Lat 3° 40' 0S Long 152° 25' 60E Located 35 miles from Kavieng, in aproximately the middle of New Ireland.

History
Prior to the Japanese landings, six commandos commanded by Cpl W. S. Rodgers of the 1st Independent Company were stationed at Namatanai, prior to Japanese assault they moved inland. On 28 January Japanese troops on the Goya Maru landed at Namatanai and searched the station and Namatanai village but found no Australian troops and departed. The area was not permanently occupied by the Japanese civilian administration until June 5, 1943 and ten days later Chinese man, Leong Cheung was publicly shot in town.

Japanese Surrender
Although Japan had officially surrendered on August 15, 1945 it was not until September 19th when the Australia warship, HMAS Swan arrived at Namatanai and anchored at Fangalawa Bay to accept the surrender of Japanese forces in New Ireland. Also, to pick up the survivors of the 87 European civilians estimated to still be on New Ireland. Rudolf Diercke was picked up at Namatanai and Father Gerard Peekel and five Catholic sisters at Fangalawa Bay. Of the remaining eighty, with a few exceptions, there was no trace, and to this day there is no memorial in New Ireland to the civilians of all races who died.

Namatani Airfield
Small wartime airfield, still in use today

Tank Dump
At the end of the war, Australian forces dumped Japanese tanks over the edge of of a cliff. Since then, the area has been used as a rubbish dump. The dump included Type 95, Type 97 and amphibious tanks. There were some dismounted coastal guns too.

Brian Bennett visited in 1985:
"I went there and visited this site. There was a rotted tank on the reef and a larger pile stacked up with rubbish around it. I climbed down into the dump and got inside one of the tanks that was upside down and hard to get inside. Shining a torch, the interior was perfect - all the paint and lights still there. It was still leaking oil too. They all had their original exterior paint and kanji and numbers on some too. The smaller weapons were missing, but the main guns were there still."