Stirling Island (also Sterling Island) is the smaller island of the

Treasury Islands Treasury Islands () are a small group of islands a few kilometres to the south of Bougainville and from the Shortland Islands. They form part of the Western Province of the country of Solomon Islands. The two largest islands in the Treasuries ...

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

Geography

Stirling is about long and located some south of Shortland. The estimated terrain elevation above sea level is . Stirling Island is separated from the largest

Mono Island Mono Island is the largest island of the Treasury Islands, Solomon Islands, at . Geography Mono island is a volcanic island in the northwest of the Solomon Islands. It is separated by the Blanche Harbour from Stirling Island and the other cora ...

Blanche Harbor Blanche Harbor is a natural harbour between Mono Island and Stirling Island of the Treasury Islands archipelago, located n the Western Province of the Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands ...

. Stirling Island is composed of coral which was once part of the barrier reef surrounding

Population

Stirling Island has no permanent population. However an

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

and other remnants of

World War II 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 ...

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

base still remain here.

Air base

After the Allied Forces landed on Stirling, it became evident that the island was perfect for an airfield because the island was naturally flat, coral surfaced, with fresh water and good landing beaches locating nearby. A reconnaissance team from the 87th Naval Construction Battalion "Seabees" arrived on Stirling on November 1, 1943, to study the site, and four days later filed a favorable report about the area. Based on this report, a construction of a bomber strip "W", originally planned for

Bougainville Island Bougainville Island (Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire-associated North Solomons. Its land area is ...

was initiated here. In May 2011, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Danny Phillip repeated offers to the Australian Government to make the disused air base available to host the processing of asylum seekers. It is believed that negotiations reached a reasonably advanced state before being discontinued.

References

External links

The Treasury Islands Campaign
Islands of the Solomon Islands Western Province (Solomon Islands) {{SolomonIslands-geo-stub