Vella Lavella is an island in the

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: * Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provin ...

of the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

. It lies to the west of

New Georgia New Georgia, with an area of , is the largest of the islands in Western Province, Solomon Islands, and the 200th-largest island in the world. Geography New Georgia island is located in the New Georgia Group, an archipelago including most ...

, but is considered one of the

New Georgia Group The New Georgia Islands are part of the Western Province of Solomon Islands. They are located to the northwest of Guadalcanal. The larger islands are mountainous and covered in rain forest. The main islands are New Georgia, Vella Lavella, Kol ...

. To its west are the

Treasury Islands Treasury Islands () are a small group of islands a few kilometres to the south of Bougainville and from the Shortland Islands. They form part of the Western Province of the country of Solomon Islands. The two largest islands in the Treasuries ...

Environment

The island of Vella Lavella is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. To the north is the island of Choiseul, to the northwest is the island of Shortland, and to the southeast is the island of

. Vella Lavella is a volcanic island, surrounded in some places by a

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

. The island contains volcanic cones and one thermal spring. The highest elevation is Mount Tambisala at . The volcano Nonda (the youngest volcano of the island), has an elevation of 750 meters and is considered active, although it has never erupted in modern times. The smaller rivers running from the mountains to the coast allow irrigated horticulture to the inhabitants who live almost exclusively on the coast. Vella Lavella is mainly vegetated with lowland rainforest. The climate is wet and tropical, and the island is prone to earthquakes and cyclones.

North-west Vella Lavella Important Bird Area

An area of 14,641 ha in the north-west of the island has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports populations of white-winged fantails,

Kolombangara monarch The Kolombangara monarch (''Symposiachrus browni''), or Brown's monarch, is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to Solomon Islands. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by ...

s and

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

Vella Lavella white-eyes. The main threat facing the site is logging.

History

Painted potshards found during excavations date back to an age of 2,000 to 3,000 years. The

Bilua language Bilua (also known as Mbilua or Vella Lavella) is the most populous Papuan language spoken in the Solomon Islands. It is a Central Solomon language spoken by about 9,000 people on the island of Vella Lavella. It is one of the four non- Austronesi ...

spoken on the island belongs to the

Papuan languages The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian and non- Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geogr ...

, while the other languages of the Solomon Islands belong to the Austronesian languages. Therefore, archaeologists suspect the immigration of a people who did not come from the

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

n settlement area. On March 15, 1893 Vella Lavella was declared part of the British Solomon Islands

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...

. The island was occupied by the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...

in the early stages of the Pacific War. The

Land Battle of Vella Lavella The Battle of Vella Lavella was fought from 15 August – 6 October 1943 between Japan and the Allied forces from New Zealand and the United States at the end of the New Georgia campaign. Vella Lavella, an island located in the Solomon Islands, h ...

was fought between Allied and Japanese forces from 15 August – 6 October 1943. After a landing at Barakoma on 15 August, US troops advanced along the coasts, pushing the Japanese north. In September, New Zealand troops took over from the Americans and they continued to advance across the island, hemming the small Japanese garrison consisting of 250 Japanese personnel, who were a mix of soldiers evacuated from New Georgia and sailors who had been stranded on the island,Rottman, ''Japanese Army in World War II'', p. 68 along the north coast. On 6 October, the Japanese began an evacuation operation to withdraw the remaining troops, during which the Naval Battle of Vella Lavella was fought. Following the capture of the island, the Allies developed it into an important airbase which was used in the reduction of main Japanese base at Rabaul. Subsequently,

Barakoma Airfield Barakoma Airfield is a former World War II airfield on Vella Lavella in the Solomon Islands archipelago. History World War II The U.S. 35th Infantry Regiment landed on Vella Lavella on 15 August 1943 as part of the Solomon Islands campaign. The ...

on Vella Lavella was the home base for

VMF-214 Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 214 (VMFA-214) is a United States Marine Corps attack squadron consisting of Lockheed Martin F-35B STOVL jets. It is currently in the process of transitioning from its fleet of AV-8B Harrier ( V/STOL) jets. The ...

(the "Black Sheep," led by

Gregory Boyington Gregory "Pappy" Boyington (December 4, 1912 – January 11, 1988) was an American combat pilot who was a United States Marine Corps fighter ace during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. A Marine aviator with ...

). Since 1978, the island has been part of the independent state of the

Notable local people

* Milna Tozaka was elected to the

National Parliament of the Solomon Islands The National Parliament of Solomon Islands has 50 members, elected for a four-year term in Constituencies in Solomon Islands, 50 single-seat constituencies. It is presided by a Speaker of the National Parliament of Solomon Islands, Speaker, cu ...

to represent the North Vella Lavella Constituency on 5 April 2006. He is the current Foreign Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Rick Douglas Hou; he has previously served as the Minister for Public Service.

Notes

;Footnotes ;References * *

Gallery

File:Vella Lavella airfield Dec 1943.jpg, Taken on 10 December 1943, this photo shows Vought F4U-1 Corsair aircraft of

VMF-123 Marine Fighter Squadron 123 (VMF-123) was a fighter squadron of the United States Marine Corps during World War II and later in the Marine Forces Reserve. Known as the “Flying Eight Balls,” the squadron fought at Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, an ...

and

VMF-124 Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 124 (VMFA-124) was a flying squadron in the Marine Forces Reserve based out of Naval Air Station Memphis flying the A-4 Skyhawk. They were part of Marine Aircraft Group 42 and were decommissioned on 19 June 1999. ...

, Grumman F6F-3 Hellcats, a Douglas SBD Dauntless, and RNZAF Curtiss Kittyhawk Mk.IV (P-40F) at Barakoma Airfield File:Vella Lavella girl with painted face and shell ear ornaments, Solomon islands.jpg, Vella Lavella girl with painted face and shell ear ornaments, c. 1900

External links

overhead images show what may be the remains of the Marines' airfield. {{authority control Islands of the Solomon Islands Important Bird Areas of the Solomon Islands Western Province (Solomon Islands)