Captain Wilkinson, of the Indispensable sighted the islands in 1794 and called them the Cocos Islands.
In 1795, Captain Mortlock of the ship Young William sighted the islands, and named them Hunter's Islands, in the mistaken belief that they were the seven islands sighted by Captain Hunter on May 18, 1791. This mistake was later discovered by a Russian hydrographer, Krusenstern, about 30 years later. Krusenstern then gave the islands the name Mortlock on his chart published in 1824.
Since then the Mortlocks have also been called the Marquen, Marqueen, Massacre Islands, besides their native name, Takuu.
Of the name Takuu, deviations from this have been Taku, Tauu and Tau. The spelling Takuu was "formerly" adopted by the linquist Samuel H. Elbert, in a 1963 report of his stay on Mortlock.
Note: The name Massacre was given actually given to the Kilinalau (Cartaret Islands) by Captain Morrell of the schooner Antarctic (Ward 1967; Shineberg 1971). In an incident in 1830 his crew, while gathering sea cucumber was attacked by the inhabitants of of the atoll, and all but one was killed and eaten. (Morrell 1970). He gave the name Massacre Islands to the atoll. It was mistakenly thought for some decades, from early confusion as to the positions of island groups east of Bougainville, that the Massacre islands and Takuu were one and the same (Cheyne 1852; Finlay 1884; Meinicke 1888).
Andrew Cheyne, a trader, reached Takuu in December of 1843. He remained for a month collecting and curing sea cucumber. He anchored near Nukerekia islet, cleared part of the land (possibly including gardens and houses), and established his headquarters there. This did not go down well with the Takuu, who, rightly, demanded that the Europeans leave. Being the more "civilised" of the two groups, the Europeans refused. A fight broke out between the two groups, resulting in the killing of two Takuu men. (See "Momoua", in STORIES & LEGENDS for a more detailed account of this episode.)
There were possibly at least two other visits by Europeans to the islands, before the coming of "Queen" Emma, of which our next section is about. See the page on STORIES & LEGENDS for accounts of these.
Shortly after two canoes from Ontong Java reached the atoll bringing with them yet another epidemic: this time of fever and dysentry that affected the entire population. Many people died in a single night. Soon there was not one person who was strong enough to rise from his mat (vaasa) to bring food to the others.
It was during this population decimation, that "Queen Emma" Forsayth of New Guinea visited Takuu with the goal of establishing a local copra plantation and trading station. Emma was of American and Samoan parentage, who settled in the Duke of York Islands in 1879 and founded a widespread trading "empire".
Emma's brother, William Coe, became the first resident trader on the atoll. He moved on to another of Emma's stations after several years. In 1891, Queen Emma then gave the islands, as a wedding gift, to Joseph Highly (Sio) and his bride, one of Emma's sisters. The Highly's settled on the Mortlocks, but Joseph died in 1894 from a serious ailment. Highly's widow remarried, becoming Mrs. Calder, and stayed on in the Mortlocks for the next 20 years.
After World War I, the Mortlocks, being part of the former German territory of New Guinea, was taken over by the Australian Expropriation Board. Both Mrs. Calder, and Highly's daughter, Frances (who married a German medical officer, Dr. Bruno Kroening), claimed possesion of the islands. The property tho was awarded to Mrs. Calder, who died in 1931 in the Mortlocks from injuries she received when dynamite she was handling for killing fish exploded. Mrs. Kroening, living at the time at Kieta, Bougainville, inherited Mrs. Calder's interests.
Mr. J. E. (Jock) Goodson, a former plantation inspector of the board, bought the other half of the property for 3,684 pounds in 1927.
Mr Goodson lived in the Mortlocks for the next 9 years, sailing to Rabaul every few months in his ketch, the Marqueen, to sell copra and buy supplies.
Low copra prices and other difficulties forced Mr. Goodson to sell out in 1936 to Burns Philp and Company Ltd., which ran the property for the next 30 years.
During World War II, the Japanese bombed the coconut groves on the Mortlocks for no apparent reason, but little damage was done and no one was injured.
In 1966, Burns Philp relinquished its interest in the Mortlocks. Mrs. Kroening who still had her interest in the property, was now working the property in association with the islanders.
