Mago Island

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Lau Islands


Northern Lau Islands
Cicia
Kaibu
Kanacea
Mago
Malima
Munia Island
Naitaba
Nayau
Tuvuca
Vanua Balavu
Vatu Vara
Wailagi Lala
Yacata

Southern Lau Islands
(Yagasa Cluster)
Fulaga
Kabara
Komo
Lakeba
Moce
Moka
Namuka-i-Lau
Ogea Driki
Ogea Levu
Oneata
Vanua Vatu
Vuaqava
Yagasa Levu

Moala Islands
Matuku
Moala
Totoya

Outliers
Bacon Island
Cakau Lasemarawa
Doi
Late-i-Toga
Late-i-Viti
Ono-i-Lau
Tuvana-i-Colo
Tuvana-i-Ra
Vatoa
Yanuca


Islands of Fiji


Principal islands
Viti Levu
Vanua Levu

Significant outliers
Conway Reef
Kadavu
Taveuni
Rotuma

Archipelagos
Kadavu Group
Lau Islands
Lomaiviti Islands
Mamanuca Islands
Moala Islands
Ringgold Isles
Rotuma Group
Vanua Levu Group
Viti Levu Group
Yasawa Islands

Coordinates: 17°26′S 179°9′W

Mago Island (IPA:[ma ŋo]) lies in the northwest sector of Fiji's northern Lau Group of islands. One of the largest Freehold Islands in the southwestern pacific, the pristine island consists of 22 square kilometres (8.4 square miles) of land.

Mago is located 166 statute miles ENE of the Fiji capital of Suva and 14 miles SW of the tiny island of Namalata, near Vanua Balavu, where descendants of original Mago inhabitants still reside. Mago Island is relatively undeveloped at present and inhabited only by a few caretakers of Indo-Fijian descent. During the 1860s a cotton plantation established by the Ryder brothers of Australia flourished there. The Ryders were succeeded by the Borron family who ran a successful copra plantation on the island for many years and donated Borron House, an historic mansion in the Fiji capital city Suva, to the Fiji Government.

In early 2005 Mago Island was purchased by Hollywood actor/director Mel Gibson for $15 million from Japan's Tokyu Corporation. Descendants of original native inhabitants of Mago, who were displaced in the 1860s, have protested Gibson's purchase.

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