12 September 1914
Rabaul was occupied, unopposed, by troops from HMAS Berrima. The German administration fled inland to Toma, but faced with an advance by Australian troops from Herbertshohe, supported by gunfire from HMAS Encounter, they surrendered German New Guinea on 17 September. In coming months Australian vessels and troops were dispatched to search and occupy Germany's other territories including the New Guinea mainland, New Ireland, the Admiralty Islands, the Western Islands, Bougainville, and the German Solomons.
At nightfall on 12 September the main infantry battalion was landed at Rabaul to capture the town and the surrounding settlements. Rear Admiral George Edwin Patey, serving as commander-in-chief of the Australian fleet, sent a letter to his sister the following day writing: “We have now taken Rabaul and Herbertshöhe without opposition…” On that same day Private John Axtens wrote in his diary: “Proclamation read & flag hoisted at Rabaul.”
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