Rambutyo Island
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Rambutyo Island (or Rambutso Island) is one of the Admiralty Islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, located at 2°17′S 147°49′E / 2.283°S 147.817°E. Politically, Rambutyo Island is part of Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. The population (unknown) is concentrated on the west coast.
Geography
Rambutyo Island is an island of 88km2 located 50 km SE of Manus Island, part of the Hornos Island Group. It is roughly triangular in shape with a base 16 km in diameter E-W. The centre of the island has a volcanic peak about 230 m high. Offshore lie important reef complexes.
The island was surveyed in 1958 by the Royal Australian Survey Corps.[1]
History
The island has been populated for thousands of years by farmers and fisherfolk, with strong interchange with and movement between other islands in the chain.
Sago is the most important local food along with fishing, but rice was traded from the period of colonial rule.[2] Free diving for beche-de-mer or sea cucumber generates income.
European discovery of the island took place as part of the 1616 expedition by the Dutch navigators Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire, who "traversed Manus, Los Negros,Los Reyes, Pak, Naura, Rambutvo, Baluan, Sauwai, Lou, Tong other small islands".[3]
In 1885 the Admiralty Islands were declared a German Protectorate, administered by the New Guinea Company. German presence ended in 1914. They were governed by Australia until independence in 1975.
During World War II, the island was occupied by a small contingent of Japanese soldiers. On 3 April 1944, Allied forces led by the U.S. 12th Cavalry Regiment landed on Rambutyo. By 23 April, the forces were withdrawn for mop-up by the native police force.
The anthropologist Margaret Mead, who lived on Manus Island in 1928-29 and 1953, reported a "cargo-cult" movement began on Rambutyo after WWII, in which people destroyed all their possessions in expectation of a millennial coming. The "prophet" Wapi was killed when the spirits of the dead never materialized with the "white man's cargo".[4]
The island had copra plantations under private white ownership during the period of Australian rule. Lengendrowa plantation was bought in 1964 to form a cooperative, with 269 people moving from Mouk Island off Baluan [5]. Initial cooperative success was followed by financial collapse, and the plantation was later divided into blocks.
References
- ^ https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/115269 | Map in ANU repository (copyright expired)
- ^ Hide, R.L., Allen, B.J., Bourke, R.M., Fritsch, D., Grau, R., Helepet, J.L., Hobsbawn, P., Lyon, S., Poienou, M., Pondrilei, S., Pouru, K., Sem, G. and Tewi, B. (2002). Manus Province: Text Summaries, Maps, Code Lists and Village Identification. Agricultural Systems of Papua New Guinea Working Paper No. 18. Land Management Group, Department of Human Geography, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra. Revised edition.
- ^ Tanner, Vasco M. (1951). Pacific Islands Herpetology No. IV, Admiralty Islands. Great Basin Naturalist 11: 1 , Article 1. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol11/iss1/1
- ^ Mead, M. 1958. New lives for old; cultural transformation: Manus, 1928-1953. New York: Morrow.
- ^ Hide, R.L., Allen, B.J., Bourke, R.M., Fritsch, D., Grau, R., Helepet, J.L., Hobsbawn, P., Lyon, S., Poienou, M., Pondrilei, S., Pouru, K., Sem, G. and Tewi, B. (2002). Manus Province: Text Summaries, Maps, Code Lists and Village Identification. Agricultural Systems of Papua New Guinea Working Paper No. 18. Land Management Group, Department of Human Geography, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra. Revised edition.
Islands of Papua New Guinea | |
|---|---|
| Bismarck Archipelago | |
| Louisiade Archipelago | |
| North Solomon Islands | |
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