NORMANBY ISLAND

one of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, 10 miles (16 km) across Goschen Strait from the eastern tip of Papua New Guinea, in the Solomon Sea, southwestern Pacific Ocean. Normanby Island lies southwest across Dawson Strait from Fergusson Island. Volcanic Normanby, measuring 45 miles (72 km) by 1215 miles (1924 km), has a total land area of 400 square miles (1,000 square km) and rises to 3,600 feet (1,100 m) in the Prevost Range. Sewa Bay deeply creases the west coast and Sewataitai Bay the east. The island was visited in 1873 by British Captain John Moresby, who named it after the Marquess of Normanby, governor of Queensland (187174) in Australia. It may have been a secret British military base during World War II. Having once produced gold, Normanby now exports copra and some timber. Midway between Normanby and Fergusson Island to the north is Dobu Island, whose inhabitants have been the subject of several anthropological studies. Pop. (1980 prelim.) Normanby and Dobu, 12,817.