Oro Province

• 1. Introduction

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  Oro Province sits on the northeastern tip of Papua New Guinea's Papuan Peninsula, a coastal stretch of land that carries more history than its 22,800 square kilometres might suggest. In January 1951, a column of ash rose 50,000 feet above Mount Lamington, and nearly 3,000 people died before the day was over. That single eruption reshaped the province's landscape, its communities, and the memory of everyone who lived in its shadow.

  Decades earlier, soldiers from across the world had fought and died on the same terrain. The Kokoda Track, which begins in the province's interior at the village of Kokoda, became the corridor through which an entire campaign of the Second World War moved. The coast that stretches out from the province's northern end saw some of the fiercest fighting in the Pacific. How did this remote province come to sit at the crossroads of so many decisive moments? And what does it look like today, with its Anglican churches, its oil palm fields, and its underwater fjords?

• 2. War on the Track

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  Kokoda, a village in the interior of the province, gave its name to one of the most gruelling military campaigns of the Second World War. The Kokoda Track runs from there south toward Port Moresby, and once it was taken, it opened access from the coast to the hinterland. That access mattered enormously to both sides of the conflict.

  The coast of what was then called the Northern District became the scene of heavy fighting once the Track was secured. Three campaigns in particular are still remembered: the battles at Buna, Gona, and Sanananda. These engagements along the northern coast transformed the province into one of the most contested stretches of land in the Pacific theatre. The village of Kokoda, which sits at the northern terminus of the Track, now carries the weight of that history alongside its ordinary life as a district capital.

• 3. The Mountain That Woke

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  Mount Lamington is an active volcano, and in January 1951 it announced itself in the most catastrophic terms available to it. The eruption sent a column of ash 50,000 feet into the sky, a plume visible from an enormous distance. Below that column, villages were destroyed, the surrounding vegetation was stripped away, and nearly 3,000 people lost their lives.

  The eruption remains one of the defining moments in the province's modern history. Mount Lamington still stands as an active presence in the landscape, a reminder that the province's geography is not merely dramatic in appearance but genuinely volatile. The provincial capital, Popondetta, sits in this same terrain, a city rebuilt and settled in a region that the volcano made famous for the worst possible reasons.

• 4. Faith, Palm, and Province

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  Oro Province holds a distinction that no other province in Papua New Guinea can claim: the Anglican Church is the dominant religious denomination here. Across a country with a diverse and active religious life, Oro stands apart in that respect.

  The principal industry is oil palm, which drives the province's primary economy and shapes the working lives of many of its 176,206 residents, as counted in the 2011 census. William Clarke College also operates in the area, providing educational funding and support to people living there. The province is bordered by Morobe Province to the northwest, Central Province to the west and south, and Milne Bay Province to the southeast, placing it at a kind of crossroads of the country's southern regions.

• 5. Tufi and the Fjords

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  On the north coast of the Cape Nelson Rural Local Level Government area, the Tufi dive and cultural resort draws visitors from well beyond Papua New Guinea's borders. What brings them is a combination of world-class diving and a coastal geography that looks, at first glance, as if it belongs somewhere in Scandinavia rather than the tropics.

  The dramatic inlets along this stretch of coast are locally called fjords, a term borrowed to describe the spectacular rias that cut into the shoreline. These rias give Tufi its distinctive silhouette, a coastline of long narrow channels that are well known to divers and travellers who seek out the resort. The area falls within the Tufi Rural LLG, one of the two LLGs that make up Ijivitari District, alongside Popondetta Urban and Oro Bay Rural.

• 6. Governing the Province

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  From 1977 to 1995, Oro Province ran under a decentralised administration led by a Premier. Eleven people held that role across those years, beginning with Edric Eupu in 1977 and ending with Douglas Garawa, who served from 1992 until the system changed in 1995.

  That year, national government reforms pulled back some of the powers that had been devolved to the provinces. The Premier's position was replaced by a Governor, chosen through the province-wide seat in Papua New Guinea's National Parliament. Sylvanius Siembo was the first to hold that title, serving from 1995 to 2002, followed by Bani Hoivo from 2002 to 2007 and Suckling Tamanabae from 2007 to 2012. Gary Juffa has held the governorship since 2012 and also represents the Northern Provincial electorate in the National Parliament, a seat he holds alongside David Arore for Ijivitari Open, Richard Masere for Popondetta Open, and Henry Amuli for Sohe Open.