1875: Anthony Trollope: “How is it possible for a humane and pious man moving about among these poor creatures not to attempt to endow them with the glorious gifts which he himself feels that he possesses?”

What are we to do with the South Sea Islands? It might seem that this is a needless question, and that we Englishmen as Englishmen are not required to do anything with the South Sea Islands. At home, perhaps, as a people, we do not trouble ourselves much about them. We are aware that there [...]

1868: three-way fight for control of Fiji by Britain, America, and Australia; Thakombau crowned king, Melbourne-based Polynesian Company offers to pay Cakobau’s debt; but on 10th October, 1874, a deed of cession to Britain, was executed at Levuka

Trollope, Anthony reported in 1875 the Sir Hercules Robinson view of Fijian affairs which lead up to the signing of the deed. It appeared a three-way fight for control of Fiji by Britain, America, and Australia. A group of 10,000 Melbourne investors formed the Polynesian Company, and offered to pay Cakobau’s debt in exchange [...]

1875 in Melbourne: 1851, the entire colony had 77,345 inhabitants. Then gold was found, and population grew to 800,000

“In 1836, Melbourne had a population of 177: In 1836, the whole population of the region - then called Port Phillip District -  and now called Victoria, was 177. In 1851, the entire colony had 77,345 inhabitants. Then, gold was found, and it is now computed that the numbers are very little short of 800,000. [...]

1875: Edward Thompson, Anglican deacon sent to Fiji as locum tenens for the mission at Levuka.

Thompson, Edward Henry (1851-1928), entomologist and Anglican clergyman, was born on 16 May 1851 at Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England, son of Edward Pett Thompson, merchant, and his wife Elizabeth, née Man. Privately educated, he arrived in Australia in 1870 and for five years served as a stipendiary licensed reader in the Anglican dioceses [...]

June 1875: Fiji’s first Governor, Sir Arthur Gordon, arrived from Australia

In his retirement: After he was raised to the peerage in 1893, Gordon was an active member of the House of Lords Committees, and frequently spoke on colonial matters. He continued his writing begun by an account of an expedition he made while in New Brunswick, and published under the title Wilderness Journeys in [...]

1875: Measles killed over 40,000 in Fiji

1875: Measles killed over 40,000 in Fiji, reportedly after Ratu Cakobau and his two sons returned from Australia, where they contracted the disease.
 

1875: Levuka official Masonic lodge opens

“The first charter had been obtained by a Capt. Alexander Barrack from Lodge Robert Burns in Sydney (of which he was a member),.
Lodge Polynesia - 562 SC. The Lodge Polynesia has been in existence since 1871 and has held a charter from the Grand Lodge of Scotland since 1875. The history of the lodge is [...]