6 Mile is a suburb of

Lae Lae () is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River and at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is the main land transport corridor between the Highl ...

in the

Morobe Province Morobe Province is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810 (2011 census), and since the division of Southern Highlands P ...

, Papua New Guinea.

Geography

6 Mile is located from the center of

on the

Highlands Highway The Highlands Highway, sometimes known as the Okuk Highway, is the main land highway in Papua New Guinea. It connects several major cities and is vital for the movement of people and goods between the populous Highlands region and the coast. F ...

between the foothills of the Atzera Range and the

Markham River The Markham River is a river in eastern Papua New Guinea. It originates in the Finisterre Range and flows for to empty into the Huon Gulf at Lae. The river was named in 1873 by Captain John Moresby, R.N., in honour of Sir Clements Markham, then ...

. The Atzera Range starts at Bugandi and runs adjacent to the

has an elevation of 280 meters above sea level.

Anticlines In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the l ...

in the vicinity of Lae, such as the Atzera Range and hills near

Situm Situm is a government ex-servicemen block outside of Lae in Labuta Rural LLG, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Geography Location Situm is located north-east of Lae, on The Bukawa-Finchaffen National Highway Road across the Busu rive ...

, appear to indicate that the Ramu-Markham Fault (which follows the northern edge of the Markham Valley) changes dip close to the surface from a steep ramp to a shallow fault, breaching the surface south of Lae. The Lae Seismic Zone has been identified between the Atzera Range and

which has the potential to generate shallow Mw~7.0 earthquakes and landslides around the Atzera Range. The possibility of major landsides in this area has increased as a result of human modification to the natural vegetation cover through clearing and gardening.

History

Before the construction of the Highlands Highway, a road in the Atzera foothills in the Markham Valley connected

Nadzab Nadzab Village is in the Markham Valley, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea on the Highlands Highway. Administratively, it is located in Gabsongkeg ward of Wampar Rural LLG. The Nadzab Airport is located East of Nadzab Village and was the site ...

with Lae and a rough trail on the other side of the Atzeras paralleled this road from Lae to Yalu. Edward's Plantation was located around 5 Mile, Heath's Plantation around 6 Mile, Lane's Plantation and Whittaker's Plantation around 9 Mile and Jensen's Plantation around 10 Mile. (5.4 MB JPG image) On 10 September the 25th Australian Infantry Brigade moved East from Nadzab towards Lae along the Atzera foothills often with fierce battles through these plantations. The battle at Heaths plantation resulted in

Richard Kelliher Richard Kelliher, VC (1 September 1910 – 28 January 1963) was an Irish-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Kelliher received his VC while s ...

being awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

for charging at a Japanese machine gun. The 9th Division approached Lae from the East and on 16 September both units converged on Lae. The 1983 floods remain the worst natural disaster since the establishment of the town in the late 1920s. Hundreds of people at the Five Mile settlement along the Highland Highway were also affected by mud-slides from the Atzera mountain ranges.

Atzera Hills Project

In 1978 the Human Ecology Programme of the Department of Minerals and Energy, assisted by the

UNEP The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on th ...

and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

(Man and the Biosphere MAB Project 11) and in co-operation with the Lae City Council, instigated the Atzera Hills Project, described as an ecologically sound management system to arrest the rapid deterioration and loss of productive capacity of 600 ha of Atzera Hills. The Atzera project folded after only three years despite efforts to train and raise awareness on the benefits of charcoal, the uptake in PNG households was minimal. Heavy rains in 2005 resulted in the Morobe administration highlighting the vulnerability of the city to the weather and recommending that a major rehabilitation program be started immediately to reforest the surrounding hills behind the city to prevent soil erosion. This problem has been exacerbated as a result of the increased number of squatter settlements.

Notes

References

{{Lae Suburbs of Lae