Wau, Papua New Guinea

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Wau
A satellite image of Wau and its mines, looking towards Bulolo
Wau Location within Papua New Guinea
Coordinates: 7°20′20″S 146°43′00″E / 7.33889°S 146.71667°E / -7.33889; 146.71667
Country	Papua New Guinea
Province	Morobe Province
Elevation	1,080 m (3,540 ft)
Population  (2005 est)
• Total	5,000
• Rank	26th
Time zone	UTC+10 (AEST)
Location	74 km (46 mi) from Lae 241 km (150 mi) from Port Melvin
Climate	Af

Wau is a town in Papua New Guinea,^[1] in the province of Morobe. It has a population of approx 5,000 and is situated at an altitude of around 1100 metres. Wau was the site of a gold rush during the 1920s and 30s when prospective gold diggers arrived at the coast at Salamaua and struggled inland along the Black Cat Track.

At the Battle of Wau^[2] in January 1943, the Australian Army stopped an advance by the Japanese. A road was established soon after World War II to Lae and this fostered the further development of local timber and agricultural industries that were originally established in support of the mining industry. While much of the mineral reserves have been extracted, industrial gold mining continues at Edie Creek and at the newly established Hidden Valley Gold Mine operated by Morobe Goldfields (a subsidiary of Harmony Gold - South Africa).

The Wau Ecology Institute is a biological research station situated near Wau.