Erromango

Erromango is the largest island in Tafea Province, one of the six provinces and the southernmost province of the Republic of Vanuatu. It lies in between Australia and Fiji island, but more closer to Fiji. It was formerly known as Martyr's Island by the Presbyterian missionaries in the 19th century, because of the risk attached to missionary activity there. John Williams of the London Missionary Society was killed and eaten at Dillon Bay in 1839. Seven of his ten children died during his mission works in the South Pacific Ocean. The descendants of John Williams later accepted the apologies of the descendants of the killers and Dillon Bay was renamed Williams Bay to commemorate him.

Erromango was known as a source of sandalwood in the 19th century, and much of it was depleted. It is also home to the kauri and tamanu trees. There has been extensive logging, but most of the area is recovering, and efforts are underway to try to make the industry sustainable. Erromango was one of the more important sources of blackbirding. Blackbirding refers to hiring natives by threat, kidnapping, cajoles or lies. It was rampant in the Polynesian islands in the 19th century. The blackbirded laborers were often driven to backbreaking works in mines and plantations at extremely low wages. At one time the population of Erromango exceeded 10,000. Today, it is approximately 1500.

The Vanuatu group of islands was discovered by Europeans in 1606 when the Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, working for the Spanish Crown, arrived on Espiritu Santo and called it La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo or "The Southern Land of the Holy Spirit," thinking he had arrived in Terra Australis or Australia. Europeans did not return until 1768, when Louis Antoine de Bougainville rediscovered the islands. In 1774, Captain Cook named the islands the New Hebrides, a name that lasted until independence. The current population of the Republic of Vanuatu is about 222,000.

So why am I interested in Erromango?
Because of John Williams, the missionary. He became a missionary at the age of twenty. He arrived on an island in the South Pacific Ocean, and energetically worked to proselyte the natives to Christianity. Often he had conflicts with the London Missionary Society, the mission foundation that sent him and supported his mission, because he acquired a ship in an effort to reach out to the people living in other islands in the ocean. That endeavor irked the mission foundation, which was not willing to accept such creative mission activities. Despite the objections, he continued his mission, raising funds to acquire even bigger ships. His efforts paid off and he could reach hundreds of islands and convert many islanders before he was killed at Erromango.

At the time western missionaries, commercial traders, slave traders and immigrants were arriving at the Pacific islands, many natives in the islands were carnivorous. The islanders were sexually immoral as they had no tradition of such civilized society's norms. They had a custom of killing babies when they were born as twins, were devil worshipers, practiced sorcery, and caught in evil spirits. Such primitive practices were also found in Africa, South and Central America, and the islands in other oceans, such as Irian Jaya, today's New Guinea. The greater evils, of course, were committed by the slave traders, the blackbirders, the Spanish Conquestados, and many western merchants and traders.

The moral standard of Erromango was improved with the continued arrival of the western religion and culture, which greatly influenced the islanders. Trades and other commercial activities also transformed the islanders - their traditions, culture and belief system. Now a days, we see little trace of them in the island. The people are Christians, share values of the Christian faith, and take modern education. In 1839, John Williams was killed and eaten up by the people in the island. Today, no man eats another man in the island. Thanks to the influx of the higher culture, the people in Erromango now live like God's creation.