STROLLING VILLAGE

Walk is a tiny village that we quickly made to cross without noticing it, yet it is a place loaded with history. It is here that explorer James Cook and his crew landed in 1774, before moving further south to Australia. It is also here that almost a century later, in 1843, Catholic missionaries decided to establish the very first mission of New Caledonia.

The beach of Maamaat, 2 km north of the Promenade, gave rise to the first mass celebrated in New Caledonia. Along the main road you will pass through the church which will become the centre of the mission in 1845. The stained glass windows recall the attack it was subjected to in 1847. The monument erected just opposite commemorates the annexation of New Caledonia to France, operated by Admiral Febvrier-Despointes in September 1853, on behalf of Napoleon III.