Lord of the Flies is a novel about schoolboys stranded on an island, who turn cruel and turn on each other. This is the story of six real boys who were stranded far longer, and did the opposite. In June 1965 they were students at a strict boarding school in Tonga, aged between 13 and 19, and sick of its rules. They wanted Fiji, more than 500 miles away. They had no boat, so they took one, a 24-foot whaling boat owned by a fisherman they disliked, and called it borrowing. They packed two sacks of bananas, a few coconuts and a small gas burner. That first night they anchored north of the main island, and all six fell asleep. What would six boys do with no adult to give orders?
The Real Lord of the Flies: Six Boys on 'Ata
Six Tongan boys stranded on ʻAta for 15 months kept a work rota, a time-out rule and a fire burning the whole time.
Chapter 1
Borrowing a Boat
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Frequently Asked Questions
How long were the six Tongan boys stranded on ʻAta?
They lived on the uninhabited volcanic island of ʻAta for 15 months, from June 1965 to September 1966. Australian captain Peter Warner found them on September 11, 1966.
How did the boys settle arguments on the island?
When two boys quarreled, each took a time-out at the opposite end of the island. They returned to talk only after tempers had cooled. They also worked in pairs on a rotating roster of garden, kitchen and guard duty.
Why is this story compared to Lord of the Flies?
William Golding's novel imagines stranded schoolboys turning on each other. The Tongan boys, left alone far longer, cooperated instead. Rutger Bregman's 2020 book Humankind brought the story back to attention as a rebuttal to Golding's pessimism.
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