1874: Measles: “50,000 have perished. Throughout the whole of Fiji, one in five has gone!”

“An additional melancholy has been thrown over our entry upon this new possession by the breaking out of a frightful epidemic at the very moment. Some wretched vessel carried the measles into the islands; and out of a population of 250,000 souls, more than 50,000 have perished. Throughout the whole of Fiji, one in five has gone! Of course it is felt by these poor savages that death has come upon them as a penalty for their want of patriotism, and of course there are not wanting among them leaders who inculcate the idea. Such a mortality will appear to many as though the whole population were destroyed. Now, as I write, the destruction has passed away, and gradually the terrible feeling of which I have spoken will die out”.

Trollope, Anthony. The Tireless Traveler: Twenty Letters to the Liverpool Mercury. Berkeley: University of California Press, The articles, which bear Trollope’s signature, can be found on page five every Saturday from July 3, 1875, through November 13, 1875. [1978,c1941] 1978. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft1d5nb0hv/

12 August, 1874: leader of British squadron, of warships, Commodore Goodenough mortally wounded with poisoned arrow at Santa Cruz

“Commodore Goodenough was in command of the squadron employed in the Pacific, of which the headquarters are at Sydney. He had taken Sir Arthur Gordon, the new governor, to Fiji, and had afterwards gone on a cruise among the islands in her Majesty’s ship Pearl. Lying in a curve running east and south-east from New Guinea are first the Solomon Islands, then the Santa Cruz group, and nearly south of them the New Hebrides. The inhabitants of all these are as yet but little known, are very savage, and are supposed to be cannibals.

Settlement of European traders and cotton growers on Santa Cruz: “[On] one of these—at Vate, or Sandwich, among the New Hebrides—there is a settlement of white people, chiefly English or speakers of English, who grow a little cotton, and are probably concerned in the exportation of labour to New Caledonia. In the course of last year (1874) a small vessel from our squadron visited this place, with the direct object, no doubt, of repressing illegal traffic.

Lust of conquest or lust of gain: “Afterwards another vessel, the Sandfly, went up north among the Santa Cruz Islands, with the intention of getting general information about these islanders, and of doing any good that might be done to them. Where our men-of-war have gone, or any of the small craft which accompanies them, the object has never been, of late years, either lust of conquest or lust of gain. So much, I think, may be said with certainty.

Expedition of the Sandfly was not fortunate: “The idea has been to do some good if any good was possible. But this expedition of the Sandfly was not fortunate. Either the islanders did not understand us, or we did not understand them. They endeavoured to force their way on board. An arrow was fired, and they were repulsed. None of our men were hurt, and the Sandfly went away.

Carlisle Bay, on the northern shore of the island Santa Cruz: “On the 12th of August last, the month in which I am now writing, the commodore landed on the spot off which this misfortune had taken place. It was at Carlisle Bay, on the northern shore of the island Santa Cruz, in the Santa Cruz group. He says, in a letter written to his wife on that day, “I am going on shore to the spot where the Sandfly was attacked, to see if I cannot make friends with the unfortunates. They seem most friendly, and anxious to be civil, coming out to us in canoes, and looking as if they wished for peace.” On the Tuesday following, going on with the same letter, he says, “But I was mistaken.”

Trollope’s conversations with Commodore Goodenough: “It seems that he could not endure the idea that there should be among these islands any people who should have reason to think that he or any of those under him were their enemies. The philanthropy of the man was of so warm a nature that he could not bring himself to believe evil even of them. In discussing their condition with myself, when I have, I confess, expressed doubt as to their aptitude for lessons of a high order, he has rebuked my hardness with a tenderness which was peculiar to him—with a courtesy which I think never could have forsaken him—and he has told me that his experience taught him to think that they were fit recipients for any good tidings which might be brought to them.

Commodore Goodenough’s log: “Well, on the 12th of August, in latitude about 10 south, longitude 166 east, he landed on the beach near a little village containing eight or nine huts, taking the solitary precaution of being himself the first to jump out of the boat. He had with him his secretary and five men, and was followed by a large boat with eight or ten officers and a dozen men. He had determined to go unarmed, but had allowed two men in the second boat to carry pistols with them. As he approached the shore he signalled to the ship that a third boat should be sent with arms, and this was done.

Beads and blankets: He had probably observed that the natives whom he saw clustering on the beach were not accompanied by their women and children, and, from his knowledge of the habits of the people, had taken this as betokening a want of amity. When he landed he made presents to the savages, and the usual bartering began—the exchange of cloth and hatchets for beads and teeth, and what are generallly called “curios.”

Instinct all was not well: “Then came a sharp shower of rain, and they were invited to take shelter under a shed and beneath the trees, which came close down to the shore, almost overhanging the water. Then he was invited to walk on to a larger village, about a mile distant, and started, accompanied by his secretary; but when he had gone a short distance he seemed to fear the separation between himself and his party, and returned. It is impossible to avoid feeling that he had determined to trust the islanders, with a conviction—though not quite a thorough conviction—that by doing so he might make them trustworthy, and that he had then remembered how great was his responsibility on behalf of others. He came back to the men whom he had left, and whom he had ordered not to leave the beach, and gave directions that they should go down to the boats. One or two were still bartering with natives, and in collecting them there was some little delay.

Commodore Goodenough shot with an arrow: “When the commodore had turned for the last time—or, rather, as he was turning—he saw a savage raise his bow to his hip, and in that position let fly an arrow. This struck him on his side, and as he pulled it out he renewed his orders for the men to hurry down.

Bowmen hidden in trees shoot cascade of arrows: “Then there was a flight of arrows, most of them coming from natives hidden high in the branches among the trees. Five sailors were wounded besides the commodore, and by the return fire from our men two natives were shot, and probably killed. It seems that there were about 40 or 50 of these islanders collected, and that they were all armed with bows and arrows, with the exception of one man. It was thought that the wounds received would hardly be serious unless the arrows were poisoned. While the men were in the boats the punctures were sucked, and when they had been on board for a day or two in the hands of the surgeons there was not at first much to fear.

Village burned by Goodenough’s crew: “The question of course arose whether punishment should be exacted, and, if so, what punishment. The commodore was inclined to leave them without any display of his power, remembering that the poor wretches were savages upon whom intrusion had been made, who could not know but that they had to deal with enemies who had come there to take away their young men and to steal their produce. Among those with him there was, of course, a first feeling to exact a bloody revenge for the treachery of the attack. Then he took a middle course, and ordered that the huts of the small village should be burned, giving special orders that neither a life should be taken nor a man hurt. A volley of blank cartridges was fired to frighten away the natives, and then a boat went ashore, and the huts were burned.

Wounded begin to die of tetanus: “All this happened on a Thursday, and it was not till the next Tuesday that danger was feared. Then symptoms set in from which the doctors began to perceive that the arrows had probably been poisoned. Whether they were poisoned or not is still a question; but, as three of the six men wounded died of tetanus about the eighth or ninth day, it is probable that such was the case.

Commodore Goodenough died 20 August: “Among the officers the commodore was wounded, and he was struck twice. Five sailors were struck, of whom two died, the other three regaining their health. The conduct of the gallant leader of these men, when he was told that he was to die, was perhaps more interesting to those who were with him and to those who loved him than it can be made to your readers; but perhaps I may be permitted to say that it was of a piece with the life he had lived. He had himself carried on deck, and then spoke to his men such language as I do not dare to repeat here—words that were as beautiful as they were full of hope and contentment. And he sent messages of love to his wife and children, and gave directions how the sad tidings should be broken to her before her heart should have been elated by hearing that his ship was coming into harbour. On Friday, August 20, he died; and they brought him on shore, and we buried him with his two shipmates upon the hill, on the north shore, over Sydney harbour, in one of the loveliest spots ever formed by nature. She was there, the broken-hearted widow with her two children, the knowledge of whose loss was yet hardly more than twenty-four hours old—a sight never to be forgotten.

His intentions were good says Trollope: “And we all of us had to remember that in this futile attempt to make friends with the few natives of a little island, England had lost one of her best seamen—a man tender as he was brave, a man of science, full of the highest aspirations, fit for any great work—such a one as no nation can afford to lose lightly.

Strong public feeling on need for action: “And now the question recurs with which I began this letter—what are we to do with the South Sea Islands? There will probably be a strong feeling at home that, because one of our great officers has been murdered in the execution of his duty, some vengeance should be taken; and yet can we fairly say that these islanders were to blame, acting as they did according to their lights?

Trollope – Do we need ships of war in the Pacific? “The island is theirs, and when we first went among them we exacted heavy retribution because they did not submit themselves to the overtures of peace which we were making to them. Probably there had been former visits under other flags—perhaps under our own—which had left behind them nothing but a sense of injury. It is certain that we do not mean to take possession of those lands for our own purposes—as we have done in Australia and New Zealand, in which, though our coming has exterminated, or will soon exterminate, the natives, even so sad a result as that is justified to our consciences by the opening of new homes to men of higher races. If we had all the islands lying within the tropics we could not find in them a fitting domicile for a single working European. If we look round the world within the tropics we must come to that conclusion as to the centre belt. And certainly we do not want an extended dominion over black subjects. The missionary tells us we may make Christians of them.

Trollope asks if missionaries need military backup: “I will not contradict the missionary, whose work is entitled to our loving respect. But I cannot but see that hitherto his success has hardly been sufficient to justify the assistance of our ships of war. At present it seems that we do not quite know what to do, and that we drift into the possession of undesirable so-called colonies. Perhaps the unfortunate loss which I have just recorded may lead to some fixed and definite policy in the matter.
Trollope, Anthony. The Tireless Traveler: Twenty Letters to the Liverpool Mercury. Berkeley: University of California Press, The articles, which bear Trollope’s signature, can be found on page five every Saturday from July 3, 1875, through November 13, 1875. [1978,c1941] 1978. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft1d5nb0hv/

1874: Cakabau gets a pension from the English government

Anthony Trollope wrote in 1875, “As soon as the transfer was completed, Thakombau, with some of his relatives and followers, paid a visit to Sir Hercules Robinson at Sydney, and was entertained in semi-regal state. The old man expressed himself pleased with everything, and was evidently gratified at the treatment he received. But he did not like the life. He has now gone back to his own land, and lives as a pensioner on the English Crown, with certain magisterial authority still in his hands. It is a singular termination to the career of one who has eaten his enemies, and who lived for sixty years as a heathen and a cannibal”.

Trollope, Anthony. The Tireless Traveler: Twenty Letters to the Liverpool Mercury. Berkeley:  University of California Press, The articles, which bear Trollope’s signature, can be found on page five every Saturday from July 3, 1875, through November 13, 1875.   [1978,c1941] 1978. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft1d5nb0hv/

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 for a large piece of Fiji, and a banking monopoly and tax-free status. Trollope said “For twelve years, various struggles were made to carry on a native government on European plans and with European officers.

In 1865, Cakobau elected president, constitution drafted: With American advice, “Thakombau, who had hitherto been only the first of the native chieftains, was elected president, and a constitution was formed similar to that which had been adopted under American auspices in the Sandwich Islands. (Hawaii) At this time, Thakombau’s chief minister was an American.

1868: But reliance on the United States did not last long, and in 1868 Thakombau was crowned king. There was, however, still that debt of £9000, and a clearly expressed determination on the part of the United States that the money must be forthcoming. As we know, our brethren in America are very urgent in the collection of such debts”.

The Polynesian Company offers to pay Cakobau’s debt: Then a company was formed in Melbourne, called the Polynesian Company, to whom a charter was given conferring vast rights, on condition that the £9000 should be paid. The company was to have;

– a monopoly of banking;

– freedom from taxation; and

– 200,000 acres of land.

But English paid the money, the Polynesia Co faded: “The Americans got their money, and the Polynesian Company entered in upon a small fraction of their land”.

In 1871, Thakombau, who had already been declared king, was proclaimed a constitutional sovereign, and a parliament, consisting of twenty-five members, was elected—a parliament consisting of white men. The first thing, of course—I believe I may say the on thing—the parliament did was to get into debt. Establishments and expenditure were sanctioned amounting to double the revenue which could be collected.

Civil wars break out: “The bickerings of the Europeans were incessant. Civil wars broke out among the natives, which had to be put down by a British man-of-war.

Fiji risks descent into mere nest of robbers: “Fresh offers of cession were made; and, in the meantime, King Thakombau was at his wit’s ends, and the British fortune-hunters were in terrible lack of security for their ventures.

Fortunes to be made if capital secured: “Money was borrowed at almost whatever rate of interest might be demanded. The one thing wanted was government. Cotton could be grown, and sugar, and fortunes might be made, if only some real government were possible—some security that property would be protected by law.

“Poor King Thakombau” “A Fijian parliament with poor King Thakombau at its head and self-appointed English ministers could do nothing but get into debt. Some strong staff on which the little place might lean with safety was necessary to its existence. If England would not take it, Fiji must become a mere nest of robbers, and a curse to that side of the world—especially a curse to our Australasian colonies, which are comparatively near to it.

Acceptance of the islands became a duty, and almost a necessity: “The nest of robbers and the curse might have been endured by England, were it not that it would have been a British nest. The men who were practically declaring that they were willing enough to carry on their operations honestly, under the laws, if laws were provided for them, but that, lacking laws, they must live lawlessly, were Englishmen. No minister at home would send out a man-of-war and take every Briton out of Fiji. Thus the acceptance of the islands became a duty, and almost a necessity. After repeated offers we appointed two commissioners to inquire as to the terms of cession. The terms first offered were, of course, such as could not be accepted”.

Pensions were demanded. Money was demanded. “Stipulations as to land were demanded. It was natural enough that King Thakombau should be instigated by his white ministers to ask for much, and that Englishmen living so far away from home should think that much might be got. A great power, taking on itself the burden of ruling these islands at the other side of the world, could submit to no bargaining.

Sir Hercules Robinson and the deed: “In July, 1874, our governor at New South Wales, Sir Hercules Robinson, was desired to go over to the islands and take possession of them, if the chiefs and men in authority there would unite in giving them up trustfully to British dominion. He arrived at Levuka on the 23rd of September, and on the 10th October, 1874, a deed of cession was executed at Levuka by all the chiefs, and by Sir Hercules, under which, without any terms, the islands were ceded to British rule”.
Trollope, Anthony. The Tireless Traveler: Twenty Letters to the Liverpool Mercury. Berkeley: University of California Press, The articles, which bear Trollope’s signature, can be found on page five every Saturday from July 3, 1875, through November 13, 1875. [1978,c1941] 1978. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft1d5nb0hv/

1870: Kopsen joined the missionary ship John Wesley and reached Levuka in May

KOPSEN, WILLIAM (1847-1930), manufacturer and ship-chandler, was born on 29 December 1847 and baptized Gustaf Wilhelm at Vaxholm, Sweden, only son of Erik Gustav Kopsen, marine customs house porter, and his wife Anna Greta, née Ohrstrom. His early childhood was marred by family discord and straitened circumstances. Orphaned at 15 he lived in 1862-64 on a farm at Osteraker where he was tutored by the rector Dr Samuel Ponten who encouraged Kopsen to study geography and anthropology.From 1864 Kopsen worked as a shop assistant and book-keeper in Stockholm. He migrated in 1868, reaching Sydney on 10 September.

‘seized by a longing to see the Fiji Islands’: After working as a cook and shepherd on sheep-stations near Bathurst, he went next year to the Clarence River where he bought a small boat and traded. But, ‘seized by a longing to see the Fiji Islands’, he joined the missionary ship John Wesley and reached Levuka in May 1870.

Commission agent for Swedish planters: For two years he transported cargoes round the islands and early in 1873 became a book-keeper in Levuka, while acting as commission agent for Swedish planters. In 1875 he established W. Kopsen & Co., with J. C. Smith, to import and trade in textiles and general merchandise. By the late 1870s he was a member of the hospital board, secretary of the yacht and rifle clubs, and consul for Sweden and Norway from 1881.

Married Laura Theresa Turner from Sydney: Britain had annexed Fiji in 1874 and in 1877 Kopsen was naturalized. In Levuka on 20 October he married Laura Theresa Turner from Sydney. He had sent articles about native customs, flora and fauna to a Stockholm newspaper, and donated artefacts from the South Pacific to a Swedish museum — in 1882 he was elected to the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography. ‘

Kopsen moves to Suva: When the capital was moved to Suva that year, Kopsen moved too and in 1883 became an alderman and mayor. He was a member of the Marine Board and in 1885 formed and was chairman of the Fiji Fire and Marine Insurance Co. Ltd.

Kopsen moves to Sydney: In 1889 Kopsen settled in Sydney, carrying on business at 70 Clarence Street as Smith & Kopsen, ship-chandler. After Smith retired the firm of W. Kopsen & Co. Ltd was registered in December 1905. On a cycling tour of the Snowy Mountains he became interested in a timber which locals called ‘mountain ash’. Foreseeing its commercial potential, Kopsen in 1906 built a plant at Auburn, where tests indicated its suitability for oars and implement handles. When transport of the timber proved difficult and costly, a factory was built at Laurel Hill, near Batlow, where ‘Pioneer’ oars and handles were made. By 1927 W. Kopsen & Co. Ltd were contractors to government departments and always had 10,000 oars ready for delivery within Australia and shipment to the Pacific Islands. He did much to revive the Australian timber industry and to reduce domination by American imports.

Honorary vice-consul for Sweden: From 1911 Kopsen served as foundation senior vice-president of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for Australia, New Zealand and South Sea Islands, and in 1923-28 was honorary vice-consul for Sweden. In 1914 he was largely responsible for erecting a monument at Kurnell to Daniel Solander.

Described as ‘a giant, elegant both in appearance and manners’, Kopsen had great personal charm, humanity and optimism, with the ability to organize, act quickly and take command. He had been brought up as a Lutheran, believing in the virtues of thrift, industry and self-discipline; in Australia he was a Congregationalist. He visited Sweden in 1910 and afterwards said that ‘a good wind blew over my head the day I travelled away from the old country’. Kopsen retired in 1928 and died at his home at Strathfield on 15 August 1930; he was cremated. His estate was valued for probate at £34,092. His wife, two sons and three daughters survived him. In 1983 William Kopsen & Co. was carried on by a grandson.

Select Bibliography

Sydney Chamber of Commerce, Commerce in Congress (Syd, 1909); L. Nordstrom, William Kopsen (Stockholm, 1933); Australasian Manufacturer, 30 July 1927, p 28, 39; Swedish-Australasian Trade Journal, 18, June 1931, p 363; Sydney Morning Herald, 18 Aug 1930. More on the resources

Author: B. Dale

Print Publication Details: B. Dale, ‘Kopsen, William (1847 – 1930)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, Melbourne University Press, 1983, pp 634-635.

October 1874: Chiefs sign Deed of Cession of Fiji to Great Britain

One original of the Deed of Cession was retained in Fiji, and until the late thirties of the present century was in the archives of the Colonial Government. Full text below.

C. W. Whonsbon-Aston’s 1937 sea journey, to visit to Maafu at Loma Loma

By C. W. Whonsbon-Aston in Levuka Days of a Parson in Polynesia in London: Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1937 reported on a visit to Maafu, as he was about to end his term in Levuka.

Stars of the Southern Cross overhead: Long hot tropical days, in a turtle boat, aided by a miserable breeze, sliding lazily over the waves, quietly dipping and rolling along; nights when one lay on the hatching and watched, between slight snatches of sleep, the stars above, with the welcome Southern Cross, which saved one the trouble of craning round to see if the helmsman had fallen asleep. No awning to protect one from the strong sun’s rays, no convenience of any sort–thus I returned from my visit to the isles to the windward, where my parish stretched almost half-way to Tonga. That trip was a great experience.

Ships that pass in the nightThere is a touch of romance in lying back on the deck of a small boat away out in the Pacific to hear a distant “chug, chug, chug,” and then to see in the half light of the early morning a huge white figure appear from the gloom, pass over your bows with but little illumination beyond the navigation lights, as swiftly to disappear, its “chug, chug,” apparently divorced from the silent wraith–a Matson liner passing in the night. . . .

Historic last trip on the steamer: But all this was on the way back to Levuka. The Exploring Isles or the Lau Archipelago is not an easy place to get to, but the getting back is a greater gamble. My plans were simple: merely to go by the steamer, which was making its last trip under the scheduled arrangements and was not to be replaced, calling at such places as the boat would touch at, then to go further afield in a private yacht and by that means return to Levuka: but l’homme propose et Dieu dispose.

Arrival at the pretty lagoon at the island of Mango: A jovial company kept us all on deck after we left Levuka that evening, though the path we traversed was a particularly “rocky” one. Next morning, around ten o’clock, found us in the pretty lagoon at the island of Mango. The sun shone brilliantly and there was not a ripple on the sheltered waters. I was among the first to be put ashore, in the process of which the ship’s boat passed over beautiful patches of live coral trees with all their myriad richly coloured fish darting about below us.

Visit to a planter on Mango: Later we visited the planter and his wife and son at their home away inland on the edge of a pretty crater. We spent the whole day at Mango and in the early morning were once more on our way out of the lagoon into the still heaving waters until, at about 8.30 a.m., we entered the Tongan Passage in the long reef and bore down on Loma Loma, the main centre, on the big, long island of Vanua Mbalava.

Dear old Loma Loma: Dear old sleepy Pacific island Loma Loma had awakened from its accustomed lethargy to greet us. It was a scene of great activity: the two small stores (one included the post office) were opened, men, women and children shouted, and the village dogs, fowls and pigs added their quota of joy at this new diversion. Three-quarters of an hour later the smoke of the vessel was barely to be seen on the horizon, the ship’s carpenter returned to the caulking of the Tui Matefele on the beach, the stores were closed, the livestock once more asleep, the human participants in the welcome had effaced themselves and I was sitting in a house in Maafu’s old compound enjoying the hospitality of the District Commissioner and Roko.

Remarkable figure of Fijian history: Maafu was a really remarkable figure of Fijian history. A Tongan prince of goodly lineage, he had settled on Lau in the early days as the base for his military operations against Cakabau. But for the intervention of the British Consul in those wild days, it is not improbable that he would have been in a premier position in the overlordship of Fiji. He was one of the signatories of the Deed of Cession in 1874. The Lauan people are very charming folk, inclining probably more towards Tonga in their fairness of skin and their culture”.

1874: Measles killed over 40,000 in Fiji

1874: Measles killed over 40,000 in Fiji, reportedly after Ratu Cakobau and his two sons returned from Australia, where they contracted the disease.

Fiji’s first Governor, Sir Arthur Gordon arrived from Australia.

1874: Fiji ceded to Great Britain after a meeting of the first Great Council of Chiefs

1874: On September 28 the Council of Chiefs gave Fiji unreservedly to the Queen. Following this Sir Hercules Robinson, Ratu Cakobau and Thurston went island hopping to get all the necessary signatures

October 10th; Fiji was ceded to Great Britain after a meeting of the first Great Council of Chiefs, who were there to witness the solemn occasion