The Engineer Islands are an archipelago in the Solomon Sea belonging to Papua New-Guinea.

Geography

The Engineer Islands belong to Milne Bay Province, and are one of the groups forming the Louisiade Archipelago. They are located on the western edge of Louisiade archipelago, east of Basilaki and south of Normanby . The islands form an unusual group consisting of high islands, low coral islands, atolls and underwater reefs, which are located in a radius of 24 km to 14 km away. The three largest islands lie on the southwestern part of the group. They are: Tubetube (Slade Island), Naruaruari (Skelton Island ) and Kwaraiwa (Watts island), each about 3.5 km long and about 0.75 km wide. The islands are hilly with elevations of up to 150 m (at Slade Island). The eastern boundary of the Engineer group is marked by a crescent-shaped reef, on which the four low islands Hummock, Haszard, Button and Flat are located. In the center of the archipelago there is a reef with a semi-enclosed lagoon. on it, the islands Powell and Pender lying on the western side while Messum Island is on the eastern side.

Climate

Engineer islands have a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round. The following climate data is for Slade island.

Administration

There are several more island groups that belong to the Engineer Islands Ward: *The Shortland Islands are located 2 km to the northwest. *

Laseinie Islands The Laseinie Islands are an archipelago in the Solomon Sea. Politically they belong to Bwanabwana Rural LLG of Samarai-Murua District of Milne Bay Province, in the southeastern region of Papua New Guinea. They are located southeast of the D'Entre ...

(with Koyagaugau (Dawson Island)) are located 20 km to the north. * Kegawam Islands are located 25 km to the north.

History

John Moresby discovered the islands in 1873 and named them in honor of the English Engineers of his steamboat

HMS Basilisk Ten ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Basilisk'', after the Basilisk, a mythical lizard: * was a 4-gun bomb vessel launched in 1695 and broken up in 1729. * was a 4-gun bomb vessel launched in 1740 and sold in 1750. * was an 8-g ...

. The islands were named after the individual crew members from the engine room: Slade, Skelton, Watts, Butchart, Bright, among others.

Population

There are 4 inhabited islands, with the main village Gegadali located on

Watts Island Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People *Watts (surname), list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Watts, main character in the film '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' *Watts family, six chara ...

. The inhabitants of the archipelago speak

Bwanabwana Language Bwanabwana, also known as Tubetube, is an Austronesian language spoken on the small islands just off the eastern tip of Papua New Guinea. It is spoken in Bwanabwana Rural LLG Bwanabwana Rural LLG is a local-level government (LLG) of Milne Bay ...

.Ethnologue, Languages of the World: Bwanabwana, A language of Papua New Guinea
/ref>

References

Archipelagoes of Papua New Guinea Islands of Milne Bay Province Louisiade Archipelago {{MilneBayProvince-geo-stub