BROTHER LEO SAILS TO ISLAND OF NEW CALEDONIA

Sailing from Fiji to New Caledonia, we left a former English colony to visit a former French colony. Captain James Cook first discovered present day New Caledonia in 1774. The islands so reminded him of his native Scottish highlands that he named the islands New Caledonia. Caledonia was the name the Romans gave to Scotland.
How then did it become a French colony? The early 13th century was a time of territorial expansion. The British were very focused on Australia and New Zealand. Crafty Napoleon III gauged events correctly. He simply “ordered” the annexation of New Caledonia to the French overseas empire. The British chose not to contest the annexation. Napoleon decided to establish a penal colony in New Caledonia in 1853. Remember, the French also had a penal colony, Devil's Island, off the coast of South America (French Guyana). The British were later in 1877 to establish a penal colony in New South Wales, the original name for Australia. Because it was officially a penal colony, New Caledonia was under French military rule from 1853 to 1884.
Between 1864-1877, some 20,000 convicts were expelled from France to the island. No more than 7,000 were there at any one time. Later some 3,300 political prisoners were exiled to New Caledonia. They were send to Isles de Pines, one of the four small islands in the New Caledonia group. These prisoners were mostly intellectuals, rather than criminals. Their presence considerably uplifted the tone of the penal colony. Of the 21,630 recorded prisoners, over 1000 remained after granted freedom and exercised claims for land grants. Much of the early construction of the present city of Noumia, formerly Port de France, was done by convicts, especially the military installations, barracks (caseme),the hospital, and St. Joseph's Cathedral. The Cathedral was constructed on the top of the highest hill overlooking the harbor of Nubia.
Leaving Fiji for New Caledonia, we were also leaving Polynesia for Melanesia. The Pacific is divided into Micronesia “micro” for small islands, Polynesia (brown skinned peoples of white, Mongolian and Melanesian mix) and Melanesia (“islands of black people”). Many service personnel from Allamakee County served in one or more of these sectors of the Pacific. In the summer of 1946, immediately after the war, I participated in the atomic bomb experiments at Bikini. It was there in Micronesia that one day on a small recreation island that I met Ozzie Quandal. We met only once and then, as it were, “our ships passed in the night.”
Today we have a series of independent nations in those areas of the Pacific. There is the Republic of the Marshall Islands with its capital at Majuro; the Republic of Micronesia covering all of the Caroline Islands except Palau which is the Republic of Palau with its capital at Koror. The capital of Micronesia is at Palikir, Pohnpei Island. There is also the Commonwealth of the North Marianas with the capital in Saipan. Two other smaller Republics also exist in these waters: Republic of Kiribati with Tarawa as its capital and the Republic of Nauru with Nauru city, its capital. Some of these names will bring back memories, especially to sailors who brought their ships into these waters before and after major Pacific sea battles, often as supply and support ships.
The languages of Micronesia, Polynesia, Melanesia and Indonesia all belong to the same linguistic family, the Auestronesian, which reflect the early explorations, migrations, assimilation, tribal integration and intermarriage.
New Caledonia is no dot in the Pacific like Easter Island, Pitcairn, or Bora Bora. After the Solomon Islands of New Guinea, North and South New Zealand, Tasmania and Great Britain, New Caledonia is the sixth largest island in the world. New Caledonia is a cigar shaped island the size of the state of Massachusetts, divided by a chain of mountains the length of the main island, called Grand Terre. The locals call the island Le Roche (the rock).
The mountains, in effect, create two distinct islands. The west coast is dry; the east coast is tropical. New Caledonia has dense forests, green hills and bold mountains. Mt. Panic (5,341 ft.) and Mt. Humbolt (5,308 ft.) dominate the south island. Country government is divided into three provinces: North, South Islands and the Loyalty Islands. Loyalty Islands were discovered and named by Captain Cook but reverted to the French in the annexation.
New Caledonia is called the Island of Eternal Spring, the Island Closest to Paradise, or the Paris of the Pacific. New Caledonia is famous for containing the world's second largest coral reef, extending 1600 km., and totally embracing the main island, thus creating the world's largest lagoon. Only the Great Barrier Reef of Australia is larger. The lagoon is so extensive that it is colonized by micro-lagoons, sand beaches, vegetation and accessible points for anchorage.
Today, New Caledonia has a population of 200,000 with 80,000 living in the cosmopolitan city of Noumea, the capital since 1860. Seventy percent of all the islanders live in towns or cities, making this country the most urbanized in all the Pacific. The people are 45% Melanesian (Kanak Tribe) and 34% European, primarily French. Forty percent of the population are under age 20. While French is the official language, Melanesians speak 30 dialects. English was widely spoken as well. Noumea is a city of parks and boulevards with streets arranged in rectangles. It is a city of French restaurants, chic boutiques and shops specializing only in French cheeses and wines. Mary and Laurence Rockerfeller visiting the island noted that “Today the odor of Gallic cooking mingles with the smell of freshly poured concrete.” (National Geographic, Dec, 1974, p. 787).
What was true is 1974 is even more apparent in 2000 - more restaurants and more and more construction!
Napoleon may have “ordered” the annexation of the islands, but his military had to contend with the locals. High Chief Afai of La Foa of the Kanak tribe attempted to organize the various tribes on the island into guerilla wars against the invaders. Another jealous chief betrayed him. He was captured, beheaded and his head shipped to France for museum exhibit. After independence it was removed from exhibit - shades of Rev. Baker's skull in the Fiji Museum.
The troops seized the land, sold 10% to French settlers, created “indigenous French reservations” and confined the Kanaka to 150 small villages. In addition, the islands were opened to mining and cattle raising. Village chiefs were subject to a resident gendarme. Kanaks were heavily taxed and then forced to work as cheap laborers for the settlers (colons) to pay off the taxes. The forced changes in the lifestyle of the natives so disrupted their society that the Kanak population declined from 42,000 (1887) to 21,000 (1921), After 1939, the Kanak population increased. In 1946 they were granted French citizenship and in 1951 given the right to vote.
New Caledonia is rich in minerals. Nickel was discovered in 1864; copper in 1872 and cobalt in 1875. After Canada and Russia, New Caledonia has the richest deposit of nickel anywhere else, constituting 20% of the world's nickel. Ninety percent of the island's revenue comes from the export of nickel. The Societe le Nickel arrived in 1876. New richness came in the '70's when prices and the demand for nickel rose sharply. The raw wounds of strip mining have defaced the nickel-rich mountains of the country. Silt flows down the river to pollute coastal waters. Only recently has the company embarked on a concerted clean up program.
Another controversial French initiative has been atmospheric nuclear tests and, later, underground atomic testing at Mururua Atoll. The atoll lies beyond Tahiti and New Caledonia, but both suffer ecological fallout. There has been world reaction to these tests. The French government has since moderated the testing, but much environmental damage has been recorded.
I wonder how many service personnel from Allamakee County may have stopped or been stationed in New Caledonia? Over two million military and naval personnel, whether American, Australian, New Zealand, British or Canadian, passed through New Caledonia in connection with naval engagements in the Coral Sea, Guadalcanal, and the Solomon Islands. On June 1, 1940 when France fell, the Consul General of the island voted unanimously to support the Free French and expelled the Pro-Vichy governor to Indonesia. The island became an Allied base in 1942. The U.S. navy fleet for the Battle of the Coral Sea was based in Noumea. There are monuments and gun placements at strategic locations to acknowledge the contributions of combined Allied efforts. Admiral “Bull” Halsey directed the Solomon Island campaign from nearby Anse Vata.
Our visit to Noumea and the countryside was most pleasant and satisfying. Tahiti has a profusion of flowers; Bora Bora, its lagoon; Fiji, its colonial structures and friendly people. New Caledonia had “all the above.” Up the street from our docking berth was the Place des Cucotiurs (city park) with a monumental fountain (1882) which represented point zero for all the mileage measurements throughout the island. The city was compact; everything within a few blocks. We saw the Old and New Town Hall, passed the home of the Resident French Commissioner, passed the military barracks, the hospital, saw the New Congress Hall, the Protestant Church and eventually climbed the many and steep steps to St. Joseph Cathedral.
Those of us who chose to tour the island first visited the enchanting Aquarium de Noumea. Just as two thirds of the island vegetation is unique to the county, 1000 species of fish are unique to the coral reef, the lagoons and the seawater around the island. Stopping by the Aquarium was a rare visit to the sea life we would otherwise have missed.
Our trip into the countryside took on the character of a partial pilgrimage. We visited Commune Mont Dore (Gold Mountain) and then Commune La Conception to visit La Conception convent complex and church. The feature of the church was the rare French stain glass windows depicting the history of early missionary arrival: departing France, sea voyage, beseeching the Virgin for protection, the ships in distress, the arrival at Bourail on the other side of the island, Thanksgiving liturgy and then the first mission.
The next stop was a visit to the oldest church on the island, founded in 1859 (two years after St. Patrick's in Waukon was founded). Not surprising, the church was the Church of St. Louis of France, originally founded in connection with a trade and agriculture school. Native art enhanced the simplicity of this old structure. Nearby were abandoned banana plantations. A banana disease wiped out all banana plantings and future banana production was forbidden until the source of the problem could be discovered.
It was fascinating to view the countryside, to observe the agriculture, cattle raising and new industrial parks as we approach the cities. Then our guide made an honest mistake. Older people do need a comfort stop and one was scheduled for 15 minutes. You can guess what happened. The bus stopped at a shopping mall. The group went ballistic - completely out of control, buying liquor, soft drinks by the case, food as if nothing would ever again be served on the ship. People disappeared into shops without any regard to time. It took over an hour to corral some of our shipmates. Some people were annoyed and angry, but the offenders were quite indifferent and insensitive. No apologies. Such is the penalty of group travel.
Our afternoon was free for private visits. Mine included the post office. It was amazing on this trip how hard it was to visit post offices to send mail. Hours and locations were rarely customer friendly. I wonder how foreign tourists find the situation in the U.S.?
My afternoon included a detailed visit to the Cathedral for the Archdiocese of Noumea. A statute of Joan d'Arc dominated the churchyard. The interior was Gothic with chapter stalls, heavy polished dark wood, large stain glass windows of deep shades of color and the size of the large windows at St. Patrick's.
The London Missionary Society arrived here in 1841. French Catholic missionaries arrived in 1843, but native hostility and British protests forced them to leave in 1847. They returned in the 1850's to successful evangelize. Today 60% of the population are Roman Catholics, 30% are Protestant and 10% includes other religions, encompassing today’s 4% of Muslims.
My return to ship included window shopping at several galleries, but I did give in to a vendor of souvenir items who would accept my last 500 CPF (50 cents) and my credit card. Visa was accepted in most countries, but generally only in upscale shops and often with a purchase minimum.
This area of the world in Catholic ecclesiastical terms is Oceania. The first Papal Nuncio (the Pope's representative to nations without diplomatic relations with Vatican State) was Archbishop Raymond Eddeldorf of Ossian. A priest of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, he is buried in the crypt at St. Raphael's Cathedral in Dubuque. I was his guest in Rome for his Ordination as Bishop by Pope Paul V1 (January 6, 1969). His brother once farmed the Roger Ryan farm in Union Prairie, which my father John J. Ryan farmed until the year I was born when he joined T.F. O'Brien and Co, a firm founded by my maternal grandfather. Later the Ryan Homestead was purchased by Leonard Stortz and is still farmed by his sons.
Last year the Pope held a Synod of the Bishops of Oceania. There is a report circulating in Rome that he hopes, health permitting, to travel to New Caledonia to present the conclusions of the Synod and his recommendations the Easter week of 2001.
As was the custom, local entertainers present a program of local music for us before our evening sailing. The young men and women of New Caledonia gave us a colorful, talented and enthusiastic rendition of native songs and dance. They and we departed with happy memories of “The Island Closest to Paradise.”