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Hikueru
is one of the Central Tuamotu atolls. It was discovered by
Bougainville in 1768, and is situated 17°35' south and 142°39'
west. It is oval in shape and 15 km long.
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Like
Marokau, Hikueru used to be a large natural pearl oyster
reserve. The 1903 cyclone wrought considerable damage,
however, and caused the death of 377 people, including 261
from the island of Hao. In his "South Sea
Tales", Jack London gives a vivid description of this
disastrous hurricane. |
In
the 1988 census, only 123 inhabitants were found to be still
living on Hikueru.
The
population of this island makes a living by collecting copra. Up
to the 1970's, it was one of the main deep-sea diving centres in the Tuamotu atolls.
From :
Ministère
des Archipels (1998), Les Tuamotu Gambier : recueil de données
essentielles, décembre 1998, Service de l'administration
et du développement des archipels, PAPEETE.
Norman&Ngaire,
Douglas (1994), Pacific Islands Yearbook,
17° édition, Fiji Times Ltd, 767p. |
Atoll_site_