Parama Island (formerly Bampton Island) is an island close off the south coast of
Papua New Guinea. It is located 17 km east of
Daru, the provincial capital of
Western Province (Papua New Guinea), at the southernmost extreme of the
Fly River delta, and at the northeastern corner of the
Torres Strait. It is the northernmost of the
Torres Strait Islands, and at the same time the southernmost of the Fly River delta. Bampton Point, its southernmost point, marks the southwestern corner of the
Gulf of Papua. The
Coral Sea
The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...
is southeast. Torres Strait is south and southwest, specifically the Great Northeast Channel, which separates Parama Island from the closest
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n (
Queensland) island,
Bramble Cay, 48 km
ESE.
Parama is roughly rectangular in shape, 9.6 km long and up to 5.7 km wide, with a shore length of 27.7 km and an area of 37 km². It is a low, flat, muddy and
mangrove covered island. It is separated from the mainland by Toro Passage, which is 400 to 700 meters wide and seven kilometers long, and 1.8 to 5.5 meters deep.
All of the population of 441 (as of the Census 2000) live in Parama village on the eastern side, facing the Gulf of Papua. The figure for 1991 was 240. Only the area around the village is cultivated. The village is divided into six clan divisions. The clans, which have names of animals, are listed, from north to south (1991):
#Doriomu (Shark, formerly Tebere) (school west outside of clan division)
#Maruadai (Marowadai) (Cassowary) (with church:
United Church)
#Hegeredai (Dingo)
#Oromorubi (Dog)
#Miaridai (Crocodile) (with hospital)
#Gaidai (Eagle)
A later list (1995) mentions only five clans, thereby replacing Hegeredai and Oromorubi with ''Sobogu''.
In the southwest of the island is Gaziro (Gasiri), a temporary fishing camp also used by mainlanders.
The fringing reef on the eastern shore in front of the village, the "home reef", is called ''Podomaza''.
Worimo Reef, a drying reef of rocks and sand, over which the sea breaks heavily during the southeast trades, extends eight kilometers
SSE from Bampton Point. It further extends to Merrie England Shoals, with depths of less than two meters. The area of the reef, mostly submerged, is 18.8 km².
Ellengowan Rock, a submerged rock with a depth of only 1.1 meters, is located 11 km east of Parama Island.
First recorded sighting by Europeans of Parama Island was by the Spanish expedition of
Luís Vaez de Torres, that landed on it on 5 September 1606.
[Hilder, Brett ''The voyage of Torres'', Brisbane, 1980, pp.67,68]
References
Pub. 164, New Guinea, Sector 6, South Coast of Papua New Guinea-Bensbach River to South Cape, National Imagery and Mapping Agency, 2003The Geography of Border Landscapes, ed. Dennis Rumley and Julian V. Minghi, Routledge, 1991
Lower Fly Area Study, 1995
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Islands of Papua New Guinea
Torres Strait Islands
Western Province (Papua New Guinea)