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Wuvulu Island (also known as Mary Island, Matty, Maty Island, Tiger Island, Tiger-Inseln and Wuwulu) is part of the Western Islands of the
Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km. History The first inhabitants ...
in the western
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
, part of
Manus Province Manus Province is the smallest province in Papua New Guinea in terms of both land area and population, with a land area of , but with more than of water, and the total population is 60,485 (2011 census). The provincial town of Manus is Lorengau. ...
,
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
. It is the westernmost island of the thirteen island groups that make up island chain in the archipelago. It is an island of volcanic origin encircled by a coral reef with a maximum height of three meters (10 feet) above sea level. The people living on the island speak the Wuvulu-Aua language, a Western Admiralty Islands language, which is of Austronesian stock. The first sighting by Europeans of Wuvulu Island was by the Spanish navigator Iñigo Órtiz de Retes on 27 July 1545 when on board of the
carrack A carrack (; ; ; ) is a three- or four- masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal. Evolved from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for European trade fr ...
''San Juan'' tried to return from
Tidore Tidore ( id, Kota Tidore Kepulauan, lit. "City of Tidore Islands") is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. Part of North Maluku Province, the city includes the island ...
to New Spain. He charted this island together with the nearby islands, Aua and Manu, as ''La Barbada'' (the bearded island in Spanish).Sharp, Andrew ''The discovery of the Pacific Islands'' Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1960, p.31. Wuvulu Island was part of
German New Guinea German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...
until the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighti ...
. During German times, the island was purchased by the German Administration, which excluded from the purchase three areas for ‘native reserves’. Two of these reserves were at the western end of the Island and the third was at the eastern end. The latter area was known as Ruvuraue (230 hectares, 568 acres). In 1907 the German Administration transferred the property known as Agita (800 hectares, 2170 acres) to Rudolph Wahlen – the property was all of the island with the exception of the three reserves. The German Administration, however, also gave a restricted occupancy to Wahlen over Ruvuraue Reserve. In 1912 the area known as Ruvuraue appears to have been transferred to Rudolph Wahlen. This was apparently in return for the granting to the local people of certain rights to
taro Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Africa ...
pits on the properties. The reserve aspect of this land would have been extinguished by this action. Both titles were made the subject of encumbrances relating to mining and to transfer back to the Administration for landing places and other public purposes. After the First World War the title vested in the custodian of expropriated property. In 1928 a draft certificate of title was issued in respect of both parties.


See also

* Wuvulu-Aua language


Notes


External links


History of the Western IslandsArea maps
Bismarck Archipelago Islands of Papua New Guinea Manus Province {{ManusProvince-geo-stub