THE WHOLE STORY
All 45 chapters
Fiji’s history as the museum tells it, in order. Each chapter page carries its facts, its sources and its pictures, and opens into the 360° museum.
Voyagers and canoes
Sailing · building · exchange
- The drua, Fiji’s great double canoeBefore 1900 · 13 picturesThe drua is a Fijian double-hulled sailing canoe: two hulls of unequal length joined by a raised deck.
- Camakau and outrigger canoesEveryday sailing · 11 picturesThe camakau is a single-hulled canoe with an outrigger float, used for fishing and travel between nearby islands.
- Voyaging between Fiji, Tonga and SamoaCenturies of exchange · 12 picturesFiji, Tonga and Samoa were linked for centuries by canoe voyages carrying people, goods and marriages.
First settlement
Around 3,000 years ago
Land and kinship
Land · kinship · community
- The village and the bureVillage life · 11 picturesA bure is a traditional Fijian house built of timber, reeds and thatch.
- Clans and chiefsYavusa · mataqali · tokatoka · 10 picturesYavusa, mataqali and tokatoka describe important kin and community groupings; their organisation has varied across places and time.
- Yaqona and ceremonyWelcome · respect · 10 picturesYaqona (kava) is a drink made from the root of the Piper methysticum plant.
- Forests and the landVesi · banyan · bush · 11 picturesVesi (Intsia bijuga) is a dense hardwood prized for canoes, kava bowls and lali drums.
Living craft
Skills passed between generations
- Masi — bark clothMade by hand · 10 picturesMasi is bark cloth made by soaking and beating the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree.
- The lali drumA voice for the village · 10 picturesA lali is a slit drum carved from a single log and beaten with two sticks.
- Tabua — the whale’s toothThe most valued gift · 10 picturesA tabua is a polished sperm-whale tooth, usually hung on a cord of plaited coconut fibre.
- Clubs, bowls and headrestsCarving · 10 picturesFijian carvers made war clubs in many named shapes, each suited to a different use.
Explorers
1643 to 1840
- Abel Tasman sights Fiji, 16431643 · 10 picturesThe Dutch navigator Abel Tasman, with the ships Heemskerck and Zeehaen, sighted islands in north-east Fiji in 1643.
- James Cook at Vatoa, 17741774 · 11 picturesOn his second voyage, in HMS Resolution, James Cook visited Vatoa in southern Lau in 1774.
- William Bligh’s voyages, 1789 and 17921789 · 1792 · 10 picturesAfter the mutiny on the Bounty in 1789, William Bligh and loyal crew sailed an open boat through Fiji and were chased by canoes.
- The Wilkes Expedition, 18401840 · 12 picturesThe United States Exploring Expedition under Charles Wilkes surveyed Fiji in 1840 and made detailed charts.
Traders and Levuka
Early 1800s to 1870s
- The sandalwood rushAbout 1804 to 1814 · 10 picturesFragrant sandalwood from the Bua coast of Vanua Levu was cut and shipped to China in the early 1800s.
- Bêche-de-mer, whalers and beachcombers1800s to 1850s · 11 picturesBêche-de-mer (sea cucumber) was collected on Fiji’s reefs, then boiled, dried and smoked for sale in China.
- Levuka, the first capital1820s to 1882 · 10 picturesLevuka, on the island of Ovalau, grew from the 1820s into Fiji’s main European trading settlement.
Faith and language
Belief · teaching · translation
- Old gods and the missionariesBefore and after 1835 · 15 picturesA bure kalou was a temple house with a very tall, steep roof, where ancestral gods were honoured; priests (bete) spoke for the gods.
- Churches, schools and written FijianAlphabet · printing · congregations · 12 picturesMissionaries created a Fijian alphabet in which one letter stands for one sound: c is said “th”, b is “mb”, d is “nd”, g is “ng” and q is “ngg”.
Power and resistance
Nineteenth century
- Bau and CakobauAbout 1815 to 1883 · 13 picturesBau, a small island off the east coast of Viti Levu, became one of the most powerful states in Fiji.
- War and warriorsConfederacies at war · 13 picturesIn the 1800s the great confederacies — among them Bau, Rewa and Cakaudrove — competed for power.
- Hill forts and the highlandsDefended ridges · 10 picturesCommunities built forts on ridges and hilltops, with ditches, banks and fences.
- Ma’afu and the Battle of Kaba1848 to 1874 · 12 picturesIn 1855, at the Battle of Kaba, Cakobau defeated his rivals with help from King George Tupou I of Tonga.
Colonial Roots
1871 to 1882
- The Kingdom of Fiji1871 to 1874 · 10 picturesIn 1871 Cakobau became king of a new Kingdom of Fiji, with its government at Levuka.
- The Deed of Cession10 October 1874 · 10 picturesOn 10 October 1874, at Levuka, Cakobau and other high chiefs signed the Deed of Cession, making Fiji a British colony.
- Governor Gordon and the new order1875 to 1880 · 10 picturesThe measles epidemic of 1875 caused catastrophic loss of life; historical estimates of the toll vary.
- Plantations and the labour trade1860s to 1911 · 11 picturesCotton planting boomed in the 1860s, when the American Civil War cut supplies.
- Suva becomes the capital1882 · 10 picturesIn 1882 the capital moved from Levuka to Suva, which had more room to grow and a deep harbour.
Girmit
1879 to 1920
- The arrival of the Leonidas14 May 1879 · 10 picturesThe ship Leonidas arrived at Levuka on 14 May 1879 carrying the first indentured labourers from India.
- Recruitment and the agreement1879 to 1916 · 10 pictures“Girmit” comes from “agreement”, the contract the labourers signed; those who came are called Girmitiya.
- Life in the linesOn the plantations · 13 picturesLabourers lived in rows of barrack rooms called “lines”, with little privacy.
- Sugar and the CSR1882 onwards · 10 picturesThe Australian Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR) began milling in Fiji in 1882 and came to dominate the industry.
- Ending indenture1914 to 1920 · 10 picturesTotaram Sanadhya’s account of his years as a labourer in Fiji, published in India in 1914, raised public anger.
- After girmitCommunities today · 14 picturesMany Girmitiyas remained in Fiji, farming and building communities; others returned to India.
Pacific lives
Rotuma · Banaba · war service · democracy
- Rotuma1881 · 11 picturesRotuma is a Polynesian island about 460 km north of Fiji, with its own language and culture.
- Banaba and Rabi1945 · 12 picturesPhosphate mining stripped much of Banaba (Ocean Island) in present-day Kiribati.
- War serviceWorld War II and after · 10 picturesIn the First World War, the Fiji Labour Corps served on the Western Front in France.
- Democracy and its tests1987 · 2000 · 2006 · 2014 · 10 picturesFiji became independent with an elected parliament.
Independence and living Fiji
10 October 1970 onwards
- Independence, 197010 October 1970 · 11 picturesFiji became independent on 10 October 1970, 96 years to the day after the Deed of Cession.
- Suva, the capitalCity life · 12 picturesSuva is Fiji’s capital and largest city, on the south-east coast of Viti Levu.
- Rugby and sportOlympic gold · 12 picturesRugby sevens is one of Fiji’s great passions.
- Living Fiji todayHistory continues · 10 picturesMarkets, village gatherings, church, sport and festivals bring people together across the islands.