Goodenough Island in the
Solomon Sea, also known as Nidula Island, is the westernmost of the three large islands of the
D'Entrecasteaux Islands
D'Entrecasteaux Islands () are situated near the eastern tip of New Guinea in the Solomon Sea in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. The group spans a distance of , has a total land area of approximately and is separated from the Papua New G ...
in
Milne Bay
Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, south-eastern Papua New Guinea. More than long and over wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbor accessible via Ward Hunt Strait. It is surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range (Papu ...
Province of
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
. It lies to the east of mainland
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
and southwest of the
Trobriand Islands
The Trobriand Islands are a archipelago of coral atolls off the east coast of New Guinea. They are part of the nation of Papua New Guinea and are in Milne Bay Province. Most of the population of 60,000 (2016) indigenous inhabitants live on the m ...
. It is roughly circular in shape, measuring with an area of and a shoreline of . A coastal belt varying in width from is covered in grasslands and dissected by streams and coastal swamps. The island rises sharply to the summit of
Mount Vineuo, above sea level, making it one of the most
precipitous islands in the world. The small outlier
Wagifa Island lies to the south-east of the island, and is included within Goodenough's administration.
Climate and vegetation
Like much of New Guinea, the climate is tropical with high temperatures and humidity throughout the year. The northwest monsoon season lasts from December to March and brings sudden rain squalls. From May to October southeasterly winds are cooler and more gentle. Tropical cyclones are infrequent. Rainfall varies between 1,520 mm and 2,540 mm per annum. Serious droughts occur once or twice a decade. Rushing streams with waterfalls drain water from the central mountain. Rain forest cloaks the higher elevations with secondary forest, grassland and native gardens on the lower slopes and coastal plains. Soils are acidic.
A rare edible citrus plant, ''
Citrus wakonai'' (''
Citrus warburgiana''; locally called "kakamadu", a name shared with other citrus species),
grows on Goodenough Island.
History
The D'Entrecasteaux Islands have probably been inhabited for several thousand years, the people being related to mainland Papuans. The first sighting of the archipelago by a European was by the French mariner Joseph Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux in 1792 but it remained unexplored by Europeans until 1874 when Captain
John Moresby, commanding
HMS ''Basilisk'', landed on the westernmost island and gave it a European name after a British naval colleague, Commodore
James Graham Goodenough.
The impact of western culture after Moresby's visit and before World War II was limited to missionaries, ethnographers and traders seeking whales, pearls or gold. In 1888 William MacGregor visited the island in his role as administrator of the newly proclaimed British New Guinea. In 1891 the Methodist Church of Australia established a mission station on Dobu Island (between Ferguson and Normanby Islands) under the direction of William Bromilow. From there mission stations were established in strategic centres in the D'Entrecasteaux and Trobriand Islands and the
Louisiade Archipelago. In particular, in 1898 a mission station was established in Bwaidoga, Mud Bay, Goodenough Island. By that time traders had already created a regular demand for steel tools, cloth, and twist tobacco and the Dobu mission was recruiting natives to work in gold mines and
copra
Copra (from ; ; ; ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted ...
plantations. These activities, and indeed the farming and hunting activities of the traditional people, were confined to localised areas on the fringing plains of the island. The mountainous hinterland remained entirely unknown and unpopulated above 1,100 m.
World War II
On 25 August 1942, a Japanese convoy of seven motorised landing craft (MLC) with 353 marines of
5th Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force stopped to rest at the south end of Goodenough Island. They were led by Commander Tsukioka and were bound for
Taupota and participation in the
Battle of Milne Bay. They became stranded when their MLCs were destroyed by
No. 75 Squadron RAAF Kittyhawks.
On 22 October 1942 the Australian warships
HMAS ''Stuart'' and
HMAS ''Arunta'' disembarked 640 soldiers consisting of the Australian
2/12th Battalion, of the
18th Brigade from
Milne Bay
Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, south-eastern Papua New Guinea. More than long and over wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbor accessible via Ward Hunt Strait. It is surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range (Papu ...
.
They landed on both sides of the island's southern tip during the night. Intense fighting occurred during 23 October and during the night a successful rescue mission evacuated about 250 Japanese soldiers by submarine to
Fergusson Island
Fergusson Island is the largest island of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, in Papua New Guinea. It has an area of , and mostly consists of mountainous regions, covered by rain forests. There are three large volcanoes on the island.
Fergusson Island ...
, where they were taken by cruiser to
Rabaul
Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province ...
.
The remaining Japanese defenders were mopped up and the island declared secured by 27 October.
The occupation force remained on the island until 28 December 1942. During that time they used deception and camouflage to make the Japanese believe that a brigade sized force was occupying the island. They fabricated a 'ghost force' of dummy structures, including a hospital, anti-aircraft guns constructed of logs pointed at the sky, and barricades of jungle vines which looked like barbed wire. They also lit fires to appear as cooking fires for large numbers of soldiers, and sent messages consistent with what a brigade of soldiers would be expected to send.
During that time an American airfield engineer reported that a temporary airfield could be constructed for emergency use on the site of an existing mission airstrip on the northeastern plain near Vivigani. He also recommended that a permanent airstrip be constructed.
The Fifth Air Force directed the
RAAF
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the governor-general of Aus ...
's No. 9 Group to attack enemy bases in
New Britain
New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...
. To facilitate this, General Headquarters Operations Instructions No.31, dated 11 March 1943, set out that Goodenough Island, which was garrisoned by an Australian infantry battalion group with attached service groups and two Radar stations, was to be reinforced and prepared as an air force operating base with two landing strips, initially suitable for fighters, but with one being upgraded to handle heavy bombers. The fighter strip was available on 15 June. By the end of July, there were 3,614 RAAF personnel on the island. The bomber strip was completed on 20 October, although it is recorded that the first offensive use of the airfield was on 17 May by
Beauforts of
No. 100 Squadron RAAF.
As a part of
Operation Cartwheel
Operation Cartwheel (1943 – 1944) was a major military operation undertaken by the Allies in the Pacific theatre of World War II. The ultimate goal of Cartwheel was to neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul. The operation was di ...
, Vivigani Airfield became an important staging point for Australian and American operations in the
South West Pacific Area
South West Pacific Area (SWPA) was the name given to the Allied supreme military command in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. It was one of four major Allied commands in the Pacific War. SWPA included the Philippines, Borneo, the ...
, an objective of which was to attack Rabaul in New Britain, the stronghold of
Imperial Japanese
The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From 1910 to 19 ...
forces.
RAAF Units active on Goodenough Island
RAAF logistics units active on Goodenough Island
Culture
The four languages of Goodenough (
Bwaidoka,
Iduna,
Diodio, and Buduna or
Wataluma) belong to the Milne Bay Family of Austronesian languages. The dominant language, Bwaidoka, was adopted as a lingua franca by the Wesleyan (Methodist) Mission at the turn of the century. At the 2000 census the population was 20,814.
List of villages working clockwise around Goodenough Island starting at
Vivigani Airfield on the northeast coastal plain, as shown in Google Earth.
* Vivigani (this is not an actual village per se, although there are several in the vicinity of the airstrip)
* Bolubolu (the administrative centre)
* Mataita
*Faiava
* Wailagi (United Church mission station and 1–6 Elementary School)
* Wagifa
* Kilia
* Lauwela
* Auwale
* Debenefue
* Diodio
* Tatala
* Waibula
* Ufaufa
* Wataluma Mission and Plantation
* Ulutuya Mission
Protected area
The Oya Madawa Wildlife Management Area in the centre of the island has an area of . It provides a critical landscape function with a relatively high number of endemic, endangered and vulnerable species. The small
black dorcopsis (''Dorcopsis atrata''), the only
wallaby
A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized Macropodidae, macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same Taxonomy (biology), taxon ...
known to be endemic to a
Pacific island
The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...
, is endangered and needs careful management.
Another species, the
agile wallaby (''Macropus agilis''), was abundant but cannot be found today.
See also
*
Battle of Goodenough Island
*
List of volcanoes in Papua New Guinea
*
Goodenough Island Rural LLG
References
External links
*
*
*Jenness M.A. and Rev. A. Ballantyne. (1920) ''The Northern D'Entrecasteaux'', Oxford University Press.
Pacific Wrecks website
{{Authority control
D'Entrecasteaux Islands
Islands of Milne Bay Province
Volcanoes of Papua New Guinea
Goodenough family