New Hanover Island

New Hanover Island, (Neuhannover), also called Lavongai, is a large volcanic island in the New Ireland Province of Papua New Guinea. This region is part of the Bismarck Archipelago and lies at -2.5°N, 150.25°W. Measuring some 460 sqmi, it had a population of 5,000 in 1960, which increased to approximately 17,160 by 2000.

In the interior the Tirpitz Range reaches a height of 2,800 feet.

Culture
Friedrich Ratzel in The History of Mankind reported in 1896, when discussing Melanesian ornament, that there were luxurious feather ornament displays in New Hanover, showing much taste in the combination of forms and colours with vegetable fibres and beads on sticks. An example was a delicately formed face in feather-mosaic forming the head of a hairpin.