Namatanai is a town on the island province of
New Ireland in
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
. It is the second largest settlement on the island and connected to the largest and provincial capital of
Kavieng
Kavieng is the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Ireland and the largest town on the island of the same name. The town is located at Balgai Bay, on the northern tip of the island. As of 2009, it had a population of 17,248.
Kavi ...
(264 km to the north-west) by the
Boluminski Highway
The Boluminski Highway is the main land transportation route on the island of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea. It runs from the provincial capital of Kavieng for 193 km down the east coast of the island to Namatanai and beyond. The whole h ...
. In 2005, Namantanai was estimated to have a population of 1300 people. It is the seat of
Namatanai Rural LLG
Namatanai Rural LLG is a local government area in New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea. The LLG is located in Namatanai District and the LLG headquarters is Namatanai.
The LLG is accessible by road from Kavieng
Kavieng is the capital o ...
.
During
German New Guinea
German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...
, Namatanai was an important station. Today the Namatanai Hotel sits on top of the old German Station house. On 28 January 1943, Japanese troops on the Goya Maru landed at Namatanai and searched the station but found no Australian troops and departed. On 15 June 1943, Chinese man, Leong Cheung, was publicly shot in town. Namatanai has a
small airfield with the IATA code ATN.
Every August the town hosts the Namatanai Mask Festival.
References
Populated places in New Ireland Province
{{NewIrelandProvince-geo-stub