Basilaki Island

Basilaki Island

Nickname: Moresby Island
Louisiade Archipelago, Basilaki on the top left.
Basilaki Island Location within Papua New Guinea
Geography
Location	Oceania
Coordinates	10°37′19″S 151°00′55″E / 10.62194°S 151.01528°E / -10.62194; 151.01528Coordinates: 10°37′19″S 151°00′55″E / 10.62194°S 151.01528°E / -10.62194; 151.01528
Archipelago	Louisiade Archipelago
Adjacent bodies of water	Solomon Sea
Total islands	1
Major islands	Basilaki
Area	106 km2 (41 sq mi)
Length	17 km (10.6 mi)
Width	10 km (6 mi)
Coastline	87.6 km (54.43 mi)
Highest elevation	531 m (1,742 ft)
Highest point	Mount Kova Sina
Administration
Papua New Guinea
Province	Milne Bay
Island Group	Samarai Islands
Island Group	Basilaki Islands
Ward	Split
Largest settlement	Yokowa (population 300)
Demographics
Demonym	Papuan people
Population	1883 (2014)
Pop. density	18 /km2 (47 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups	Papauans, Austronesians, Melanesians.
Additional information
Time zone	AEST (UTC+10)
Official website	www.ncdc.gov.pg
ISO Code = PG-MBA

Basilaki Island (Moresby Island) is an island in the Louisiade Archipelago in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. It is located at the eastern end of the New Guinea mainland.

First recorded sighting by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of Luís Vaez de Torres on 18 July 1606, that charted it as San Buenaventura (after Saint Bonaventure).

A party of French naturalists was believed to have been murdered in James Bay in October 1880.

This island was the scene of the murder of 2 sailors by natives in Hoopiron Bay, July 28, 1885. The men were Captain John Friar and John Watkins, a carpenter of the Lallah Rook, a schooner registered in Saint John, New Brunswick. The vessel anchored in the bay to take on fresh water. After the murders, the crew sailed away.

The murders were revenge taken for two unpaid-for deaths of natives in Friar's employ. Despite a two-day search of the island on October 16, by the crews of the Governor Blackall, and HMS Diamond and HMS Raven (1882), the murderers were not found, although the skulls of Friar and the carpenter were recovered and given a burial at sea. Later the Diamond returned and burned all the villages nearby.

3 planes were ditched off the island in 1943, a P-38H Lightning, a P-38F Lightning, and a B-24D Liberator "The Leila Belle" (MIA).

The island is part of the following Wards:

All Wards belong to Bwanabwana Rural Local Level Government Area LLG, Samarai-Murua District, which are in Milne Bay Province.