The Road From Gona

by Dorothea Tomkins and Brian Hughes

Angus and Robertson, 1969, [First Edition], ISBN 207951896, black and white photographic plates, illustrated endpapers (maps), hardback, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, some edge and shelf wear, some rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, previous owners inscription on front flyleaf, dustjacket shows some edge and shelf wear with some rubbing, bumping, creasing, chipping and small tears (see photographs)

“At Gona, Sangara and in New Britain there lives the memory of the martyred missionaries, men and women, who remained at their posts in the face of the advancing Japanese Army in 1942 and were bayoneted to death and beheaeded – and of the natives who remained loyal to them to the point of death.  At Dogura the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul stands impressively, built affectionately by voluntary labour in 1938.  The Matyrs Memorial Secondary School, first established in 1948 at Sangara and destroyed in the disastrous Mount Lamington eruption of 1951, in which the principal, priest-in-charge, teachers, pupils and 2600 Sangara people lost their lives, continues its splendid educational work at Agenehambo.  The imprint remains of the extraordinary scenes of heroism at neighbouring Isivita as missionaries tended the dying victims throughout the terrifying volcanic eruptions.”