Ballalae: A story of history and tragedy
Chris Leonard’s journey in the 1970s to Ballalae Island in the Shortland Islands group, Solomon Islands, looking at WWII plane wrecks
Japanese Heavy Bomber on the Kahili airstrip, south coast of Bougainville, myself and David Kuhuga, a Bougainvillean friend from Sirovai village.
I first heard the name Ballalae when my boss at the time asked if I would undertake a business trip to one of our clients in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. I was working on Bougainville Island in the North Solomons Province of PNG and the client was Allardyce Lumber, a logging company on Shortland Island. Of course I jumped at the chance.
Ballalae is an island not far off the south coast of Bougainville with an airstrip that serviced the many islands in that part of the world. Over the years, I would make several flights into Ballalae, either on business or by passing through to Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands.
The Ballalae airstrip is approximately 1.75 km long and runs from one end of the island to the other. It hadn’t dawned on me initially that this was once a World War II bomber strip. The size should have said it all as it dwarfed our tiny plane. It seemed as though you could land a Jumbo jet there.
Ballalae has been spelt several ways—Ballalae, Ballale, Ballalai, Balalai and Ballalei, but they all sound like BAL-A-LAI. The renowned author, James A Mitchener, whilst in the US Navy during WWII, was based for a time at the nearby Treasury Islands. I have long surmised that the mysterious island, Bali Hai, in his book, ‘Tales of the South Pacific,’ was derived from the name Ballalai.
Ballalae has never been home to permanent villages. Basically, it was used as a transit point for tribal groups when passing from one area to another. There was some talk that it was a superstitious place where, in the past, the victors of tribal fighting held cannibalistic feasts to celebrate their conquest.
In 1901, Sam Atkinson purchased the island to establish a coconut/copra plantation. He passed away from cancer in Sydney in 1931 and his wife, Edith, continued to run the plantation for many years[1]. Edith Atkinson was the second daughter of John and Melinda McDonald, who first sailed into the Shortlands in the 1860s[2]. She was well respected by the Shortland people and only left the island just before the Japanese invasion of the Solomons.
The 18th Construction Battalion of the Imperial Japanese Navy landed on Ballalae on 3rd November 1942. Initially, they started with 370 personnel with the aim of constructing a major forward airbase[3]. At its height, up to 95 aircraft were stationed there. The Japanese code name for Ballalae was ‘RXZ’, and they would call it an ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’[4].
On 16th November 1942, a contingent of British artillery soldiers were about to set sail from Rabaul. These men, 600 in total, had been captured with the fall of Singapore and on 18th October 1942, were put on the Masta Maru, destination Rabaul. When they finally reached Rabaul, with death and disease already taking a toll, only 517 made that final journey to Ballalae. I estimate they reached the island around 18th November 1942. The men were under the command of Lt Col. J. Bassett.
The prisoners were immediately put to work constructing a crushed coral runway and multiple plane parking/revetment areas. They were treated appallingly by the Japanese with many dying from disease, overwork and poor nutrition. But that was not to be the worst of it. The men were kept in an enclosed compound when they were not working and at night. The tide of the war was turning after the American landings at Guadalcanal and with the Japanese now on the defensive, Ballalae was to come under more and more aerial attacks. The prisoners were not allowed to construct any air raid shelters or dig slit trenches. Consequentially, many hundreds would be killed by Allied planes; the Americans were unaware that POWs were there.
Sometime around late March 1943, no one can be sure of the exact date, the surviving POWs, numbering less than 100, were taken to one end of the island and executed, likely bayoneted and/or shot. There were no survivors.
Since there were no eyewitnesses other than the Japanese participants, we don’t know to this day exactly what happened to these men. At the end of the war, Australian forces based at nearby Torokina on Bougainville decided to investigate native reports of the demise of the servicemen. They eventually exhumed 436 remains from a mass grave. Some personal belongings that were retrieved indicated that these were, in fact, the British servicemen from Singapore. No dog tags or identity discs were found, which would identify an individual. Clearly, at some point, they had been deliberately taken by the Japanese.
Initially, the bodies were removed and interred at a cemetery at Torokina. Later, they would be moved again to individual plots at the Bomana War Cemetery outside Port Moresby, on mainland Papua New Guinea. Each has a headstone that reads, ‘Known only unto God.’
For the loved ones and families of these men, not having a clear picture of what happened to them must have caused much distress. The truth is that they suffered horrifically at the hands of the Japanese and at the end of the war, although an enquiry was held, no one was held accountable.
To put things into the broader picture, Ballalae was militarily useful as an airfield for less than a year from when it was first constructed. Consider other notable events around this time.
The Americans had long broken the Japanese codes, and a big break came when they found out that Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor, was to visit Ballalae on 18th April 1943. He planned a tour of forward bases in the Solomons and Southern Bougainville as a morale booster.
Yamamoto’s exact time of arrival and route were discovered, so the Americans, with a flight of P-38 fighters fitted with long-range fuel tanks, were waiting at a prearranged location off the southwestern coast of Bougainville, near Moila Point. Keeping to his timetable exactly, Yamamoto’s plane was shot out of the sky, sending it crashing into the jungles of Bougainville near Buin. All on board were killed
With the campaigns in the Solomons nearing an end, plans were in place for the invasion of Bougainville. To ensure the invasion's success, airfields on Ballalae and Bougainville had to be neutralized so the Americans had superiority in the air. From early October 1943, airstrikes were stepped up massively. Most of Ballalae’s planes were caught on the ground and frag bombed.
The landings at Torokina took place on 1st November 1943, so Ballalae had effectively been neutralized and bypassed. By the end of WWII, Ballalae was forgotten and for the next 25 years it was virtually left as a time capsule.
Ballalae was still privately owned, but by the late 1960s, people were coming to see and lust after the huge array of aircraft that littered the island. When the Atkinson family heard what was happening, they donated the airstrip to the Solomon Island government and gave the balance of the land to the Shortland Island people[5]. If this was meant to keep outsiders away, unfortunately it didn’t achieve its objective. In the early 1970s the airstrip was repaired and made fully operational so as to provide air services into the Shortlands region
After arriving in PNG in 1972, I worked for Morgan Equipment, an American company, which was one of the primary contractors supplying mining equipment to the newly opened Bougainville Copper mine. When I first flew from Aropa airstrip to Ballalae in a small aircraft, I was to meet with Max Martin, manager of Allardyce Lumber, to discuss the supply of various spare parts for their logging operation.
Max arranged for someone to meet me from the plane who took me by boat to the main island of the Shortlands group. I overnighted with Max and over a beer or two he told me of the massive amount of plane wrecks on Ballalae. No planes were visible because, as happens in the tropics, the jungle had long begun to reclaim the island and hide what was beneath. All that could be seen was the airstrip itself. I made sure that when I left the next day I allowed myself a couple of hours to do a little exploring before my flight.
Entering the bush at right angles to the runway and walking directly in, I soon came across my first aircraft. In front of me was a G4M1 ‘Betty’ bomber in somewhat remarkable condition. Walking further and bush bashing parallel to the runway, I came upon plane after plane after plane. In complete silence, with no one else around, it was an incredible experience. The planes had been there for roughly 30 years since the war. I was hooked. The Pacific War history fascinated me, and there it was right before my eyes. I had to learn more about this place. Being a budding Pacific War historian and sleuth, I had to come back. An hour or two didn’t cut it.
The next day at work I went to see my friend and work colleague, Ray Leddick. We shared many similar interests: wreck diving, shell collecting, exploring; we were ‘true partners in crime’. We had already undertaken a few trips in my 13-foot tinny to the south coast of Bougainville to dive on a Japanese destroyer, the Hatsuyuki. Surely Ballalae couldn’t be that much further, could it?
After some weeks of planning, we set off from Kieta around three in the morning, motoring out of the harbour in darkness. As was typical, many lights dotted the sea around us; local fishers in canoes and banana boats were catching fish to feed their families or to sell at the market. It was always a beautiful and reassuring sight.
We followed the inside reef down the east coast of Bougainville. Few words were exchanged while we soaked up the experience. To our right were palm-lined shores with hills rising to the mountain ranges that formed the spine of Bougainville. To our left we could see waves in the open ocean crashing onto the outer reef as we motored on, riding a gentle swell in the cool morning air.
We had no maps, compass, or sophisticated navigation gear; we just pointed the boat in the general direction and went. Our necessities were food, water and loads of fuel. Boy, I must have had a lot of faith in my (our) abilities, the boat and its engine. We were in heaven and on a big adventure.
What could go wrong?
Now as I look at maps, I feel we covered around 80 km each way. No small distance, but at the time, we didn’t give it a second thought. One thing that we did discuss at length was crossing the international border from PNG to the Solomons. Although we didn’t expect customs or police at Ballalae, we agreed on a story if confronted. We were employees of Allardyce Lumber and had just come over for the day. I felt sure that Max would vouch for us. As it turned out, for this and all subsequent trips that we did, we were never challenged.
Ray and I were so fortunate to explore this open-air museum so many times that I wished that I kept a log of the trips. My only other regret was not having a sophisticated camera to take hundreds of photos capturing what we saw and did. As an aside, Ballalae is known for Scrub typhus which we were not aware of at the time. On one trip, Ray broke out in welts all over his body. It was a very uncomfortable ordeal for him. Luckily, I did not get the same affliction although we had been together the whole day.
A lot of time has passed since those days and, today I believe the vast majority of the aircraft have been removed from the island by fair means or foul. The planes are probably spread out across the world, in parts or restored for static display.
My only souvenir from Ballalae was a single prop blade from an A6M Zero fighter. Someone had removed the complete propeller from the aircraft and dismantled it to all its component pieces. Every day, I look at that blade with its dings and dents from bullets and bombs. The blade brings back so many memories of our adventures. It also conjures up the history of that time and place, and the terrible tragedy that spoke of the cruelty toward the British POWs.
Suggested background reading and references
Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C75175
COFEPOW Remember – The Children, (Families and Friends) of the Far East Prisoners of War. Rabaul Excerpts from 'Hostages to Freedom' By Peter Stone. Available online at https://www.cofepow.org.uk/armed-forces-stories-list/rabaul
Darby, 1979. Pacific Aircraft Wrecks…And Where to Find Them, /Kookaburra Technical Publications, Melbourne.
Kosmidis, P. Balalae island, a tragic story of loss during WW2. Available online at https://www.ww2wrecks.com/portfolio/balalae-island-a-tragic-story-of-loss-during-ww2/
Pacific Islands Monthly Magazine Section NORWEGIAN SEA CAPTAIN PLAYED BIG PART IN DEVELOPING THE SOLOMONS (1 February 1964). (1964-02-01). In Pacific Islands Monthly: PIM. 35 (2), 79. Available online at
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/234132172?keyword=sam%20atkinson%20solomon%20islands
Pacific Wrecks Inc. Broken Wings of Ballale The Tragic Salvage History of the Last Undisturbed World War II Airfield. Available online at https://pacificwrecks.com/airfield/solomons/ballale/salvage.html
Pacific Wrecks Inc. Ballale Airfield (Ballalae, Ballalai) Western Province Solomon Islands. Available online at https://pacificwrecks.com/airfield/solomons/ballale/index.html
http://www.solomonencyclopaedia.net/biogs/E000566b.htm
Copyright: © Solomon Islands Historical Encyclopaedia, 1893-1978, 2020
Stone, P. 1994. Hostages To Freedom - The Fall of Rabaul, Oceans Enterprises, Yarram, Victoria.
Taylor, R. Roll of Honour, Britain at War, Gunners 600 Party History, site management - email Ron.Taylor@fepow-community.org.uk. Available online at https://www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/atrocities/600_Gunners_Party/html/history.htm
The National WWII Museum New Orleans, Operation Vengeance: The Killing of Isoroku Yamamoto, available online at
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/operation-vengeance-killing-isoroku-yamamoto
Footnotes:
[1] https://pacificwrecks.com/location/solomons_ballale.html
[2] Chaning-Pearce, J. Recollections of my family’s early years in the British Solomon Islands, Una Voce Vol 4, 2009 p8p. 60-563
[3] https://pacificwrecks.com/airfield/solomons/ballale/index.html#:~:text=On%20November%203%2C%201942%20the,to%20Ballale%20Island%20as%20laborers.
[4] https://www.ww2wrecks.com/portfolio/balalae-island-a-tragic-story-of-loss-during-ww2/
[5] https://pacificwrecks.com/airfield/solomons/ballale/salvage.html
Relics from the Hatsuyuki
These are works of art and are very special. Much angst went into retrieving them because, unlike merchant shipping where portholes are bolted on, these have 14 rivets to the hull.
The Hatsuyiki’s porthole
These portholes are works of art and are very special. Much angst went into retrieving them because, unlike merchant shipping where portholes are bolted on, these have 14 rivets to the hull.
Porthole from the Haysuyuki
How to get them off? A lot of thought and patience.
Banging the ship’s hull around the porthole with a dead blow hammer made the initial corrosion flake off, exposing the new metal to the saltwater. Do this 3-4 times over the course of a year. Payday comes, when with a punch and hammer, the now corroded but smaller rivets pop out. You then have to go inside the ship with a fine prybar to break the sealing gasket away from the hull. Careful manoeuvring with a lift bag to give it neutral buoyancy gets it out of the ship and up to the surface.
Each porthole is individually numbered and bears the Imperial Japanese Navy insignia. They are heavy solid brass, but the deadlight which is cast iron has long corroded away.
A lot of trouble, but well worth the effort to retrieve.
I still admire and treasure them after nearly 50 years.
Table Lamp
Table lamp from the Hatsuyuki
I retrieved eight of these lamps in one very fortunate dive from the officers’ quarters. One went to each of the other six divers in our group that day. I must have been suffering from nitrogen narcosis or something!
I still have two which are restored to working order. They are heavy solid brass with a fluted glass shade.
Each bears the insignia of the IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy). Around the base is a brass maker’s plate.
The compass from the Hatsuyuki
This was found by my mate Ray Leddick, but ended up in my possession in a swap deal. It was found in the bridge area and unfortunately, severely damaged.
There’s a lot of Japanese writing around the rim that needs to be translated. Probably the maker’s details.
Calligraphy items
The uppermost item in the image above is a heavy brass paper weight of which there would have been a pair. In Japanese these are called ‘bunchin’. The item to the lower right is a water dropper, and in Japanese is called ‘suiteki’. These are meant to have water in them and by using a finger over one of the holes, water can be precisely measured out to mix with an inkstick on the inkstone (to the left) to form a liquid ink of the required consistency. This suiteki is ceramic. The inkstone is called ‘suzuri’.
Glassware and ceramics
Menuma is a town in Japan and pomade is a hair cream, so I assume it is a container of hair cream made in Menuma. The beautiful blue lettering contrasts the ceramic crazing. The small blue wine glass is severely cracked but fully intact. Remarkable considering the explosions and sinking that took it to the bottom of the ocean.
Medicinal Items
All of these items came from the ship’s infirmary. Who knows what medicines are inside the ampoules?
Name tag
Each individual on the ship would have had one of these tags made of wood, with their name on it. They would be mounted onto a large board. At a glance anyone would be able to see if a person was on board or ashore on leave, for instance. What is remarkable is that this piece of wood has survived all the years underwater. The wording is ‘kanji’ and translates to: “Left side of the boat, Hashimoto Hayatsumu”.
Thank you, Nobu and Fiona Watanabe, for your translations of this and other items.
Lifeboat Rowlock
A heavy brass rowlock. Numbered and stamped with the IJN anchor insignia.
Voicetube mouthpiece
This copper mouthpiece was found in the bridge area and would have been mounted onto a tube so that someone could verbally communicate with another crew member in another section of the ship. If only we could recapture what has been said via this mouthpiece over the years.
Drinking glass
Very finely engraved, this glass is so thin and delicate that you fear, just by holding it, that it may break.
Yet it too had been subject to the bombing and sinking of a ship and remains completely intact.
Who else has held this glass and where did it come from?
In search of the Hatsuyuki
A story about a shipwreck dive in south Bougainville in 1975.
My good friend Ray Leddick and I left Kieta before daylight to travel more than 100 km down the east coast of Bougainville Island in my 13-foot ‘tinny’. Our destination was the south coast of Bougainville, very close to the Solomon Islands border …
The Japanese destroyer Hatsuyuki (1928). Image from Wikipedia.
My good friend Ray Leddick and I left Kieta before daylight to travel more than 100 km down the east coast of Bougainville Island in my 13-foot ‘tinny’. Our destination was the south coast of Bougainville, very close to the Solomon Islands border. This was the Buin — Kahili — Tonelei Harbour area where the Japanese had a massive base during the Second World War. This was their jump-off point for the Solomon Islands campaign.
Every time I was to come to this place, its beauty held me spellbound; a myriad of small islands scattered in all directions, there was the daily build-up of storm clouds over the mountains of Bougainville and Choiseul, and on that day the ocean was like a millpond.
From a chance encounter, some months earlier, we had been given a hand-drawn map giving us the approximate location of a shipwreck. Looking back, it was more like a pirate’s map, with hills, trees, islands, and other features to line up and find the ‘X’. For treasure hunters, we carried very sophisticated locating equipment, namely a grappling anchor attached to a couple of hundred feet of rope. This was dragged along the bottom hoping to find that needle in a haystack. We had come in search of the Hatsuyuki, a destroyer belonging to the Japanese Imperial Navy.
Hatsuyuki, meaning winter’s first snow, was one of 20 Fabuki-class destroyers built between 1927 and 1931. This class surpassed in design, any other destroyer type that was being planned or built anywhere in the world at that time. These vessels were the first to be fitted with oxygen-driven Long Lance torpedoes that were used so effectively throughout the war and caused such havoc to Allied shipping.
Colourised photo of the Hatsuyuki, underway at full speed 1928. Image from World of Warships
Hatsuyuki was a support vessel in what the Americans called the Tokyo Express, the Japanese attempt to recapture Guadalcanal and drive the Americans from the Solomon Islands. On the 17th of July 1943, a large formation of American fighters from Guadalcanal assembled to attack shipping in the Buin — Kahili area of south Bougainville. The Hatsuyuki was crippled by a direct hit and sank immediately about a mile from shore, with a loss of some 120 lives.
Later research would reveal that Hatsuyuki had participated in the Battle of Sunda Strait on 1st March 1942, and had participated in the sinking of HMAS Perth and the USS Houston. She also took part in the Battle of Midway on 4th and 5th June 1942.
Ray and I were hoping to find her final resting place but after several hours our enthusiasm was waning. A villager whom we had noticed earlier observing us, paddled towards us in his canoe. His curiosity had got the better of him and he was no doubt wondering what the white fellas were up to.
In Pidgin, I explained that we were looking for a ship wreck from “taim bilong bikpela pait wantaim Japan”…..the Second World War. He didn’t know about a ship but turning slightly on his canoe, he pointed to a place nearby where people from his village came because something on the seafloor attracted schools of fish. The man paddled about 100 metres and pointed downwards. As our grappling hook snagged metal, it all seemed too good to be true. I thanked our acquaintance and we quickly geared up and went over the side.
The water was alive with pelagics, schools of big trevally, mackerel, barracuda, and angel fish. At 60 feet we could make out the ship’s outline and at 85 feet, in poor visibility, we were on what turned out to be the stern. Being right next to a twin-gun turret with its door open, I couldn’t resist going inside. The barrels were pointing upwards at a 45-degree angle and I began to imagine the frantic actions of the gun crew on that fateful day. Trying to defend their ship from the American planes that were equally intent on sinking it. This dive was to be an exploratory one to see as much of the ship as possible and seek out areas for closer examination on future expeditions
Our dive revealed that the whole mid-section of the ship had been extensively damaged, but from what was told, most of this was caused in the 1960s by commercial salvagers who removed the turbines and propellors. Much of the superstructure had been blown off and lay strewn across the ocean floor, while the deck had collapsed inward, making it difficult to gain access inside.
The Hatsuyuki was heavily damaged in 1935 during a typhoon while carrying out war game manoeuvres. Image from Reddit.
We were to return some 15 times over the next couple of years, locating among other things, the officer’s quarters and the ship’s infirmary. Many artifacts were located including a very fine and intricately engraved drinking glass, so fine I was scared that just by holding it, I’d break it, and yet it had survived untold explosions that ripped the ship apart. The officer’s mess gave up some beautiful solid brass table lamps bearing the insignia of the Japanese Imperial Navy. Portholes that were salvaged are like no others I have seen; they are very unique and rare.
I am fortunate to have dived on dozens of wrecks throughout PNG but they have all been cargo vessels or barges, and whilst that was exciting, it is rare to dive on a capital ship that is in relatively shallow water. Most are in deep, inaccessible places.
Time never seemed long enough while we were down, and each dive ended with planning for the next. I don’t think many people know the location of this ship, and with the conflict that raged on Bougainville in the 1980s and ‘90s, it certainly would not have been dived on for many years
Hatsuyuki, rust in peace, and vale to my good friend and dive buddy, Ray Leddick.
This has brought back so many good memories of my time living in PNG.
Chris Leonard — March 2022
Turtle Tales
Coochiemudlo Island is fortunate to have a dedicated and trained crew who act as first responders to rescue and deal with injured or dead turtles on and around our island.
Burying a dead turtle on Coochiemudlo Island, Moreton Bay, South East Queensland.
Coochiemudlo Island is fortunate to have a dedicated and trained crew who act as first responders to rescue and deal with injured or dead turtles on and around our island.
We have protocols in place to respond to each incident and collect information that is fed into a Queensland-wide database. This is used over time to form a picture of what is happening within our greater turtle population. With each encounter, we try and determine a cause of death - key causes of injuries to turtles and solutions to follow:
1 The most common being boat or jetski strikes.
These cause horrific injuries that are most upsetting, even to us hardened bunch. It is no different to being on the road: speed kills. In this case, it is the turtles that suffer. If you could see what we see, I am sure that the majority of people would act differently out on the water. Slow down on the water.
2 Ensure your crab pots have ‘turtle excluders’.
Recently I had to deal with a turtle that was trapped inside a crab pot. This beautiful and otherwise healthy animal had drowned. This pot was not fitted with a turtle excluder which would have gone some way to stop it from getting inside. Excluders are not mandatory by law; however, I feel that they should be. Generally, the more expensive pots have them fitted. Please check your pots to see if you have them.
3 Please make sure that your float ropes are ‘weighted’.
This will reduce the chance of a floating rope being cut by a boat propellor and the now lost pot becoming a ‘ghost pot’ that can go on trapping and killing marine life.
4 Ensure that your pot is put in enough depth of water that it is not exposed at low tide.
We have had cases where birds of prey have become entangled and would have drowned if not rescued in time.
We all enjoy what our beautiful oceans provide, so please help our turtles when you venture into their environment.
Slave Trade ‘bracelet money’ found on our local beach
Found at low tide by Chris Leonard: a Manilla that was used as a form of currency to trade slaves. But how did it end up on a beach on Coochiemudlo Island?
During a particularly low tide event on Norfolk Beach mud flats very near to our home on Coochiemudlo Island, some four to five years ago, I found a metal object that I thought was part of a ship’s rigging.
The item is brass or bronze and has coral growth which indicates that it had been in the ocean for a considerable time. Being a bowerbird, I brought it home and used it as decoration on a Buddha statue in my garden.
About two years ago the ABC was doing a promo for an upcoming series called ‘Enslaved’. Someone held up an object the same as mine and exclaimed: “You could buy and sell slaves with these.” That got me going.
What I had found is called a Manilla.
Tens of millions of these objects were made primarily for the West African slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries. They were used as a form of currency to buy and trade slaves. All of the major European powers were involved and at the time, was a lucrative trade that trafficked millions of people.
Part of my research involved contacting the Queensland Museum, and from their response to my many questions, there are no reports of them being used in the Pacific Blackbirding trade. I put a question to them: “Is it possible that it was carried by Matthew Flinders?”
The response was: “Maybe. Metal was a desirable trade good and many of the British sailors and people of status would have known about Manillas”.
I wish I could remember exactly where it was that I found it as I believe there could be more. I will be out there on those very low-tide events, trying to solve the mystery of the Manilla.
Watch the program ‘Enslaved’ on the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s iview even if you only see Episode 1. The story is compelling, confronting, and well-narrated.