Balabalagan Islands

Balabalagan Islands (also spelled Bala Balakang and historically known as Little Paternoster Islands) are an archipelago and a subdistrict of Mamuju Regency located in the Makassar Strait off the east coast of Kalimantan (Borneo), halfway between it and Sulawesi, Indonesia. The archipelago is also located near the geographic center of Indonesia.

In the 19th century, the islands were recorded as numbering 14, with the largest named Sebunkatang; the channels were shallow and unnavigable, but provided a fertile fishing ground for the island natives, called Biajoo.[1] The islands rest on a coral reef, itself placed on an undersea bank which extends out from Kalimantan, presenting a major hazard to navigation; the Admiralty Pilot has warned that "No vessel should venture among [them] without local knowledge."[2]