Tami Islands The Tami Islands are a small island group located seven nautical miles SSE of Finschhafen in the Huon Gulf ( see also Solomon Sea ) . It is part of today ' s Morobe Province , Papua New Guinea . In the days before European contact , its natives were known throughout the Solomon and South Sea islands for their distinctive wooden bowls , their cult figure carvings , and their ceremonial masks . During World War II , the islands were briefly occupied by the Japanese ; Tami Islands were secured after the landings and Nassau Bay , Lae and Nadzab . Geography . The Tami Islands include four atolls , two of which are very small , and one so small it is not much larger than a strip of sand . On the two largest islands there are two villages that face each other across a volcanic cove . The islands form a circle around a lagoon , which at its center is deep . The cove attracts snorkelers and divers who explore the reefs , including day - trippers from nearby Lae , on the main island of Papua New Guinea . The reefs contain Spanish Dancer jellyfish , Blue See Stars and varieties of colorful Pelagic fish , both predators and prey . At its widest , the largest island is not more than two city blocks wide ( approximately ) . Regional trade . Islanders specialized in elaborately carved bowls . These were often used for bridal wealth payments throughout the islands , part of a regional exchange reaching as far as the Caroline and Solomon Islands . The islanders still make their livings in fishing and the production of these bowls , intricately woven sleeping mats , and delicate carvings , and tourism . The evidence of the regional trade is visible in the physiognomy of the inhabitants , who resemble in their facial structure the islanders of New Britain . Islanders will typically paint themselves with blue and pink paint . The Tami role in the trading cycle is evident from the bowls , which appear throughout the archipelago , and the Siassi islands . Bowls would be exchanged for dogs ' teeth ( used for carving and wood working , as well as for jewelry ) , sweet potatoes , reeds , pigs , bows , arrows , feathers and the betel nut . The Tami bowls are distinctive not only for their specific decorative designs , but because they are made of wood , not of clay ; most Papua New Guinea pottery is clay , but the Tami Islands have no clay deposits . In addition to the rectangular bowls , Tami art also appears in representations of religious figures — cult figures , some of them massive . Images are full - length and standing , and the head is placed directly on the torso ( no neck ) . The head usually has a headdress , often very ornate , and the arms fall to the side , like a figure almost at attention . Tami carving places circular eyes directly under the forehead . Tami sculpture also has two incised triangles pointing t the center of the face . Tami masks also appear as products of trade . The depiction of facial figures resembles the style of carving found on the human figures . Tamis depict a variety of animal figures , equally as stylized as the human ones , on wooden bowls , hooks , spatulas , canoe prows , paddles , and other useful tools . Tami canoes , although outriggers like most of the neighboring styles , but which are unique in design and decoration . The distinctive Tami Island outrigger canoe prows have finer and more rectangular structure than those of other south Milne Bay islanders , although they are similarly painted with shields . European missions and regional trade . The islands ' position in the larger trading ecology of the eastern islands attracted Johann Flierl , in 1888 , who established a Lutheran mission there . Flierl hoped not only to gain the confidence of the Tamis , and convert them to Lutheranism , but also to integrate the mission goals into the island groups with which the Tamis had contact . The process did not work as Flierl planned : instead , the Tami islanders became incorporated into a western - style material culture . As cash - based jobs became available , often working for the Mission itself , they decreased the product of bowls and cult figures . As a result , the Siassi learned to make the wood bowls , taught by Tami island catechists who went to the Siassi Island to help the missionaries . World War II . During the war , most of the Tamis were evacuated to the main island , and they returned in May 1944 . The islands were the target of three raids by the United States Air Corp . On 25 November 1942 , a B - 25 hit a Japanese cruiser off one of the main islands . On 18 September 1943 , a flight of A - 20 s hit installations on the island itself , and on 21 September 1943 , flights of A - 20s , B - 26s , and the RAAF also targeted installations there . According to the natives , however , the bombings occurred after the Japanese had left . As a consequence of the bombings , there were large craters in the center of the villages , and in the betel nut grove , and many of the palm trees were ripped apart . Today the Tami Islands are protected by the Papua New Guinea National Seas Act 1977 .