levuka2 August 2008: Now updating again after a break. See research musings below.
Your dated Levuka history and people items wanted: I hope this site may help to give to give some of those - nameless in public histories - a place in the records; and perhaps, produce a collaboration which may contribute to Levuka heritage.
Was your ancestor born in Levuka? I welcome all contact from interested persons.
Try a test post: If you have some dated history, related to Levuka - birth, death, marriage, or Levuka history of any kind - please search for the year, post your dated item, with the source reference in comment field for that date, and I will put your information in the timeline, soon after.
Style guide: If your style matches, and you have a volume of content to post to the site , I will offer an editing password, and you can file your contributions, direct. Whats needed is dated items with a a reference to the source.
2 August 2008: Now updating again after a break. I am amused to see some references to my ancestors in W. T. Pritchards, Polynesian Reminiscences. My ancestor form minor players in the Pacific game.
Blog forms a type of conquest? But, if history is written by the conquerers, then maybe, a blog forms a type of conquest?. People once wrote or mused, alone with notes doomed to end up in the attic or the garage, and then thrown into the rubbish by the next generation - now can self-publish, and meet other people with the same interests. Its a wonderful new world!.
New things I have learned lately about Levuka: Research has gained more depth and context as I learn and understand more. I write this from Sydney; and I am generations separated from these events. This week I mused on points of conquest - the point where a dominant nation - takes over, a less-powerful nation, in an environment of competitive access to resources. Today, nations fight - politely - and less politely - for access to oil and gas and water. I would argue its generally commercial demand from traders which triggers resource wars. Traders see profits, and seek to influence policy. Thats visible in the Levuka-traded commodities. In my judgement, one of the most significant commodities was the trading of people. In most of the documents its called “labour”; that is the “Colleen Bawn left on a Labour Cruise to Tanna”. When it got back, however, the people were sold on a per head basis, at Levuka. So there’s a project there to calculate the value of that trade. in 1800 - 1850 commodity values also rose and fell technologies changed or scarcity occurred; whale oil and whale-bone, slaves, women, tabua, metal, cotton, textiles, sandalwood, pearlshell, beche-de-mer, and land.
French in Tahiti, the British in Akaroa, and the British in Fiji: Fiji appeared a special case. Britain did not want Fiji; it was just after the American war of independence, and London administrators did not want another troubled colony. In the end, Cacobau appeared to cede to Britain - after its reluctant agreement - to gain protection from invasion from Tonga and the USA. His choice appeared the lessor of three evils, perhaps. It all cases, at these ‘points of conquest’ access to technology; metal, guns and shipping played a role; as did the pivotal role of regional administration and rule-making - consitution-writing - and the transformational benefits of “going Lotu” - as civilisations clashed at the point of contact. In this case, Levuka. It appears Fiji was, in the end, protected from total land grab - as in Guam, Tahiti, and Hawaii - by the early administration by William Pritchard, the Tahiti-born son of the ex Missionary consul of Tahiti, George Pritchard. The multilingual William P was raised with - or perhaps by - Queen Pomare of Tahiti, until the age of ten, when he was sent to Britain to school. He absorbed skills in the Pacific Way. It appeared he had little sense of “otherness” all people were one, but some more honest and some cmore orrupt. I read hints - yet to clarify - that William P had to contend with corrupt missionaries and traders; who opposed the fairness of his decisions; they wanted land at all cost and he opposed. Some expected the Consul to naturally rule in favour of the trader and the missionary. That was not his way. He was dismissed from his post as Consul, after a Fiji court case. I have yet to read the notes of the case. He was “unjustly accused” said
Berthold Seemann in a foreword to W. T. Pritchards, Polynesian Reminiscences; and the “The principal villains of the piece, if they can be so-called, were undoubtedly Calvert and Smythe”. I will post that new material later this week. These was the case researched ans argued in another useful title I want to get hold of” . Biography of William Pritchard Andrew, E. Robson http://epress.anu.edu.au/tpl/mobile_devices/ch14.html Accessed 2 August 2008
Another good book: I intend to buy, or get via library interloan, what looks like an excellent book - of which I have read a sample chapter - Exodus of the I Taukei, the Wesleyan Church in Fiji, 1848-74 = No Lako Yani Ni Kawa I Taukei; Na Lotu Wesele E Viti. By Andrew Thornley, Tauga Vulaono, University of the South Pacific, Institute of Pacific Studies 2002 ISBN 9820203406.
6 April, 2008; I am now back on line. My father passed away, and since then I have been ill for the last two months.
Purpose of site: This site aims to provide a Levuka timeline structure for the period 1700 - 1880; with special interest in the period 1840 - 1880. I encourage others with Levuka family history - or area interests - to post dated events to the comment fields for the years; I will then post these to the site. Your content may include births, deaths and events or related history. This site was started 30 September 2007. The simple plan was to search web and books for dated events, and to, step-by-step, build a Levuka timeline. I started with using a little of content from Jane’s Oceania, and the Fiji Government site, and then began to expand with more detailed referenced history. As density of content increases, more referenced material will appear. I have now begun source from books and papers not on the internet.
Finer-grained data: At the start point it only has year-separators. I plan to begin to provide months, so more more precise data-collation develops. Please post your dated and referenced events or information in the comment field for the year.
Hope to hear from you soon: One of things I would hope to evolve from this project is heritage funding, to add the graves information from the two Levuka cemeteries to this site.
More about me: I work as commodity analyst in Sydney, and I have a special interest in commodity cycles; and so have included categories for the commodities connected to Levuka for various periods; sandalwood, copra, coconut oil, cotton, sugar, slaves, and so-on.
The trigger for the project: Some people in my family show a pacific gene. I am one of those; and I have a brother and a son with the same look. Now my new grandson has appeared and he’s a Pacific giant. Only two, but he’s the size of a four-year old. So its a strong gene! A chain of family research over 15 years - lead to my discovery in the Suva archives that the gene came from a Polynesian - or Melenesian - ancestor - Christiana THOMPSON. No birth certificate exists, she was perhaps born at sea, but she was was christened on the beach at Levuka, Fiji in 1862, by John Calvert, Methodist missionary for the Ovalau Circuit. The Thompson family purchased an island near Levuka, Vanutha Lai Lai, after Cakobau sold it to the Consul. The Thompsons bought it off the Consul. It was later ruled as freehold by the Land Commission. The Thompson family lived on it for a time, but family records show they left it - or another island, after a violent event. The family then moved - over time - to Bluff, New Zealand, as coastal shipping businesss from the South Island gold-rush grew. The Thompson family owned Vanutha Lai Lai for 17 years, and sold it to the Kahn family. Captain Thomas THOMPSON - a captain, builder of wooden ships - was later Harbour Master and a town councillor at Bluff. The barques and schooner he built, and part-owned were used in the slave trade from Levuka. They also traded timber from Fiji. I have no evidence that they were slave traders. Slaves were a profitable item in that period. But, it’s possible. Maybe I am descended from one of those “labour recruits”. I have no evidence.
Family photos - with a Dufty - look; show Christiana THOMPSON had polynesian or melenesian genes - but her official parents were migrants to the Pacific - the English shipbuilder from Sunderland - Thomas Johnston THOMPSON who married a German woman - Christiane GOTZE.
She came from a long family tradition of Lutheran lawyers from Friesland. The two had 13 children. Six were baptised at Levuka. Some died at Levuka. I descend from the (Polynesian?) line from one of those children - Christiana THOMPSON; who had a Pacific mother or father. Photos show a family resemblance, so it does not appear as a case of adoption. Or maybe she was the child of an older sibling? The eldest son, Edward, “ran a way to sea”, and was never seen again.
On a visit to Levuka I found a very large numbers of graves (in poor repair) which record the large mixed community that existed in Levuka; and which, peaked, in population, about 1840 - 1870.
But I have found limited information in the public domain about individuals, not in public life.
Thank you. Even small piece of information may prove of use, as each piece connects to another.
Levuka.
Hi. I am a journalist in Fiji. I returned from Levuka over the weekend to put together some stories for our magazine (www.islandsbusiness.com) - one of our publications is the Inflight magazine that goes in Air Pacific. I was rather fascinated by the Draiba cemetary and all those people buried there, which I am sure would be of interest to folks tracing their roots back here or those looking for long lost relatives, etc. In the course of searching the Net for some information on those names I took, I came across your blog. I was very impressed! Good luck in your endeavour. Kind regards,
Dionisia Tabureguci
Thank you Dionisia
I agree with you on the Draiba cemetery. I hope to visit Levuka again soon, and start the process to record names and dates from the Draiba headstones, into this blog.
Perhaps you mentioned the site on the inflight magazine? The site recorded a very large spike in hits about the time of your email, and it nearly trebled its usual 100 hits a day, to a spike of 267!
Thank you for your interest.
Bula vinaka Levuka,
Well, great to note that interest in your site. In fact, I had forwarded it to the Levuka Tourism Association and mentioned to them that I found this Levuka blog very interesting. They must have forwarded it to tourists, etc…
At the time I wrote to you, the stories had not been published..the first one went in the February Inflight mag (printed and delivered to Air Pac last week and should now be in the seats)…sorry, we don’t have on-line versions of that magazine. But I am required to hand in articles on Levuka for all other inflight mag issues of this year, ie: May, August, November…
I thought your story was very interesting…I wouldn’t mind writing about you and your connexion to Levuka as I am doing a separate story on the Draiba cemetary for the May Inflight…if you would like to, email me on: dtabureguci@ibi.com.fj
I also wrote another version of the Levuka story for the business magazine that we circulate in Fiji…in case you’re interested in that, here is the link:
http://www.islandsbusiness.com/fiji_business/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=17872/overideSkinName=issueArticle-full.tpl
Thanks again,
Dionisia.
Bula Vinaka Dionesia,
Thanks again for your interest. I read your local story, and I was impressed your clear style.
I will email you separately to talk about your ftuture stories.
Some general comments:
It appears your editor has decided your readers have a high interest in Levuka! That’s good news. I flew Air Pacific, when I visited Levuka. I was interested to notice that staff of Air Pac spoke to me in Fijian, but to other in English - as if they presumed I was Fijian. Alas, I don’t speak the language, yet.
So, my genes must look a little bit Fijian. But, in Australia, people guess I come from Japanese or Chinese heritage. That’s of interest, as new DNA-mapping research shows a general genetic- flow to the Pacific from South China, to the Indonesian islands in the Mollucca area, then, some mixing with inland upland, plus coastal Melanesian genes from, PNG, then a gene-flow to Santa Cruz, and, from there a dispersion to Pacific ocean islands.
I would have certainly used a Family History centre if it was available in Levuka. Like many others, I would also willingly act a a volunteer for such a center, and to gather and publish grave records.
You probably know “family history’ forms one of the most-searched topics on the internet. My own small, Levuka family history site, for example has had almost 10,000 access-hits since it started it about four months ago. The interest comes from all over the world. A fair volume appears to come from India, with people seeking family history related to indentured labour.
The volume tends to spike mid-week - in “sets’ of topics -; ‘measles’, ‘cotton’, ’slave trade’ - which suggests - perhaps , use by students at school, or universities, for set-topics.
I also find surges of access occur when another site references a story; for example - lots of hits on ‘Tonga canoe history’ since a Tonga Association in New Zealand reposted a Tonga history item with a link, to Levuka.wordpress.com.
On Levuka.wordpress.com I aim not present my own opinions, but to abstract from referenced sources.
On the islands, gene-sets multiplied in isolated islands and evolved into nations and cultures. The question of how and when the mixing occured - deliberate sea-journey, shipwrecks, warfare, slave trading - occupies this blog.
Anecdotally, the idea of genetic flow from China, via Indonesia, and PNG, seems to have attracted some support, before the gene-maps were created. For example John G Paton in his “The True Story of Thirty Years Among South Seas, Cannibals” undated, but around 1862, (a book I will abstract soon, for this site) - said, then it was common knowledge that those on Tanna came from a Melanesia culture and language, and people on the nearby island, of Aniwa were of a Malaysian culture and spoke Malay.
He also records a terrible story of how one boatload of sandwood cutters deliberately infected and killed one third of the population of Tanna, with measles. I will post that soon, as the site gets a lot of hits with queries about disease and epidemics in Pacific history.
I also observe records show many western-shipwrecks in the Pacific from 1600, so all sorts of genes may have added to the mix. The site also gets a heap of hits from people searching for information on ships, by name and date. So I see a lot of interest in sailing-ships and canoe history.
Another book I plan to abstract soon, has proposed the idea of a cultural and language connection between the Molluca island of Ambon and the New Zealand Maori. (Julius Tahija, Horizon, Beyond, 1995), He wrote the book after he retired as chair of Caltex Pacific. Julius Tahija was Melanesian-Indonesian, raised in Surabaya. In the second World War he spent time in Sulawesi, Ambon and Ternate. He married a pakeha-Australian; defected from the Dutch army to the Indonesian nationalist cause; and - talk of cultural mixing! - they named their first son Sjakon, the Sanskrit name of a 17th Century Ambonese freedom-fighter called Captain Jonker.
Thanks for the link. Talk to you again soon.
Levuka
Bula vinaka Levuka
I just stumbled on to this site this afternoon and wotta delight to read stories pre and post Deed of Cession. I’d love to hear and know more. I’m a descendant of one of the signatories and am sharing with my family a picture posted of our ancestor.
Thank you and this has certainly sparked my interest to research more into the history of all signatories and their direct descendants.
Vinaka
Sauca
just enjoying the words as my father grandfather and great grand father were born of levuka ovalau with many translated names through this pacific region. I am interested in the view as one sees it in these times in regard to the word ‘blackbirding’ which is a given word to those times…my understanding of what this word means in that time for my great grandfather and his brothers who were all known as the god people of old toga sega toka rewa time is bringing in the rest of there wider extended families from neighbouring shores as they were extended family with marital cross culture backgrounds going back centuries and centuries. To record things in ones own understanding of time is to do a deservice to all our ancestors but is also good to renew understandings lost. To provide for ones family in all ways by giving toktok was custom rite and tradition as it feeds all members of the human family. ‘Blackbirding’ per se was just a new cultural envy factor at that time when the competitive edge is lost to the new vision resources of that time without cultural understanding of the friendly societies. It is not slavery to feed and enjoy the friendship of your fellow families or their offspring or gifted volunteers so that they may feed themselves and learn the ways of the new arrivals in vaka ‘australus’ when times a prosperous for you and less so for those on the extremities of the ancient navigation routes. Look to the night sky on a clear night before one chooses to discount something as clear as the truth. Temese ta bu noa a ti Kau a pa Finau o Ma’afu Po Male a Toga a ki pakia Ike avai’i Amani Kau Tama Ta’aroa. Na mothey ika Rotuman a Ra Panui na Ahoeitu. Please refrain from isolating over another puru.
Hello Geoff
Many thanks for your thoughts. You say “To record things in ones own understanding of time is to do a disservice to all our ancestors but is also good to renew understandings lost.”
Yes.. I agree. The older I get the less I know. I think you aim to teach me something I do not understand? If so please can you give me more information. Do you ask the question “what is slavery? Does it mean the same as ‘blackbirding”, and suggest, ’slavery’ may have another cultural meaning… not expressed on this site?
Alas I don’t know Fijian and will have to resort to a dictionary to translate your comments; I will do that tomorrow.
You ask me to “please refrain from isolating over another puru”. (puru-puru ‘star, firefly’ ?). Alas, I am four generations separated from my Pacific ancestor, and only know about ten words of Fijian.
To follow the night sky theme, on home front, Matariki (Pleiades) has risen, and my small contribution to the stars, the sun and the moon this year, was to plant some old fashioned hollyhock seeds. They are flat seeds, like little plates; I planted these a week ago, and watered, covered them with transparent container which once had supermarket kumera in it) . The little hollyhocks have have sprouted already and I find it refreshes me to go and gaze at these little seeds, as they grow. First, the plate splits into two; and a pure white root points into the air; by the next day it has curved down, into the earth, and develops a fur of tiny rootlets. By the third day the rootlet has fixed itself into the earth, and then it lifts the seed plate into the air; and two crumpled green plate-shaped leaves split out of the plate, until the two sides of the plate are just a discarded attachment which cling to the one leaf, and by the fourth day, drop off; and the two circular leaves grow toward the sun.
Not sure what this has to do with Levuka. But things grow from small beginings. These hollyhock seeds may grow more than two meters tall, I hope. This site is like that. A small seed.
I am so pleased to hear from you. I understand you have a case to argue; and you feel I have made a wrong turn in my interpretation? if so, please can you explain. Also - do you have any dated family events you would would like to add to the Levuka Timeline? Your family history would add depth; its intended as a community project.
Levuka