The administration station at Tapini

Abstract

The administration station at Tapini is in the mountains of central Papua, 45 minutes by air from Port Moresby. The airstrip serving the station is bounded at one end by mountains and at the other by a valley falling away some 2,000 feet. Sharply-confined airstrips such as this, roads clinging tenuously to mountainsides, and foot-tracks zig-zagging up precipitous slopes exemplify the difficulties of travel in the Territory. Elsewhere, in highly-developed urban areas, there are road systems and modern aerodromes carrying considerable volumes of traffic. Because of the difficulties of making roads and building bridges, air transport, which contributed so much to the opening up of the Territory, will continue as a major form of transport.