Munda, Solomon Islands
Settlement
Munda Point Airfield in New Georgia seen from West - Central Solomons - 1943
Munda, Solomon Islands
Coordinates:8°19′37″S157°16′05″E / 8.327°S 157.26818°E /-8.327; 157.26818

Munda is the largest settlement on the island ofNew Georgia in theWestern Province ofSolomon Islands, and consists of a number of villages. It is located at the southwestern tip (calledMunda Point) of the western end of New Georgia, and the largeRoviana Lagoon is just offshore.

Munda Point was originally the site of acoconut plantation established by Englishman Norman Wheatley, and then owned by Australian Lesley Gill.

The Colonial Office had appointedCharles Morris Woodford as the Resident Commissioner in theSolomon Islands on 17 February 1897. He was directed to control thelabour trade operating in the Solomon Island waters and to stop the illegal trade in firearms.^[1]Arthur Mahaffy was appointed as the Deputy Commissioner to Woodford in January 1898.^[2] In January 1900, Mahaffy established a government station atGizo, as Woodford considered Mahaffy's military training as making him suitable for the role of suppressingheadhunting inNew Georgia and neighbouring islands.^[2][3] Mahaffy had a force of twenty-five police armed with rifles.^[4] The first target of this force was chief Ingava of the Roviana Lagoon who had been raidingChoiseul andIsabel and killing or enslaves hundreds of people.^[4]

Mahaffy and the police officers under his command carried out a violent and ruthless suppression of headhunting, with his actions having the support of Woodford and theWestern Pacific High Commission, who wanted to eradicate headhunting and complete a “pacification” of the western Solomon Islands.^[2] Mahaffy seized and destroyed large war canoes (tomokos). One of which was used to transport the police officers.^[4]

TheMethodist Mission in theWestern Province was established by Rev. John Frances Goldie in 1902. He dominated the mission and gained the loyalty of Solomon Islander members of his church.^[5] The relationship with the colonial administrators of the British Solomon Island Protectorate were also fraught with difficulty, at this time due to Goldie's effective control over the Western Solomon Islands.^[5] From 1927 to 1934Dr Edward Sayers worked at theMethodist mission where he established a hospital at Munda and also atGizo andVella Lavella, and carried out fieldwork in the treatment ofmalaria.^[6]

In November 1942, duringWorld War II, the town became strategically important afterJapanese forces built anairstrip (on the site of today'sMunda Airport) to support Japanese forces fighting theBattle of Guadalcanal. A Japanese convoy put into Munda Point on 24 November 1942, and started construction under careful concealment from the air by means of rows ofcoconut palms suspended by cable. The airstrip was discovered by American planes on 3 December, and the firstairstrikes were delivered byB-17 Flying Fortress bombers on 9 December. However, the Japanese were able to use Munda despite regular bombardment from both air and sea, and the Allies launchedOperation Cartwheel in order to drive the Japanese out of the Solomons and ultimately eliminate the large Japanese base atRabaul. TheNew Georgia Campaign was launched in late June, 1943 when mainly American but also Pacific Islander troops conducted theLandings on Rendova and several other amphibious operations throughout the New Georgia Group. The Allied forces spent July 1943 conducting theDrive on Munda Point, shelling and bombing Japanese forces in and around Munda Airfield, fighting off alarge Japanese counterattack, and eventually closing in on Munda overland, capturing it on 4–5 August during theBattle of Munda Point. The heavy fighting left thousands dead on both sides and many more wounded.

Boats are the main method of coastal and inter-island transport.

The airstrip from World War II was later converted intoMunda Airport and is used commercially for daily flights land fromHoniara,Seghe andGizo, including services onSolomon Airlines.^[7] In 2015, a New Zealand government aid and development project significantly upgraded the field to an international airport in order to serve as an alternate field for international flights toHoniara International Airport, significantly reducing the fuel load and improving the economics of the flight.[1]

Lambete, the largest village in Munda, today consists of a number of shops, a branch of the Bank of South Pacific (BSP), a post office, a telecommunications centre, a bakery, accommodations, the airstrip and a small port.

• Kasi Maru

8°19′41″S157°16′15″E / 8.32806°S 157.27083°E /-8.32806; 157.27083

• Populated places in the Solomon Islands
• Western Province (Solomon Islands)

• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages using infobox settlement with missing country
• Coordinates on Wikidata