Honiara Province of New Zealand, but in 1975 it became part of an ecclesiastical Province covering Solomon Islands, the Republic of Vanuatu and the French Territory of New Caledonia in the South Western Pacific. The Church of Melanesia in Honiara operates three missions, the Melanesian Board of Mission, the Melanesian Brotherhood and the Mission to Seafarers Society from Honiara. The Melanesian Board of Mission oversees the Home Mission and the mission in other regional countries. The Most Reverend. David Vunagi has been archbishop of Melanesia since May 2009, when he formally took over the post at the Cathedral Church of St
Honiara the South Seas Evangelical Church, the United Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church and other Christian churches. The name Honiara derives from "nagho ni ara" which roughly translates as "place of the east wind" or "facing the southeast wind" in one of the Guadalcanal languages. The town has not been extensively documented and little detailed material exists on it. The Battle of Henderson Field (1942), the last of the three major land offensives conducted by the Japanese during the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II took place in what is now the airport area about to the east of the city