Sangara is a settlement in south-eastern
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
. It is located to the east of
Kokoda
Kokoda is a station town in the Oro Province of Papua New Guinea. It is famous as the northern end of the Kokoda Track, site of the eponymous Kokoda Track campaign of World War II. In that campaign, it had strategic significance because it had the ...
.
History
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the area saw fighting between the Japanese forces and the allies (primarily Australians). Missionaries were once active in the area and a mission station was established in Sangara.
In 1948, Martyrs Memorial School for boys was established in Sangara, named in honour of 11 Anglican missionaries.
Economy
The Sangara also constitute a tribe in the area. They are known for setting up markets along the road to
Buna Bay
Buna Bay is a bay and port on the southeast coast of Papua New Guinea. An important shipping port, it was developed for the purpose of transporting agricultural products overseas. The Sangara plantations of coffee, rubber and sugar
Sugar i ...
to
Yodda Goldfield and trading taro with tobacco and glass bottles.
Sangara is a notable area of
coffee production
Coffee production is the industrial process of converting the raw fruit of the coffee plant into the finished coffee. The coffee cherry has the fruit or pulp removed leaving the seed or bean which is then dried. While all green coffee is proces ...
, lying in the foothills. 18 commercial coffee plantations were established in 1926, paving the way for commercial production from 1928.
, a retired sea-captain, once managed a government coffee plantation near Sangara.
Historically there were also major rubber plantations in the area; the rubber was transported to the port at Buna Bay and then shipped overseas. Sangara was also an important location for the sugar industry in the country. In 1928 a group of
Cairns
Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
-based investors founded the Sangara Sugar Estates, Ltd., and proposed the payment of capital worth £500,000 to promote sugar production in Papua New Guinea. The company was reported to have applied for some 8100 hectares of land.
The sugar industry in Sangara though was reportedly not as successful as the rubber industry and some of the plantations were later converted to produce rubber.
See also
*
Kokoda Track campaign
The Kokoda Track campaign or Kokoda Trail campaign was part of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign consisted of a series of battles fought between July and November 1942 in what was then the Australian Territory of Papua. It was prima ...
*
Lucian Tapiedi
Lucian Tapiedi ( – 1942) was a Papuan Anglican teacher who was one of the "New Guinea Martyrs." The Martyrs were eight Anglican clergy, teachers, and medical missionaries killed by the Japanese in 1942 (a total of 333 church workers of all d ...
References
{{reflist
Populated places in Oro Province