10.1002/ggge.20208.
  13. ^ Elizabeth K. Benyshek; Brian Taylor (25 November 2020). "Tectonics of the Papua-Woodlark Region". Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 22 (1): 3. doi:10.1029/2020GC009209.
  14. ^ I. D. Ripper (20 August 1982). "Seismicity of the Indo-Australian/Solomon Sea Plate Boundary in the Southeast Papua Region". Tectonophysics. 87 (1–4): 363. doi:10.1016/0040-1951(82)90233-5.
  15. ^ Tyrone Lavery; Tim Flannery (2023). Mammals of the South-west Pacific. Csiro Publishing. ISBN 9781486312641.
  16. ^ R. C. L. Wilson, ed. (2001). Non-volcanic Rifting of Continental Margins: A Comparison of Evidence from Land and Sea (illustrated ed.). Geological Society of London. p. 368. ISBN 9781862390911. ISSN 0305-8719.
  17. ^ Papuan Campaign (illustrated ed.). DIANE Publishing. 1997. p. 3. ISBN 9780788137877.
  18. ^ Mitchell P. Strohl (2012) [1963]. The International Law of Bays. Martinus Nijhoff. p. 66. doi:10.1007/978-94-015-0967-1. ISBN 9789401509671.
  19. ^ "Milne Bay Province Universal Basic Education in 2019". Atlas NRI. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
  20. ^ a b c d B. J. Egloff (July 1970). "The Rock Carvings and Stone Groups of Goodenough Bay, Papua". Archaeology & Physical Anthropology in Oceania. 5 (2): 147–156.
  21. ^ "Marine Gazetteer Placedetails". Marineregions.org. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
  22. ^ M. J. T. Spriggs; M. E. Sullivan (October 1981). "Water under the Bridge. Comments on Farrington and Bellwood's 'Prehistoric Irrigation Hydrology of Pondfield Taro'". Archaeology in Oceania. 16 (3): 179–181.
  23. ^ a b "Milne Bay Province". SIL Global. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
  24. ^ John Lynch; Malcolm Ross; Terry Crowley (2002). The Oceanic Languages. Curzon language family series, Volume 1. Psychology Press. p. 298. ISBN 9780700711284.
  25. ^ William J. Frawley, ed. (2003). International Encyclopedia of Linguistics (2 ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 239, 486. ISBN 9780199771783.
  26. ^ John Moresby (2024) [1876]. New Guinea & Polynesia: Discoveries & Surveys in New Guinea and the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, a Cruise in Polynesia and Visits to the Pearl-shelling Stations in Torres Straits of H.M.S. Basilisk. Books on Demand. p. 268. ISBN 9783385512207.
  27. ^ a b Ian J. McNiven; Bruno David, eds. (2023). The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea. Oxford Handbooks. Oxford University Press. pp. 93–94. ISBN 9780190095642.
  28. ^ a b Anna Edmundson (June 2022). "Searching for origins: Archaeology and the government officers of Papua" (PDF). In Hilary Howes; Tristen Jones; Matthew Spriggs (eds.). Uncovering Pacific Pasts: Histories of Archaeology in Oceania. Pacific Series. ANU Press. p. 333. doi:10.22459/UPP.2021. ISBN 9781760464875.
  29. ^ a b c Alphonse Riesenfeld (1950). The Megalithic Culture of Melanesia. Brill Archive. pp. 319–324.
  30. ^ a b R. Wally Johnson (2020). Roars from the Mountain: Colonial Management of the 1951 Volcanic Disaster at Mount Lamington. Pacific Series. ANU Press. pp. 4, 17. doi:10.22459/RM.2020. ISBN 9781760463564.
  31. ^ a b Anna-Karina Hermkens (2013). "Colonial collecting: Dialogues of gender and objects". Engendering Objects: Dynamics of Barkcloth and Gender among the Maisin of Papua New Guinea (illustrated, reprint, revised ed.). Sidestone Press. pp. 249–290. ISBN 9789088901454.
  32. ^ Hank Nelson (2016) [1976]. Black, White and Gold: Goldmining in Papua New Guinea 1878–1930. Knowledge Unlatched (reprint ed.). ANU Press. pp. 85–88. ISBN 9781921934346.
  33. ^ Darrell T. Tryon; Jean-Michel Charpentier (2011). Pacific Pidgins and Creoles: Origins, Growth and Development. Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM] 132 (illustrated, reprint ed.). Walter de Gruyter. p. 508. ISBN 9783110899689.
  34. ^ Jan McLeod (2019). Shadows on the Track: Australia's Medical War in Papua 1942–1943: Kokoda – Milne Bay – The Beachhead Battles. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781925675917.
  35. ^ Douglas MacArthur (1966). Reports of General MacArthur: Japanese Operations in the Southwest Pacific Area. Center of Military History. p. 153.
  36. ^ James Bement (2009). Baseball, Battle, and a Bride: (An Okie in World War II). Trafford Publishing. pp. 44–45. ISBN 9781426935473.
  37. ^ Richard Dunn (2024). South Pacific Air War: The Role of Airpower in the New Guinea and Solomon Island Campaigns, January 1943 to February 1944. Schiffer + ORM. ISBN 9781507303405.
  38. ^ John Miller Jr. (2014). United States Army in WWII – The Pacific – CARTWHEEL: The Reduction of Rabaul. Pickle Partners Publishing. p. 438. ISBN 9781782894018.

Further reading

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