Wagina Island

Wagina Island

Wagina Island
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	7°26′S 157°46′E
Archipelago	Solomon Islands
Area	110 km2 (42 sq mi)
Highest elevation	42 m (138 ft)
Administration
Solomon Islands
Demographics
Population	1636 (2009)

Wagina Island (also Wiginna Island locally known as Vaghena Island) is a small island in the country of Solomon Islands. The easiest way to reach Wagina is by plane to Kaghau Airport, Choiseul Province, from Honiara (currently twice a week). From Kagau it takes about 45 – 60 minutes by outboard motor canoe to Wagina.

Population

There are three villages in Wagina: Kukutin, Arariki and Nikumaroro. The inhabitants of this island are ethnic I-Kiribati (Micronesians), who were relocated to the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from the islands of Orona (Hull Island) and Nikumaroro (Gardener Island) in the 1950s. This was subsequent to them having been settled on these previously uninhabited islands in the Phoenix Islands from various islands in the Gilberts archipelago in the 1930s. The original resettlement in the 1930s was on alleged grounds of overcrowding, particularly on drought-prone islands in the southern Gilberts. The second resettlement was on alleged grounds of the islands in the Phoenix group having harsh living conditions and also being prone to drought, although remoteness and costs falling on the colonial administration also played parts.

References

Reference bibliography

• Cochrane, G. (1970). "The Administration of Wagina Resettlement Scheme". Human Organization. 29 (2): 123–132. doi:10.17730/humo.29.2.q07m95236n7q28h4.
• Hydrographic Office (July 1944). Solomon islands, Bismarck archipelago and islands off the southeastern end of New Guinea (2nd ed.). United States Navy. hdl:2027/uc1.d0001058742.
• Knudson, K.E. (1977). "Sydney Island, Titiana, and Kamaleai: Southern Gilbertese in the Phoenix and Solomon Islands". In Lieber, M.D. (ed.). Exiles and migrants in Oceania. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. pp. 195–242.
• Maude, H. E. (1952). "The colonisation of the Phoenix Islands". Journal of the Polynesian Society. 61 (1–2): 62–89.