GOROKA

town, east-central Papua New Guinea. Proclaimed a town in 1953, Goroka is a centre of European settlement in the central highlands. It has an airport and also lies on the Highlands Highway, an important truck route leading 110 miles (180 km) east to Kainantu and Aiyura and eventually reaching the coast at Lae on the Solomon Sea. Coffee, passion fruit, vegetables, timber, pigs, and cattle from the vicinity are transported through Goroka. The town has a medical research institute and an animal-husbandry station and is the site of a large biennial agricultural show. Goroka is a resort centre because of its mile-high elevation. Pop. (1990) 17,855.