Mel Gibson's new water front, back and sides

Mel Gibson Mago Island

Islanders fight Gibson land deal
From correspondents in Auckland
February 28, 2005
http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1267&storyid=2736048
VILLAGERS in Fiji are planning a legal challenge against Hollywood star Mel Gibson buying an island they say was stolen from their ancestors in the 19th Century.

But they aren't getting any support from Fiji Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, who says he won't interfere with the sale of freehold property.
Gibson is believed to have purchased the 5411-acre Mago island in Fiji's remote Northern Lau group from Japan's Tokyu Corp after visiting the property last December. The asking prices was $US15 million.
Villagers of Namalata, in the nearby Vanuabalavu island group, were raising funds to hire a lawyer to challenge the sale, the Fiji Times reported today.
"Our island was sold for 2000 coconut plants, and stories told by our forefathers are that they were forced to leave at gunpoint," Namalatu Development Committee chairman Timoci Waqalevu told the paper.
"There is still evidence of those who refused to leave and were killed. There is a dugout hole where their skeletons still remain."
The villagers have asked the Government to use a plan that allows it to help people buy back ancestral land.
But Mr Qarase said the Government wouldn't be getting involved.
"The sale was between the owner, who has found a willing buyer," he said.
"The Government cannot do anything because it is a freehold property."
The Namalata villagers say the island they live on belongs to the people of another village who would eventually want it back.
"It is sad, we are Fijians with no land," Mr Waqalevu said.
AAP
Mago Island
Fiji

The Unique Properties Group of Colliers International is pleased to present the exclusive sale offering of Mago Island, Fiji: a rare opportunity to own one of the world's singularly most spectacular private islands.

Mago (pronounced Mungo) Island is one of the largest freehold islands in the southwest Pacific consisting of over 5400 acres (8 square miles) of pristine ecology and varied terrain. Located in the northwest sector of the Northern Lau Group of islands in Fiji, Mago rises majestically to 670 feet on its eastern cliffs and is fringed entirely by protective reefs, powder white beaches and turquoise lagoons. The rich volcanic soil is evident in the lush, expansive interior plain and is considered by locals to be among the most fertile land in the region. A wide variety of tropical fruits, vegetables and other flora flourish profusely. Mango, coconut, grapefruit, mandarin, guava and papaya to name just a few proliferate in natural abundance.

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