Travelbeat Inside Information Update: November 28, 2007 NO MYSTERY ABOUT ISLAND’S SPIRIT by David Ellis It’s got no electricity, no running water, no road, no telephones and nobody even lives there, yet those who find themselves on this remote South Pacific outpost recently voted it their“favourite port of call.” But ask them when they return home from a cruising sojourn just where on the map it was that took their hearts, most won’t have a clue. That’s because to cartographers this touch of paradise is on their maps as a tiny speck called Inyeug amidst the 80-odd islands that make up Vanuatu – while to cruise companies it’s on theirs as Mystery Island. And its history is as colourful as how Inyeug came to become known as Mystery Island. Go back over 160-years to when a South Seas trader and blackbirder, Captain James Paddon found precious sandalwood trees, and strong village men, on the island of Aneityum in the deep south of what is now Vanuatu. And coincidentally, at the same time a Canadian fire-and-brimstone Presbyterian missionary, the Reverend John Geddie was coercing his flock to finance a voyage to these very same far-flung islands to save the souls of the heathens who lived there. It was inevitable that when the blackbirder and the missionary eventually confronted each other, fireworks would ensure. But such encounters were brief and short-lived, as Paddon had already taken the most precious sandalwood, shipped off the more able-bodied men of Aneityum to work the bourgeoning sugarcane fields of Queensland, and was planning on heading off himself to trade in greener pastures in New Caledonia. All that remains of the once-biggest church in the South Pacific. This left Aneityum to the Missionary Geddie to fiercely preach the word of the Good Book and build the largest church for its time in the South Pacific, a vast stone edifice with over 1000 seats for nearly a third of Aneityum’s entire population. But while believing they were ‘saving’ the people of the island, Geddie and his missionaries, as had Paddon and his workers earlier, brought with them western diseases for which the isolated islanders had no resistance, and within years Aneityum’s population was tragically decimated from nearly 4,000 to just 500. And when he himself fell ill and died in Australia in 1872 while seeking treatment there, Geddie’s church succumbed to indifference and an 1875 tsunami. And interestingly Aneityum’s little off-shore neighbour, Inyeug Island continued to remain uninhabited: its owners eschewed Inyeug believing it inhabited by spirits, so Paddon bought it for a song to build a mansion there from which he would rule his South Seas empire, until New Caledonia’s riches looked more alluring. Fast forward now to the 1980s when the migrant-ship-cum-cruise-liner Fairstar began taking adventurous holidaying Australians into the South Pacific. Her Captain, Luigi Nappa was captivated by little Inyeug - just a mere kilometre long and half as wide - and often tried to get his passengers ashore on what he could see was a spectacular white sand beach. But most attempts were thwarted by the unpredictable swell, with the ship’s cumbersome lifeboats unable to get safely through the surf to the beach. At the same time, Nappa and his PR man, the legendary Ron Connelly were pondering “a more romantic, more South Pacific name” for Inyeug. One day the irrepressible Connelly said ... “Well, it’s always on the itinerary, but whether we actually get ashore there or not is always a mystery – so why not call it Mystery Island?” Nappa loved the idea, and so it’s been to this day. And with better facilities, P&O’s Pacific Sun, Pacific Star and soon Pacific Dawn, land passengers ashore for a day’s swimming, walking 15-minutes around the uninhabited island, and buying shells, carvings, necklaces and fresh fruits from the neighbouring Aneityum islanders who paddle across in their canoes on ‘ship days.’ If they’ve time passengers can also negotiate a canoe trip across to Aneityum to see the remains of the Reverend Geddie’s once-famous church; a memorial on the site reads: When he landed in 1848 there were no Christians here; when he left in 1872 there were no heathens. In all, P&O will make twenty-five visits to Mystery Island in 2008, landing around 45,000 visitors. (David Ellis Asosciates)(Photos: Vanuatu Discovery Tours) Back to Front Page