Finschhafen is a district on the north-east coast of the Morobe province of Papua New Guinea. It is named after the port town of the same name, Finschhafen. The port was discovered (for Europeans) in 1884 by the German researcher Otto Finsch. In 1885 the German colony of German New Guinea created a town on the site and named it after the discoverer (-hafen = -harbor). Evangelical Lutheran missionaries, organized by Johann Flierl, settled near the town, establishing a Mission station at Simbang, and later at Sattelberg, approximately 5 kilometres (3 mi) away. Malaria was the bane of the town from the start. An epidemic in 1891 caused the colonists to briefly leave and only to return and then leave again ten years later in 1901. Other New Guinea towns were favoured instead, especially Rabaul.