Sugar Island, British Paradise Islands

from *The Essential Paradise*, series sourcebook

#### **Doc. 1.80.2**

Sugar Island is one of the six major cays of The British Paradise Islands archipelago, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, featured in the Two Paradises fiction/fantasy realm, as devised by Jonnie Comet.

Lying just west of Rum Island, it ranks smallest in geographical area amongst the island departments of the Paradise Islands and fifth in population. The island is a noted tourist destination. Most of the island's regular residents live in Sunset Beach, the island seat and a resort centre, and in Lennon Town in Truro township.

## Basic information

* Land area:(TBD)
* Highest point: Mirror Mountain, 288 metres [944 ft]
* Rank in size: 6th
* Population: 1260 (1995)
* Population density:
* Rank in population: 5th
* Year established: 1799
* Townships: Sunset; Truro
* Island seat: Sunset Beach

* Largest town: Sunset Beach (pop. 510)
* Major industries: Tourism, retail, agriculture, manufacturing, utilities

## History

The first recorded landing on Sugar Island was by the HMS Fortescue, in 1778, which put in at what is now known as Jasper Bay, on the western shore. The crew were seeking freshwater replenishment and mapped several of the island's springs' sources. Later exploration led to the establishment of villages at the present-day locations of Churchill, Mirror Beach and Sunset Beach.

The island is noted for abundant freshwater springs and streams which pierce the shoreline at numerous places and made the place attractive for early development. Harold Jasper of the RMS Turpin successfully negotiated with the Polynesian natives for permission to establish, in 1799, St David's Settlement, the first permanent British settlement on the island, at what is now Sunset Beach, for which he was knighted under George III.

Tuloluani, the local chief, deeded the fishing and planting rights of the surrounding area to Jasper in 1803, voluntarily removing his extended family and subjects to the adjacent (now Rum) island where they lived in harmony with the British as trading and cultural-exchange partners for a dozen years. During the War of 1812 trade with American and French ships was curtailed and, though reestablished by the Treaty of Ghent, it did not resume in sufficient volume and Jasper's colony was abandoned. After the area was resettled in the 1930s, a statue of Jasper was erected by the rebuilt St David's Anglican Church, where historical records indicate the treaty with the Polynesians had been signed.

During the 1939-1945 War, the island's rich fields were cultivated for crops and for herding of dairy cattle in order to provide for the influx of RAF and Royal Navy personnel. Most of these farming concerns remain; today Sugar Island, despite its small size, accounts for approximately 9% of territorial agricultural output. War veterans were responsible also for establishing many of the resort hotels, businesses and other facilities at Sunset Beach making it one of the earliest tourism centres in the territory.

## Geography

Sugar Island is the fifth in the contiguous chain of small islands that represent the perimeter of a long-dormant volcano crater. The waters to the north contain coral reefs, and vessels must approach the island from the northeast via the narrow Steerage Channel. The only developed landing place for deep-draught vessels is on the north shore, at Churchill, where a quay is protected from the prevailing easterlies by the lee shore of adjacent Rum Island.

Like the other major islands of the archipelago, Sugar Island rises abruptly from the water with only narrow beaches round the fringe and high, rugged ground in the centre of island. Though not an actual range, the ridge at the southern centre of the island, surmounted by Mirror Mountain, at 288 metres (944 ft), Bunny Hill, at 205 metres, (673 ft), and Church Hill, at 177 metres (581 ft), forms a conspicuous backbone that effectively isolates Mirror Beach, on the narrow south shore along Paradise Sound, from the rest of the island.

### Perimeter of the island

Though beachcombing and hiking are a popular pursuits of both Paradisian locals and tourists alike, many are often disappointed to find that Sugar Island's small perimeter cannot be entirely circumnavigated on foot. The wide west branch of Nessus Creek cleaves the Paradise Sound shoreline just east of Arbor Spear, separating it from the southern shore of the Surmount Park preserve; a footbridge crosses the creek well upstream and conducts the footway towards central Sunset Beach. Pedestrians are prohibited from transiting the beach at the Sugar Island Royal Coastguards station on the north shore, west of the Sunset Beach Cottage Resort, where rescue and defence facilities are located. And much of the eastern shore, north of the Sugar Island Narrows Causeway, is ruggedly rocky, restricting passage to only the hardiest and determined hikers.

### Climate

Being farthest west of the contiguous chain, Sugar Island receives less of the prevailing easterly trade breezes but considerably more rainfall per square kilometre than any of the other islands. As a result the island is notably lush with natural vegetation and has exceptionally-fertile soil for agriculture but tends to record the highest calm-air temperatures in the territory.

## Government & culture

Sugar Island holds one seat in the House of Peers, the upper house of Paradisian government. Prior to 1988, by which time ongoing development had resulted in a population increase west of Eden Island, the islands of Hope, Rum and Sugar, plus the outer islands now collectively known as The Sound had been considered one department together. Robert Tola, who had been the Peer for the combined department, has been reappointed to the newly-created Sugar Island post.

Sugar Island currently holds two seats, one representing each township, in the House of Delegates, the popularly-elected house of territorial government determined by district population. Dr Walter Goddard, a physician from Sunset Beach, is first elected in 1995 and Mrs Barbara Rand, a banker from Lennon Town, is reelected in 1998, each for a two-year term.

All incorporated communities in Paradise are required to be governed through popularly-elected councils. Sugar Island is unique amongst the departments of the territory in having neither incorporated hamlets nor cities. The boroughs of Mirror Beach, Churchill and Lennon Town are each administered by a three-member council, one from each, plus two elected from the combined populace at large, forming the membership of the Truro township board. Sunset Beach and its surrounding rural area elects a five-member board. The two boards each elect a senior representative; the two representatives then jointly or alternately manage the island department.

## Town characteristics

Truro township, on the eastern side, is made up of three separate but coequal boroughs comprising the majority of regular island residents. Churchill, located on the other side of Bunny Hill, is probably the oldest community on the island and is lowest in population. Because of its shipping quay the town has been an agricultural processing and distribution centre and served as a military supply and food-processing depot during the 1939-1945 War.

Mirror Beach, first settled in 1954, is situated on the steep southern slope of Mirror Mountain where three rainforest-fed streams flow into two before emptying into Paradise Sound. Mirror Beach is one of several territory communities having public stairway parks, which facilitate pedestrian traffic from one block to another where the terrain is too steep for an inclined roadway.

Lennon Town was incorporated from two or three small hamlets in 1987 by Sir David Holloway who planned the incorporated town and named it for his musical idol, John Lennon of The Beatles. A pleasant middle-class residential and retail community, the town has streets named for places in The Beatles' native Liverpool, a broad central square with impressive sea views, and a compact shopping district. Strawberry Circus is an important traffic hub where roads leading to Sunset Beach, Mirror Beach and Churchill meet. Sugar Island Country Club, the island's one world-class 18-hole golf course, is located just west of town.

On the island's calm, nearly windless eastern shore is Sunset Beach, a important tourist-centred community and home to the four of the territory's major resort hotels. Flanked by overarching palm trees, Sunset Strand arcs along the coast of wide, shallow Jasper Bay for over a kilometre. Popular points of interest include the Monument Beach amusement park, where visitors can ride a restored antique carousel, the HMS Fortescue Memorial, St David's Anglican Church and the hiking trails and sunset-watching pavilions at the Arbor Spear preserve, whose headland is the westernmost point of the contiguous chain of islands.

## Business and industry

The leading industry on the island is tourism, followed closely by agriculture. The high, fertile plains between Sunset Beach and Church Hill are cultivated for vegetable produce, fruit, wine grapes and grains such as wheat, barley, maize and rye and used for cattle and sheep grazing. Light manufacturing, professional offices and retail shops are prominent in all four island communities.

National Westminster Bank have a regional branch in Sunset Beach.

### Resorts

Due to its favourable situation at the leeward end of the island chain, Sugar Island is a haven for tourists seeking genteel relaxation. The local resorts cater to tourists from all over the world, above-average in financial means and older than those visiting other parts of the territory. In 1998 the median age of foreign tourists visiting Sugar Island was over 50.[30] The high street of Sunset Beach features a variety of retail establishments including gift shops, boutiques, department stores and dining establishments.

## Education & welfare

The island is served by West Island High School on adjacent Rum Island, attended by 173 students in forms 1-6 (ages 11-17) from Sugar, Rum and The Sound, and by two elementary schools for forms 1-4 (ages 7-11), Sunset at Sunset Beach and Truro at Churchill borough. In addition small local primary schools, for students aged 4-7, operate within Lennon Town and Mirror Beach. Students typically ride public buses, accessible via fare vouchers, or walk to and from school.

Penny Lane Health Centre, a modern, full-service clinic at Lennon Town, established in 1993, provides on-island health care. Further clinics are available on Rum and Hope Islands; the nearest full-sized hospital is Mercy Medical Centre at Hurricane Hole.

## Utilities

In spite of hosting so many resorts, Sugar Island was among the last places within the territory to receive comprehensive public utilities. Some farms are still served by off-network freshwater wells, bottled gas and independent septic systems. Electricity is provided via both subterranean and aboveground lines; but, because of the distances between population centres, till recently brownouts and even blackouts were common in outlying areas.

The Paradise Islands Territorial Ministry of Utilities have been contemplating the construction of an underwater utility conduit from the electric-generating station across the Paradise Sound on Morning Island to provide the resorts at Sunset Beach, whose revenues are vital to the territory's financial success, with more reliable power in the near future.

Paradise Waterworks operate a regional sewage-treatment plant at Churchill. Because of its remote location, Mirror Beach has its own sewage-treatment facility, discharging environmentally-acceptable treated waste into Paradise Sound.

A Paradise Telecom node exists at Mirror Beach.

## Transportation

Despite progressive development of resorts and infrastructure on Sugar Island, the island remained isolated from its neighbours to the east till the construction of the two-kilometre-long Sugar Island Narrows Causeway at Millbury in 1987. With the completion of the Saviour's Pass Causeway in 1992, an uninterrupted 120-km roadway conduit existed between Casino, on Morning Island's extreme west end, and Sunset Beach on Sugar Island.

There are no dual-lane carriageways and no traffic signal lights on the island.

At Churchill are the island's shipyard and marinas. Nearby lies the Sugar Island Aerodrome, a single-runaway regional airport serving civil and small-commercial aviation on the island. Prior to the completion of the Sugar Island Narrows Causeway, connecting Sugar and Rum Islands, the aerodrome and quay facilities at Churchill were the island's only ports of entry within the island, each extending from Ipping to Sunset Beach on Sugar Island.

### Buses

Paradise Transport operate two local bus routes from Millbury, extending across the Sugar Island Narrows to serve the island. Route 2 passes through Churchill and Lennon Town to Sunset Beach along the Northern Road-Naval Road conduit . Route 3 bypasses Churchill in favour of Mirror Beach, taking Omega Road, the only motorway crossing the rugged interior. Both these routes stop at all local schools and West Island High School on Rum Island. At peak times, specially for high-school students, additional buses are added to the service.

### Ferries

Before the completion of the Saviour's Pass Causeway, all transportation between Sugar and the other islands was conducted via surface ferryboats from Churchill quayside. Today the Cross-Sound Ferry-Foil operates regularly between South Quay, Ipping and the Marina Terminal at Governor's Harbour. The 30-minute trip covers about 35 kilometres of Paradise Sound.

The Out Islands Ferry, established in the late 1970s as a commercial and passenger link to connect The Sound and Rum and Sugar Islands with the rest of the territory, operates on daily schedules from Windemere Wold. The service still includes a stop at Holy Cross on Hope Island as well as unscheduled, as-needed stops at Millbury and Churchill quaysides.

## Appearance in fiction arcs

Sugar Island is the home of the Flagg family, principal characters of the *Mirror Beach* story arc (Paradise Two).