1852: Royal Hotel built in Levuka

Levuka’s main hotel, the Royal, was established in 1852, and although destroyed by fire in the 1890s, Captain David Robbie rebuilt it in 1913. “By the 1860s, ship’s masters, plantation owners, even the notorious blackbirder, Bully Hayes, frequented the Royal.
Owner of the Royal: Earliest owners of the Hotel were sea captains Volk and Robbie. Captain [...]

1852: Cakobau sends people to New Caledonia, to collect beche-de-mer

Fijian chiefs came to realize the value of the beche-de-mer and in 1852, Cakobau attempted to make use of it to pay for a ship which he had ordered. The attempt was unsuccessful, however, and in the end he had to take two shiploads of his people to New Caledonia, to collect beche-de-mer there. A [...]