Malahang Mission Station, Lae facts for kids
The Malahang Mission Station is a special place in Malahang, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. It's a Lutheran church outpost that helps people and spreads the Christian faith. Today, it is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea. You can find the mission station on Busu Road, Malahang, right across from the Malahang Industrial Area.
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Where is Malahang Mission Station?
The Malahang Mission Station is located on Busu Road in Malahang, Lae. It's directly across from the Malahang Industrial Area. This industrial area used to be the Malahang airfield, which served the mission station. Other important Lutheran places, like the Lutheran University of Papua New Guinea, the Martin Luther Seminary, Balob Teachers College, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG Headquarters, are all very close by.
The History of Malahang Mission
On July 12, 1886, a German missionary named Johann Flierl arrived in Simbang, Finschhafen, in what was then called Kaiser-Wilhelmsland (German New Guinea). He was a pioneer missionary for the Southern Australian Lutheran Synod and the Neuendettelsau Mission Society.
These church groups wanted to bring their strong Lutheran beliefs to Australia and New Guinea. Many German Lutherans had left Prussia in the 1830s and 1840s to keep their church traditions pure. Wilhelm Löhe, a pastor in Germany, shared this idea. His mission society helped provide church leaders and religious education for Lutheran communities in places like Australia and New Guinea.
Flierl traveled from a mission in South Australia to German New Guinea. Along the way, he helped set up the Cape Bedford Mission and Elim Mission in Queensland.
At that time, two main groups of Germans lived in Kaiser-Wilhelmsland. One group included business owners, plantation owners, and government officials. They saw the local people differently from the Lutheran missionaries. Flierl, however, saw everyone as children of God. He believed it was important to teach everyone about salvation. He often asked the Synod in Australia for more missionaries, and in 1899, they sent Christian Keysser.
The Ampo Lutheran Church is also just a few kilometers from the Malahang Mission. In 1929, Pastor Gottfried Schmutterer, who had worked at the mission before, returned to New Guinea with his wife to continue his work.
World War II and the Church
During World War II, all missionaries had to leave the area. Many mission stations, churches, schools, and hospitals were damaged. But even with all the destruction, the local church leaders and Christians kept the church going strong.
After the war, Lutheran churches in Australia and North America helped rebuild the church in Papua New Guinea. They worked together as the Lutheran Mission New Guinea.
In 1956, missionaries and local church leaders came together to form the current church. It was first called the Evangelical Lutheran Church of New Guinea. Its first bishop was a missionary from America. The first local bishop was chosen in 1973. In 1975, just before Papua New Guinea became an independent country, the church changed its name to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea.
In 1977, the church became officially independent. Another local Lutheran church, started by the Australian Lutheran Mission, then joined with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea.
Malahang During World War II
Between April and July 1943, during World War II, Allied forces looked closely at the area after the Japanese invasion. A report from that time said:
The Lutheran Mission was about two miles northeast of Lae. Its staff had gone to Australia. It had a radio, but the equipment was removed. There was a large airfield with repair shops one mile northeast. A sawmill was two miles north. A coconut plantation was three miles northeast, covering 300 acres. It also had a sawmill. The mission owned a house, a trade store, and a copra (dried coconut) store.
The Malahang Airfield was three miles northeast of Lae. It was 600 yards long and 90 yards wide. It ran northwest to southeast. It could be made bigger but was only suitable for certain types of planes then. There were two hangars on the northeast side of the clearing. A clearing 80 by 200 yards had been made at the northwest end.
Farming at the Mission
The Malahang Mission Station was also important for farming.
In 1900, the Neuendettelsau Mission Society brought cattle from Australia to Malahang and Finschhafen. However, many cattle were lost to tick fever. Eventually, the Malahang mission sold cattle to local people.
In 1914, the mission bought land for its own plantation and even gave some cattle as a gift to the local community.
In 1954, Australian farmers helped the mission grow its cattle herd. Twenty-five young Shorthorn heifers (female cows) were flown from Cairns, Australia, to Lae, New Guinea. These cows were the start of a beef herd for the Lutheran Mission. The cows were donated and flown in two trips by a special plane. This was cheaper than shipping them by sea. The mission planned to buy a Santa Gertrudis bull to breed with the heifers. The mission staff and local people ate a lot of beef.
On October 24, 1959, the first Lae Agricultural show took place. Dairy cattle were the best part of the show. The cattle came from the Lutheran Mission at Malahang, Mrs. Jensen's dairy, and a government farm.
The mission owned 1250 acres of coconut plantations. They produced copra (dried coconut meat), grew vegetables, raised chickens, cattle, and other animals. They also ran sawmills.
The cattle herd grew to more than 150 animals, and a dairy was set up. In 1955, Tropical Dairies, located at the mission, became the first in Papua New Guinea to supply pasteurized milk in cartons. By 1961, Malahang was producing about 32,000 gallons of milk each year!
Mission Aircraft
The mission even owned and operated an airplane! It was a Junkers F.13 tri-motor aircraft named "Papua" (VH-UTS). In August 1939, two German pilots, Werner Garms and Paul Raabe, took off from Malahang. They were flying to another mission station near Mt. Hagen.
However, they learned that World War II had started in Europe. The pilots decided to steal the plane and try to fly back to Germany. They flew to Merauke Airfield, where they left the Junkers plane. We don't know what happened to the plane after that. Garms and Raabe then traveled by ship to Japan and took a train across Siberia to Germany. Both of them joined the Luftwaffe (the German air force). Sadly, Garms died during the German invasion of Russia.
