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| Location Lat 5° 21' 54S Long 147° 1' 15E Matapan is located at an elevation of 3' above sea level near Matafuna Point on the west coast of Long Island. Also spelled Matafuna or Matafun. To the west is Cape Matafun. To the southeast is Cerisy Peak and to the northeast is Mount Reaumur. To the east is Lake Wisdom. Prewar and during the Pacific War located in the Territory of New Guinea. Today located in Madang Province in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Wartime History By early April 1944, as the threat of Japanese planes was mainly to the west, No. 338 Radar Station (338 RS) was disassembled and moved from Malala using landing craft to Matafuna Point over a one week period. On April 11, 1944 at 7:00pm the radar resumed operation until January 28, 1945 then moved to Madang. Long Island Airport Built postwar at the southwest coast as a small airport for light aircraft. References NAA "Long Island & S. East portion of Sub Division 7 - Rai Coast. Aug. - Sept. 1932. Madang District. A. Nurton" (NAA: NAA: A7034, 28) (Page 3) On 16th August [1932] I left Gumbi base camp in the launch MV Pahi together with four members of native police. Mr. Murphy, the owner of the launch, accompanying... At 11.30 same night we left for Long Island shortly after midnight a strong S. E. gale sprang up & the vessel battled through it until 3 P. M. the next day, on the 17th, at which our we reached N.W. coast of Long Island. To gain the S. E. coast, where the villagers are, was impossible owing to the severity of the seas. The next day [18 August, 1932] the gale had slightly abated, & Murphy decided to run before it & return to pick me up about 10 days later. For five days, until the 22nd., while awaiting carriers from Malala, I spent exploring that entirely uninhabited locality... In this humanless land it was interesting to note the fearlessness of birds, iguanas, crocodiles, turtles & pigs: all of these being exceedingly plentifully..." (Page 4) "On the 22nd [August 1932] the patrol left [walking], proceeding N. round point Keo... thence south to the village of Malala, a distance of not far short of 20 miles. The patrol reached Malala at dusk..." (Page 5) "I was informed by the natives, whose ancestors, three generations ago, came from one of the Siassi Islands about 20 miles to the S. E., that all of Long Island and Crown Island, was originally thickly populated with villages all round the coast... I estimate by native lore that the eruption occurred about 300 years ago (certainly not more remote than that). The explosion blew the centre of the island out, leaving an elevated crater, now a lake, of about 20 square miles in extent." [RAAF formation and unit records:] No.s 334-338 Radar Station (August 1943 - January 1946) (NAA 638252) Put 'em Across: A History of the 2d Engineer Special Brigade, 1942-1945 (1946) page 65 At Close Quarters (1962) page 198 "The liberation of Huon Gulf forced the PT's to extend their patrols further up the coast of the Huon Peninsula; to the islands to the north, Long Island" The Australian Museum "Long Island, Papua New Guinea: Introduction (1982) by Specht, Jim; Ball, Eldon E.; Blong, R. J.; Egloff, B. J.; Hughes, Ian M.; McKee, C. O.; Pain, C. F. Pub. 164 Sailing Direction (Enroute) New Guinea (1994) pages 214-215 (9.50 Long Island), 268 (index Long Island) Beyond Pongani Mission (2001) pages 248-251 Radar Yarns (1991 revised October 2007) pages ii (Table of Contents), 34-36 (338 RS Long Island), 169 (338RS), 194 (appendix A radar stations) [PDF] Radar Returns - Unit 338 RS Long Island Coastwatchers at War in New Guinea... the 2nd Mission (2002) by Lionel Veale Pub. 164 Sailing Direction (Enroute) New Guinea (2018) pages 219, 268 (index Long Island) Pub. 164 Sailing Direction (Enroute) New Guinea (2020) pages 219, 268 (index Long Island) Contribute
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