Return to Volcano Town

by a volcanic eruption on the shores of Blanche Bay in the north-eastern

Gazelle Peninsula area of East New Britain (Figures 0.1 and 0.2). Both

Vulcan and Tavurvur volcanoes were in simultaneous activity for a short

while in 1937. This disaster took place during colonial times when Australian

authorities used Rabaul town as their administrative capital, subjugating the

Tolai to a different way of doing things. The disaster was the central theme

of Volcano Town: The 1937–43 Rabaul Eruptions, a book we wrote about

40 years ago (Johnson and Threlfall 1985). The primary aim of the book

was to present photographs of the 1937–43 eruptions and their damaging

effects for the benefit of people throughout the Blanche Bay area in the

early 1980s who were concerned that another disastrous eruption might

be imminent