Troops of the 14th/32nd Battalion watch one of their escort vessels, the destroyer HMAS Vendetta, during the voyage to New Britain in November 1944.

Major AG Lowndes (right), Brigade Major of the 6th Infantry Brigade, talks with Golpak, or Gulpiak, a village headman of the Pomio district soon after the Australians arrived in November 1944. Golpak was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his bravery and dedication rescuing Australian and American airmen after their aircraft crashed in enemy territory.

Sailors in the engine room of the frigate HMAS Barcoo operating off the coast of New Britain in November 1944. The frigate escorted merchant ships and fired on enemy positions along the coast.

Sergeant AN Taylor, 1st New Guinea Infantry Battalion, places flowers on the grave of Private Donald McLennan, 2/22nd Battalion, who died of illness on 22 February 1942 while trying to reach safety after the fall of Rabaul. Taylor was a survivor of the ill-fated Lark Force, being one of the 400 men who, after many weeks on the run, had finally been evacuated to Port Moresby.

Private Ero, 1st New Guinea Infantry Battalion, on patrol, his Owen gun at the ready, moving across a river bed in February 1945. The New Guinean soldiers were said to be some of the finest jungle patrollers possessed by the Australian Army.

Wearing improvised breathing apparatus and diving gear, Sapper Edward Nichols (standing) and Sapper Reginald Skidmore, 17th Field Company, Royal Australian Engineers, prepare to go underwater during the construction of a barge slipway near the mouth of the Kalumalagi River in February 1945. Barges were used widely for supply along the coast.

Artillerymen use empty oil drums to flat a light field gun (cannon) across a river near Jacquinot Bay in March 1945. They were moving the gun forward to support the infantry in attacking Japanese positions.

Private HJ Adams (left) and Lieutenant AG Mawson, 14th/32nd Battalion, rest while awaiting evacuation by landing craft after being wounded in action in the Waitavalo area, Wide Bay, New Britain in March 1945.

Troops of the 2/2nd Commando Squadron begin crossing the Yara River during a patrol close to Rabaul in July 1945. The men lying down are ready to provide covering fire with their Owen machine-guns should it be required.

At war's end Australian forces rescued surviving military prisoners of war and civilian internees from Rabaul. Many had died from neglect, execution or air raids or were killed after being sent elsewhere. Prisoners of war rescued included one Australian, seven Americans and a New Zealander captured locally, 18 Britons and about 5500 Indians captured in Singapore, about 750 Chinese from China, and one Dutch officer and about 600 troops from the Netherlands East Indies (modern Indonesia). Internees rescued included about 175 Europeans, including Australians, and 1500 Chinese who were residents of New Britain. A group of religious order sisters is shown waving before moving out of the Ramale Valley Internment Camp.