Doom Island ( id, Pulau Doom or ''Pulau Dum'', pronounced "Dom") is a small island in

Southwest Papua Southwest Papua ( id, Papua Barat Daya) is a province of Indonesia, and is a fraction of Western New Guinea. Despite being named southwest, it is a misnomer and this province is actually located in the northwest edge of Papua. The area that belo ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It is administratively part of the city of

Sorong Sorong is the largest city and the capital of the Indonesian province of Southwest Papua. The city is located on the western tip of the island of New Guinea with its only land borders being with Sorong Regency. It is the gateway to Indonesia's ...

, specifically the

Sorong Islands Sorong is the largest city and the capital of the Indonesian province of Southwest Papua. The city is located on the western tip of the island of New Guinea with its only land borders being with Sorong Regency. It is the gateway to Indonesia's ...

District. The island served as an administrative center of

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

administration in Papua, and continued to become the core of Sorong for some time before the city developed across the strait on the mainland of Papua.

Geography and administration

The island is located around away from mainland

. It has a perimeter of around . The island is part of two administrative villages (''kelurahan''): West and East Doom. The two villages also include other small islands close to Sorong. As of mid 2021, the two villages have a combined population of 9,855.

History

Prior to European colonization, the island had been part of the

Sultanate of Tidore The Sultanate of Tidore (Indonesian: كسلطانن تيدوري, ''Kesultanan Tidore'', sometimes ''Kerajaan Tidore'') was a sultanate in Southeast Asia, centered on Tidore in the Maluku Islands (presently in North Maluku Province). It was also kn ...

. First appearing in Dutch records by 1863 through a study by

Heinrich Agathon Bernstein Heinrich Agathon Bernstein (22 September 1828 – 19 April 1865) was a German naturalist, zoologist and explorer from Breslau (Wrocław). Biography Early years Heinrich Agathon Bernstein was born on 22 September 1828 in Breslau (modern-day ...

, the island was

colonized Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

by the Dutch early in the establishment of Dutch East Indies presence in New Guinea, with a colonial post being officially established in 1906 and a

Minahasan The Minahasans (alternative spelling: Minahassa) are an ethnic group native to the North Sulawesi province of Indonesia, formerly known as North Celebes. The Minahasa people sometimes refer to themselves as Manado people. Although the Minahasan p ...

being appointed as the head. The island later served as an administrative post, with multiple office buildings, a prison, and a "pleasure building" being constructed on the island. A diesel-powered electrical generator was installed on the island to supply electricity for the buildings. The island acted as an

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or ...

for the ''onderafdeling'' ( subdivision) of Sorong between 1935 and 1950 or 1952. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Japanese forces occupied and fortified the island, building a network of tunnels and bunkers. The island was attacked by American and Australian aircraft throughout the war. Following the war, a fishing station was briefly established on the island before it was moved to

Manokwari Manokwari is a coastal town and the capital of the Indonesian province of West Papua. It is one of only seven provincial capitals of Indonesia without a city status. It is also the administrative seat of Manokwari Regency. However, under pro ...

. After the handover of Papua to

, growth of Sorong forced the movement of the city to the mainland around 1965, although the island initially remained developed relative to mainland Sorong until the latter grew, with Doom being called the "star island" in the 1970s and 80s due to its relatively bright lights.

Access and facilities

Due to its short distance from Sorong, Doom is reachable by boat within 10 minutes from the mainland. The island has a

reverse osmosis Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to separate ions, unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic pre ...

seawater processing facility, capable of processing 9,000 liters per hour. There is a high school on the island, which used to be a Dutch prison complex, and a football field.

References

{{Reflist Sorong Islands of Western New Guinea