Rendova Island
Encyclopedia
New Georgia Islands
The New Georgia Islands are part of the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. They are located to the northwest of Guadalcanal. The larger islands are mountainous and covered in rain forest. The main islands are New Georgia, Vella Lavella, Kolombangara , Ghizo, Vangunu, Rendova and Tetepare...
of Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
in the South Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, east of Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
. There are two indigenous languages spoken on Rendova Island: the Austronesian
Austronesian languages
The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...
language Ughele
Ughele language
Ughele is an Oceanic language spoken by about 1200 people on Rendova Island, Solomon Islands....
in the north, and the Papuan
East Papuan languages
*Baining family*North Bougainville family — Bougainville*South Bougainville family — Bougainville*Central Solomon family...
language Touo
Touo language
-External links:*...
in the south.
The black-sand beaches along the South-West coast of Rendova are an important nesting ground for the critically endangered leatherback turtle . Community-based conservation
Community-based conservation
Community-based conservation is a res conservation movements that emerged in the 1980s through escalating protests and subsequent dialogue with local communities affected by international attempts to protect the biodiversity of the earth. Older conservation movements disregarded the interests of...
organisation the Tetepare Descendants' Association runs a leatherback conservation program in the villages of Baniata, Havilla and Retavo on this coastline.
Rendova is the setting for the humorous book Solomon Time
Solomon Time
Solomon Time is a 2002 travel book by English writer Will Randall, subtitled Adventures in the South Pacific.The book is based on the memoirs of the author with an ironic sense of humour who emigrated to the South Pacific Islands from England, quoting "If you're not married by the age of 32, you...
by Will Randall, about a British school teacher who moves to a village on Rendova to help organise a community project.
World War Two
In 1943, the US Allies' major base for PT boatPT boat
PT Boats were a variety of motor torpedo boat , a small, fast vessel used by the United States Navy in World War II to attack larger surface ships. The PT boat squadrons were nicknamed "the mosquito fleet". The Japanese called them "Devil Boats".The original pre–World War I torpedo boats were...
s was in Rendova. Solomon Islanders Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana
Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana
Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana were indigenous people of Solomon Islands, of native Melanesian descent, who found John F. Kennedy and his surviving PT-109 crew following the boat's collision with the Japanese destroyer Amagiri near Plum Pudding Island on 1 August 1943...
paddled their dugout canoe 35 miles (60 km) to reach the base and deliver a message inscribed on a coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
from then-Lieutenant (junior grade) John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
after his PT boat, PT 109, was run down by the Japanese destroyer IJNS Amagiri and he and his crew were stranded on one of the local islands.