Lat
11° 39' 0S Long 166° 54' 0E Last island
in the Santa Cruz Group, furthest south island in the
Solomon Island Chain. Located 1,100 miles from the Coral Sea,
and 800 miles from Guadalcanal.
History
The pre-war Kauri Timber Company operated a powerful radio
set on the island. This same radio
was utilized during the war by the only female
coastwatcher
in the Pacific,
Ruby
Boye. When the Pacific war started,
all europeans and women were evacuated from the island.
Two
stayed, husband and wife: Ruby and Skov
Boye.
Female Coastwatcher Ruby Boye
Ruby Boye was 51 years
old in 1942 and had been operating the radio on Vanikoro
since 1939. She was apointed as a coastwactcher by the RAN,
and broadcast weather
reports
four times a
day. Here broadcasts often got thru when other stations did
not.
Third US Army Outpost
When the US Army arrived later in 1942, the
location was named the Third US Army Outpost, and Ruby was
then under US Navy command. Her role expanded to include sending
intelligence messages to coastwatchers, and US Intelligence HQ
in Port Vila. Boye's broadcasts
were vital and apreciated by Allied aviators and sailors. She was
visited by Admiral Halsey, who landed in a PBY and came ashore
to meet Ruby and thank her for here work. She was relieved in
late
1943,
after
two years
of service, and was taken by PBY back to Sydney for treatment
for shingles. With the war moved further to the north, this ended
the service of the Pacific's only female coastwatcher.
