Manus Island

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Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands and the 5th largest island in PNG, measuring around 100kms x 30kms. It is covered in rugged jungles, which can be broadly described as lowland tropical rain forest.

Manus Island has a highest point of 700 metres above sea level. It is volcanic in origin and probably broke through the ocean's surface in the late Miocene, 8-10 million years ago. The substrate of the island is either directly volcanic or from uplifted coral limestone.

Manus Island has a population of approximately 33,000. The capital of Manus Province, Lorengau is located here.

Momote Airport, the terminal for Manus, is located on nearby Los Negros Island. A bridge connects Los Negros to Manus and the main town of Lorengau.

[edit] History

In 1942, Japan established a military base on Manus. This was attacked by United States forces in the Admiralty Islands campaign of February-March 1944. An Allied naval base was established on the island and it later supported the British Pacific Fleet.

Takuma Nishimura Trial

After the end of World War II, General Takuma Nishimura who was was tried by a British military court in relation to the Sook Ching massacre in Singapore sand sentenced to life imprisonment. He was taken to Manus Island from Hong Kong (he was intercepted by Australia Military Police personnel while on a stopover in Hong Kong). Nishimura faced an Australian military court on Manus Island.. Evidence was presented stating that Nishimura had ordered the shootings of wounded Australian and Indian soldiers at Parit Sulong and the disposal of bodies so that here is no trace of evidence. In this trial he was found guilty and was hanged on 11 June 1951.

American anthropologist Margaret Mead lived on Manus before and after the war of which she gives a detailed the account in the book Growing up in New Guinea.

A detention centre was built on Manus Island in 2001 as part of Australia's Pacific Solution. The last inmate was Aladdin Sisalem, who was kept in solitary confinement from July 2003, until he was finally granted asylum in Australia in June 2004.