Rabaul

Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, on the island of New Britain, in the country of Papua New Guinea. New Britain is an island about 60 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption.

During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the subsequent rain of ash caused 80% of the buildings in Rabaul to collapse. After the eruption the capital was moved to Kokopo, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) away. Rabaul is continually threatened by volcanic activity due to having been built on the edge of Rabaul caldera, a flooded caldera of a large pyroclastic shield.

Rabaul was known as Simpsonhafen during the German New Guinea administration which controlled the area between 1884 and formally till 1919. From 1910 Rabaul was the headquarters of German New Guinea until captured by the British Empire during World War I, when it became the capital of the Australian mandated Territory of New Guinea until 1937 when it was first destroyed by volcano.