Monument sights in Pacific
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Sohano Island
You can also take a boat ride to explore the idyllic islands near the southern mouth of the passage and beyond. Good swimming spots are on these islands. The most easily accessible is Sohano Island, a few minutes by boat from Buka. It was the provincial capital from WWII until 1960. It's a beautiful place with lawns and gardens, a Japanese monument, and war relics, steep craggy cliffs and panoramic views over town, the passage and Bougainville Island. There are some colonial-period buildings.
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Australian War Memorial
The recently commissioned Australian War Memorial has a detailed description of the Battle of Milne Bay. There's a service here on 26 August every year, commemorating the beginning of the Battle of Milne Bay.
In 1942, at 23:30 on 25 August the Japanese Imperial Army started invading Milne Bay. In just two landings a few days apart, the Japanese established a 2,400-strong army near Ahioma. Unlike Kokoda, the battle of Milne Bay was not to be a protracted affair; it would be over in just 12 days.
The Japanese fought skirmishes with the Allies and their base suffered early casualties under a fierce RAAF aircraft-led barrage. On the moonlit nights of 26-27 August the Japanese …
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Mwâ Ka
This magnificent 12m totem pole, topped by a grande case (chief's hut) complete with flèche faîtière, stands in a landscaped square opposite Musée de Nouvelle-Calédonie. Mwâ Ka means the house of mankind - in other words, a house where discussions are held. Its carvings are divided into eight cylindrical sections representing the eight customary regions of New Caledonia. Mounted on a concrete double-hulled pirogue, the Mwâ Ka symbolises the mast but also the central post of a case.
At the back of the pirogue a wooden helmsman steers the Mwâ Ka ever forwards. The square's flowerbed arrangements depicting stars and moons are symbolic of navigation.
The Mwâ Ka was con…
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Buna and Gona
The villages of Buna and Gona became Japanese bases during WWII and were the scene of some of the most desperate fighting of the war. At Giropa Plantation, on the Buna Rd, a Japanese plaque commemorates the country's dead.
Most of what remains of the bases is covered with overgrowth and a guide is necessary to work out what went on where. Basil Tindeba, from Buna, knows his way around the area pretty well; ask for him at the Oro Guesthouse and try to give a few days' notice. Another recommended guide is Maclaren Hiari MBE, who runs the Kokoda Buna Historical Foundation (tel: 329 7627). He lives two doors east of the Oro Guesthouse. These guys charge for their guiding and …
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Sculpture Symposium
A striking range of work on a hilltop northwest of town was created in 1993 by 12 international sculptors. They were responding to the limitless landscape, using some 52 tonnes of Wilcannia sandstone, borrowing the local miners' old tungsten carbide chisels to dent the tough rock, and camping in tents near their work.
The Sculpture Symposium took shape with names like Under the Jaguar Sun and Moon Goddess. The colours of the stone change constantly with the light. Bring water in summer, and consider visiting at dawn or sunset, to add another dimension to the romance of this wonderful place. The sculptures are signposted off to the right along Nine Mile Rd. Get the keys fo…
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Alice Springs Memorial Cemetery
The cemetery is adjacent to the aviation museum and contains the graves of some prominent locals including Albert Namatjira (1902–59) and Harold Lasseter (1880–1931), the eccentric prospector whose fervent search for a folkloric reef of gold (Lasseter's Reef) claimed his life. Anthropologist Olive Pink (1884–1975), who campaigned for Aboriginal rights, is buried facing the opposite direction to the others – a rebel to the end.
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Riff Raff
One of Hamilton’s more unusual public artworks is a life-size statue of Rocky Horror Picture Show writer Richard O’Brien in the guise of Riff Raff, the time-warping alien from the planet Transsexual. It looks over a small park on the site of the former Embassy Theatre where O’Brien worked as a hairdresser. The Embassy’s ‘late-night double-feature picture shows’ found a place in the ultimate cult classic – although it’s hard to imagine 1960s Hamilton inspired the tale of bisexual alien decadence.
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Miners Memorial
The huge silver skimp dump, which makes up Broken Hill's stark backdrop, also features the moving Miners Memorial. The memorial commemorates the deaths of over 800 men who have died in the mines since 1883. The list of the dead includes Dario Palumbo, an architecture student from the University of South Australia, who died suddenly during his work on the project, and whose story truly captures the emotions. The Broken Earth Café & Restaurant is attached.
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Dolphin Point
This grassy tract at Coogee Beach’s northern end has superb ocean views and the sea-salty Giles Baths ocean pool. A sobering shrine commemorates the 2002 Bali bombings. Coogee was hit hard by the tragedy, with 20 of the 89 Australians killed coming from hereabouts. Formerly known as Dunningham Park, its name was changed to honour the six members of the Coogee Dolphins rugby league team who died in the blast.
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Coastwatchers' Memorial Beacon
The 30m-high Coastwatchers' Memorial beacon, visible 25km out to sea, is a reminder of those who stayed behind enemy lines during WWII to report on Japanese troop and ship movements. It's a rather ugly concrete memorial, but the 3km beach-front road south of the memorial is the most pleasant walk in Madang, fringed by palm trees and poincianas and backed by the golf course with fine views across Astrolabe Bay.
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Mission Point to Cape Boram
Near the main wharf lie the rusting remains of MV Busama. Further down at Kreer, on the road to the airport, there's the wooden hulk of a Taiwanese fishing junk. On the beach between Kreer Market and the hospital are some rapidly disappearing rusting Japanese landing barges. The Japanese War Memorial marks the mass grave of many troops. The soldier's bodies were later exhumed and returned to Japan.
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Kookaburra Memorial
A small circular building houses the wreck and story of the Kookaburra Memorial, a tiny plane forced to make an emergency landing in the Tanami Desert in 1929 while searching for Charles Kingsford Smith and his copilot, Charles Ulm, who had gone down in their plane, the Southern Cross. Keith Anderson and Bob Hitchcock perished in the desert, while Kingsford Smith and Ulm were rescued.
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US War Memorial
As it leaves Honiara, Skyline Drive overlooks the Mataniko River, providing a breathtaking view of village life below it. Enjoy it from the US War Memorial, a compound of marble slabs bearing detailed descriptions of battles fought during the Guadalcanal campaign. It was unveiled on 7 August 1992, the 50th anniversary of the US beach landings. It's a steep 30-minute walk up from Mendana Ave.
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Japanese Memorial Peace Park
This park contains a memorial and a fish pond. Tok Pisin doesn't have a word for peace; 'Peace' sounds like pis, which means fish. Thus, most locals refer to the park as pis park, which is perhaps appropriate given the fish pond and the general ambivalence that many modern Papua New Guineans have towards WWII. Ironically, the peace park is enclosed by a wire fence.
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Mother & Child Stone
The village of Ngermid is home to the Mother & Child Stone, apparently the Lot-like remains of a mum and kid who were turned to stone after the mother took a forbidden peek inside the village men's house.
The defunct Hotel Nikko Palau used to be in operation around here; some say it closed down after guests began to see the ghosts of Japanese soldiers killed in WWII.
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Two Lovers Point
The beautifully landscaped Two Lovers Point, or Puntan Dos Amantes, is at the top of a 125m (410ft)limestone cliff. This sheer coastal lookout is the focus of a legend concerning two young Chamorro lovers who jumped to their deaths from this jagged cliff. A giant gilded statue of the entwined lovers is set atop a pedestal.
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Golden Horseshoes Monument
The Golden Horseshoes Monument is where, in 1855, a horse was shod with golden shoes and ridden into town by candidate Donald Cameron on the nomination day of Victoria’s first parliamentary elections. The Victorian-era PR stunt seemed to work – Cameron was duly elected to parliament.
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Shrine of Remembrance
Beside St Kilda Rd stands the massive Shrine of Remembrance, built as a memorial to Victorians killed in WWI. Thousands attend the moving Anzac Day (25 April) dawn service. From the CBD, follow Swanston St as it turns into St Kilda Pde.
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McDonald's Corner
On the Kokoda Track road you can drive past McDonald's Corner where there's a small memorial that marks the start of the Kokoda Track. It was here that Australian WWII soldiers disembarked their trucks and began the long muddy march.
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Captain Cook Lookout
Start your 4km (2.5mi) walking track around Cape Byron from the Captain Cook Lookout on Lighthouse Rd. The rainforest stretch near the lookout provides a good chance of seeing wallabies, bush turkeys and feral goats.
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Dog Rock
On Middleton Rd you can't miss one of Albany's icons, the kitsch Dog Rock, which looks like a dog's head (the locals have even painted on a dog collar to reinforce the point).
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Cape Bruny Lighthouse
Also worth visiting is this 1836 lighthouse on South Bruny. Take a tour (one day's advance booking required) or wander the surrounding reserve, with expansive views from the rugged cape headland over mainland Tasmania's southernmost reaches.
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HMAS Sydney II Memorial
Commanding the hill overlooking Geraldton is this memorial commemorating the 1941 loss of the Sydney and its 645 men after a skirmish with the German raider Kormoran.
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Lambert Centre
Just 21km west of Finke (Aputula), a small Aboriginal community 230km from Alice Springs, and 12km north of the road along a signposted track, is the Lambert Centre. The point marks Australia's geographical centre and features a 5m-high version of the flagpole found on top of Parliament House in Canberra.
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