.JPG)
Aua is an island in theBismarck Archipelago. It is part of theWestern Islands withinManus Province of northernPapua New Guinea. It forms part of the Aua-Wuvulu Rural LLG.[1]
The first sighting of Wuvulu Island by a European was by the Spanish navigatorIñigo Órtiz de Retes on 27 July 1545, while on board thecarrackSan Juan and returning fromTidore toNew Spain. He charted this island together with the nearby islands,Aua and Manu, asLa Barbada (meaning "the bearded island" in Spanish).[2][3]The first written reference to Aua occurs as a brief reference to their discovery by de Retes in the chronicle of A. de Herrera, published in Madrid in 1615.[4] On 19 September 1767,Philip Carteret, the British navigator sailing inHMSSwallow, sighted Aua, and named her Durour, after one of his ship's officers.[4] A trading station was established on Aua in 1903, by two young Germans with twelve New Guineans fromNew Ireland andBuka Island. While one of the Germans was off the island with malaria, the inhabitants killed the other. The group responsible for his death then left the island to escape retribution, but many were killed in a storm.[4]
Aua is a flat low-lying island, about two miles across from east to west, with a total area of 3,380 acres. Its palm-fringed shore is surrounded by coral reefs, which rise out of deep water.[4] Its circumference is 10.256 km.[5]
The genetic makeup of the island is especially diverse when contrasted against the surrounding islands in the Bismark Archipelago, the inhabitants descend from various stocks ofPapuan,Melanesian,Polynesian, andMicronesian peoples.[4] In 1950 theSydney Morning Herald described the island as being the "strangest community in the world", noting that the people practiced bothpolygamy andpolyandry, and the women are not allowed to do any work.[6] There is one primary school with 40 students and just one teacher.[7][8]
Aua has a grass airstrip with theIATA code of AUI.[9]
1°27′45″S143°03′35″E / 1.46250°S 143.05972°E /-1.46250; 143.05972
Islands ofPapua New Guinea | |
|---|---|
| Bismarck Archipelago | |
| Louisiade Archipelago | |
| North Solomon Islands | |
