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Sikaiana (formerly called the Stewart Islands) is a small atoll NE of Malaita in Solomon Islands in the south Pacific Ocean. It is almost in length and its lagoon, known as Te Moana, is totally enclosed by the coral reef. Its total land surface is only . There is no safe anchorage close to this atoll, which makes it often inaccessible to outsiders.
A 1998 GAO report stated:
In 1893, the United Kingdom established the British Solomon Islands Protectorate over most of what is now Solomon Islands excluding Sikaiana. This was done to further British colonial interests in the region and to regulate the practice of "blackbirding", the labour recruitment of Solomon Islanders to work on labour plantations in the then-colony of Queensland, later the state of Queensland. On 21 June 1897 this protectorate was extended to include Sikaiana, Rennell, and Bellona Islands.National Archives Doc ref. DO 118/94 Description: BRITISH SOLOMON ISLANDS PROTECTORATE (STEWART ATOLL) Proclamation declaring a protectorate over Stewart Atoll Sikaiana
Sikaiana is part of the Anglican Church of Melanesia Diocese of Southern Malaita and Sikaiana, and the majority of its inhabitants are Anglicans.
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