Feature - The dwindling population of the southern most island in the Cook Islands group has tripled this past week as Mangaians return home to celebrate two hundred years of Christianity.
The colossal amount of around $1 million has been raised for the island of Mangaia’s Te Arikianga o te Evangelia, the Arrival of the Gospel Bicentennial commemoration festivities that will be held this coming June.
Preparations are well underway on Mangaia for the celebration of the 200-year anniversary of the arrival of Christian missionaries on the island in 1824. By Pamela Steele.
One hundred and eleven (111) Mangaia-born soldiers were enlisted in the First World War (WWI), according to the Cook Islands WWI New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) ANZAC Soldiers Research Project. The Soldiers Research Project team have now located and documented 43 of the 45 Cook Islands WWI soldiers’ graves and headstones on the island of Mangaia.