Tufi is a town located on the south eastern peninsula of Cape Nelson,

Oro Province Oro Province, formerly (and officially still) Northern Province, is a coastal Provinces of Papua New Guinea, province in the Southern Region, Papua New Guinea, Southern Region of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Popondetta. The provinc ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. Tufi is located on one of many rias, or drowned river valleys, locally referred to as 'fjords', on Cape Nelson surrounded by many uncharted reefs. The area is also famous for its production of

tapa cloth Tapa cloth (or simply ''tapa'') is a barkcloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Ha ...

. The Tufi Dive Resort provides diving experiences of the reefs, sunken ships and aircraft. Tufi is serviced by Tufi Airport. The town is located within Tufi Rural LLG.

History

Tufi was an

Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit The Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) was a civil administration of Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea formed on 21 March 1942 during World War II. The civil administration of both Papua and the Mand ...

(ANGAU) Station during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

built an

PT boat A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, and it was valued for its maneuverability and speed. However, PT boats were hampe ...

advanced base at Tufi which commenced operations on 20 December 1942 to support the

Battle of Buna–Gona The battle of Buna–Gona was part of the New Guinea campaign in the Pacific War, Pacific theatre during World War II. It followed the conclusion of the Kokoda Track campaign and lasted from 16 November 1942 until 22 January 1943. The battle wa ...

. Two PT boats, PT-67 & PT-119 caught fire while refueling at the bases wharf and sank on 17 March 1943 at the wharf along with the Australian army vessel AS 16. The PT boat base was relocated to Morobe on 20 April 1943.

External links

Tufi
Populated places in Oro Province {{OroProvince-geo-stub

History

See also

External links