After the war with Japan began, Wau became an evacuation centre, receiving refugees from Lae and Salamaua. Non-native women and children were evacuated while men of military age were called up for service in the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, the local militia unit. Initially, civilians were evacuated by civilian aircraft but as the Japanese drew closer—bombing Wau on 23 January 1942—it became too dangerous to fly without fighter escort, which was unavailable. This left some 250 European and Asian men stranded. These refugees made a hazardous journey over the Owen Stanley Range on foot by way of Kudjeru and Tekadu to Bulldog, a disused mining settlement where there was an aerodrome, and thence down the Lakekamu River to the sea.