Baluan
Baluan | ||
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Aerial view of Baluan and offshore islands. | ||
Waters | Bismarcksee | |
Archipelago | Admiralty Islands | |
Geographical location | 2 ° 33 '30 " S , 147 ° 17' 2" E | |
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length | 5.5 km | |
width | 3.9 km | |
surface | 17 km² | |
Highest elevation | Baluan volcano 246 m |
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Residents | 300 (1981) 18 inhabitants / km² |
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main place | Mok (Mouk) | |
Map section of the Bismarck Archipelago, Baluan in the south |
Baluan , formerly St. Patrick Island , is the southernmost island of the Admiralty Islands , around 50 km southwest of the main island of Manus . Administratively, the island belongs to the Manus Province in Papua New Guinea. The island, surrounded by a coral reef and overgrown with tropical rainforest, is the remnant of the extinct volcano of the same name .
The few villages on the island are along the north coast. The main town is Mok (Mouk). The inhabitants of the island, which is counted among the " Garden Islands of Manus ", live from agriculture, which is favored by the fertile volcanic soil, from fishing and the sale of carvings, which are characterized by bird motifs typical for the island.
The most famous inhabitant of Baluan is Sir Paliau Moloat (1893-1991), who was elected to the parliament of Papua New Guinea in 1964 as the first for the Manus Province.