Gasmata is a village on the southern coast of New Britain, Papua New Guinea located at 6° 16' 60S 150° 19' 60E. There is a Gasmata Airport in Surumi Peninsula area adjacent. The village is administered under Gasmata Rural LLG in East New Britain Province.[1]
The Imperial Japanese occupied the village between 8–9 February 1942 during World War II. A war crime occurred in March 1942 when between eight and ten Australian prisoners of war were executed by firing squad by being shot in the back.[2]
Gasmata was re-occupied by an Australian Army unit on 28 March 1944.
Gasmata has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round and with extremely heavy rainfall from June to August. Unlike many places in Papua New Guinea, Gasmata and the southern coast of New Britain experience a rainfall maximum during the south-east monsoon (low sun season) because the New Britain mountains block the north-westerly winds during the high sun season.
6°17′S 150°20′E / 6.283°S 150.333°E / -6.283; 150.333