Yule Island
  Yule Island Location of Yule Island in Papua New Guinea | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 8°49′S 146°32′E / 8.817°S 146.533°ECoordinates: 8°49′S 146°32′E / 8.817°S 146.533°E |
| Administration | |
| Province | Central Province |
Yule Island is a small island in Central Province, Papua New Guinea. It lies 160 km from Port Moresby.[1]
History
Yule Island was probably named after Charles Bampfield Yule, a Royal Navy officer who surveyed the area from 1842-1845.[2] It was one of the first areas in Central Province to have contact with Europeans. Catholic missionaries settled there in 1885 and are still present.[1] The mission was successfully led from 1900 to 1945 by Bishop Alain Marie de Boismenu.[3]
With the European missionaries came catechists from the Philippines, some of which married into the local population. Today, many inhabitants of Yule Island have distinct Filipino features.[4]
The visit of Australian poet James McAuley to the mission at Yule Island in 1949 made a profound spiritual impression on him and contributed to his conversion to Catholicism.[5]
Fauna
Yule Island is surrounded by coral reefs.[1]
Several spider species are endemic to this island, including:[6]
- The jumping spider species Salticus perogaster and Plexippus brachypus
- Heteropoda cyanognatha and Pandercetes longipes (Sparassidae)
- Misumena arrogans and Stephanopis yulensis (Thomisidae)
The Early Pliocene Echinodermata fauna is rich and diverse, with 19 species known to occur in the Kairuku Formation. Nearly half of these species are also represented in northern Australia stocks, with the northern Great Barrier Reef only 600 km away.[7]
Footnotes
- 1 2 3 Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority
- ↑ Quanchi, Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands, page 251
- ↑ R. Tamamai, Yule Island's pioneer Bishop de Boismenu on the path to sainthood, PNG Attitude, 26 Apr 2014.
- ↑ Hernandez
- ↑ C. Pybus, The Devil and James McAuley (University of Queensland Press, 1999), p. 100; J. McAuley, My New Guinea, Quadrant 5(3) (Winter 1961.
- ↑ World Spider Catalog
- ↑ nomen nudum 28: report 2001-2002 Archived September 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
References
- Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority: Central Province
- Platnick, Norman I.(2007): The world spider catalog, version 8.0. American Museum of Natural History.
- Hernandez, Alfredo P. (2006): Invading Papua New Guinea, Pinoy Style
Further reading
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yule Island. |
- Lindley, I. David (2003): Echinoids of the Kairuku Formation (Lower Pliocene), Yule Island, Papua New Guinea: Clypeasteroida. Regularia. Spatangoida. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 124: 125-162.
- Lindley, I. David (2004): The Yule Island fauna and the origin of tropical northern Australian echinoid (Echinodermata) faunas. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 125: 97-109.