The District Commissioner
Addendum 52: Wewak
Additional information for Chapter 28 - On the Sepik and getting used to being a Dad)
Wewak is 140km from Angoram, a 2 hour drive. It is the capital of the East Sepik Province, was established in 1919, and has a population of around 25,000. It is a port of call for coastal shipping, and has an international airport (Boram). It is linked by road to Maprik, 40 miles (64 km) west, to several settlements on the Sepik River to the south, and by a coastal road to Aitape, some 100 miles (160 km) to the northwest.
At one stage Wewak was under German control. From 1943 to 1945 the town was the site of Japan’s largest mainland airbase in PNG and was subject to frequent and prolonged Allied air attacks. Five Australians and up to 200 Japanese were killed in the fighting for Wewak in 1945.
Directly to the west of the town centre is a peninsula known as Cape Wom which was the site of the surrender of Japanese forces in New Guinea on 13 September 1945.
Photo of the Wewak Sir Michael Thomas Somare Stadium was sourced online from actnowpng.org/blog/idle-projects. It shows the Wewak Stadium which was opened in 2010 by Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare with the presence of the Chinese Ambassador to PNG then, Wei Ruixing.
The Stadium was a gift from the Government and people of China. A total of K12 million was made available by the Chinese government for the construction works which was carried out by Shandong International, a construction company in China.
This photo shows the new stadium (equipped with a synthetic athletic track) at Wewak as seen from Kreer Heights was sourced from the online article “Wewak, Futsal and soccer” dated 11 September, 2010 by the blogger Thomas at wewak-hometown.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-hometown.html