MCT declares Bloody Ridge free of squatters

Bloody Ridge National Park is finally free of illegal settlers. Seven years after the park was declared, a team from MCT’s tourism division confirmed on Monday morning 24^th June that the last of the settlers have vacated. The campaign to reclaim Solomon Islands only national park started a year ago with an intense community awareness program in collaboration with the Attorney General’s chambers, Ministry of Lands and the local community policing unit. The integrity of the historical battleground can now be protected, and the work to develop Bloody Ridge into a world class heritage site and tourism attraction can begin.

Guadalcanal played a key role in the history of the world during the Pacific War of World War II. The Battle of Bloody Ridge was fought between Japanese and US ground forces between the 12th to 14th September 1942 and was part of an offensive by Japan to retake Henderson Airport, which had been taken by US Marines on the 7th of August. During a series of furious assaults Japanese forces came very close to breaking through the American lines, and the allied campaign hung in the balance. Guadalcanal proved to be the turning point in the Pacific war, and due to the significance of Bloody Ridge, a National Park was proclaimed here by Solomon Islands Government. The date of the Park declaration was on the 7th August 2017, marking the 75th Anniversary of the WWII Battle of Guadalcanal. The park currently covers approximately 40 hectares of government owned land south of Henderson in Guadalcanal Province, a 13 km drive east of Honiara center.

The site has been legally registered since the early 20th century and owned by the Government since independence in 1978. Encouraged by well-known local historian John Innes and others, MCT took the lead in creating a protected area at the Bloody Ridge battlefield. At this time there was no settlers in the area. In 2016 the government acquired the land by paying for an early release of the lease held by Levers, and in 2017 the park was declared. Settlers now started to rapidly expand southward from the Henderson area. The majority of illegal settlers moved into the park within one year of its declaration, despite significant amount of awareness about the park having been conducted in the area. It is believed that the settlers were motivated by the belief that they would be paid compensation to vacate the park.

MCT conducted numerous awareness activities and issued notices to vacate the park to no avail. The area got a reputation as being unsafe and cars parked at Bloody Ridge was frequently vandalized or broken into. During once incident a tourist group accompanied by a tour guide was robbed in broad day light. The monuments installed there by Japanese and American war veterans were vandalized and some had to be moved to Honiara.

Several events took place between 2020 and 2023 that delayed the Bloody Ridge project. The most serious was the covid pandemic which caused severe travel restrictions both internationally and domestically. The November 2021 riots led to a period of where government officers were reluctant to travel to eastern Honiara for safety reasons. In 2022 there was a budget freeze and in 2023 most activities were focused in Pacific Games related activities. These events combined meant that very little progress was made at Bloody Ridge for a few years. This emboldened squatter living in the park to build more permanent settlements. Additionally new people kept arriving and settling in and around the park.

Realizing that the park might be lost entirely if nothing drastic was done, MCT consulted with Guadalcanal Police, Provincial Authorities, Ministry of Lands and Attorney Generals Chambers on a way forward. MCT was advised that compensation should not be offered, as the government will never agree to reward illegal settlers in this way. Government support for resettlement of the squatters was also not an option, as this would motivate others to settle on government land. The Bloody Ridge development team embarked on an intense awareness campaign. The goal of the campaign was to make it clear beyond any doubt to the settlers that the development of the park was going to happen. It was also important to make it clear to everyone that the government owns the land, and where the boundary is located. A very important partner in the process turned out to be the community policing unit from the Bloody Ridge Community Taskforce. This group of volunteers accompanied the MCT team during their work in the community, initially as security, but later on as genuine supporters of the project. Officers from Lands assisted by showing the community the boundary and pointing out which buildings were located inside the park. Registrar of Titles provided certified copies of relevant land titles which was shared with the community. On large sign boards, community meetings and individual visits MCT staff kept repeating the message over and over again until no one could claim ignorance about the process. The next step in the process was to survey and record everyone living inside the park. Once the survey was completed the team dealt with the settlers as individuals rather than a large anonymous group. The survey found that:

• 11 residential dwellings were found inside the park, plus a number of garden sheds.
• 44 settlers lived permanently inside the park.
• Buildings were erected between 2016 and 2023. The majority around the time of the declaration of the park in 2017. Five buildings were less than a year old.
• All settlers were aware that they resided inside the boundaries of the Bloody Ridge National Park.

Once the team was satisfied that everyone in the community was fully aware of the governments tenure and plans for the area, Attorney Generals office issued a 30-day eviction order on the 5^th of April. The counsellors from AG’s chambers visited each settler household personally, and calmy and professionally explained the consequences of non-compliance. This process was recorded on video, which proved very useful. During the month leading up to the last day MCT made weekly compliance check visits and kept reminding settlers how many days they had left until the legal process would start. On the 5^th of May when the 30-days’ notice ran out 9 out of 11 settler households had vacated voluntarily. The two last holdouts required several more follow-up visits by MCT before they eventually gave up and left as well. On Monday 24^th of June Bloody Ridge National Park was finally declared free of illegal squatters.  The settlers were acknowledged by MCT and AG’s office for respecting the eviction order and vacating the park peacefully.

Commissioner of Lands Alan McNeil stated:

Removing illegal squatters from government land is never a simple proposition. I’m very impressed at the efforts of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to have moved the illegal squatters from the Bloody Ridge National Park area, without having to resort to force or compensation. I congratulate the Ministry for taking the time and effort to meet with the residents in this area and explain the national and historical significance of the site, leading to their voluntary movement away from the area.

Currently a cleanup operation is underway, to remove trash and building material left behind by settlers. The short-term goal is to restore the park to its natural state at the time of the battle, before the development of the park into a heritage site and tourism attraction. Permanent secretary of Ministry of Culture and Tourism Bunyan Sivoro explained his ministry’s vision for the park:

Now that we have regained control of the park there is much to do. We don’t want the Park to be a closed off place for the sake of preserving a historical site. This should be a place of learning about the very significant role Solomon Islands played in history of WWII. We want to it to be both a tourism attraction for visitors and a place of learning and contemplation for Solomon Islanders. I would like to see everyone passing by Honiara visiting Bloody Ridge, as well as every local school in and around Honiara. To begin with we need to keep the park secure which we hope to do by engaging the community. Over time this role should evolve from basic security into proper park rangers. The rangers will look after the park, its heritage, environment as well as visitors. We need visitor facilities such as toilets, shelters, sitting areas, and parking. Over time we want to develop walking trails with informative interpretation that tells the story of the actual battle. Once all that is in place we want to develop a national WWII museum on site. Ultimately, we want Bloody Ridge to become the no 1 WWII attraction in the Pacific.

MCT Press