Tolai - Settlements

Local communities, referred to as villages, with populations about 300, are the typical units of settlement. Villages, in the past the main territorial units, were and still are divided into tiny hamlets each consisting of a few households. In the more remote rural parts, houses are more likely to be built of traditional materials, but nearer Rabaul they are often costly two-story structures with copper roofs, louvered glass windows, and their own water tanks. Many villages have their own churches and schools, sometimes very substantial buildings, designed and built by the villagers themselves.