Toorak: Where the
THE word ‘Toorak’ is an aboriginal name and it means “Where the Chief is.” When Amy Augustus Huon acquired the land known by Fijian landowners as Nabucolo, with hill sites overlooking Suva Harbour, he called the estate Toorak because he was the chief of that estate at that time. Toorak was regarded since the time of the pioneers until quite recently as the best residential area in Suva.
This was reported by The Fiji Times on January 13, 1976.
Although it was named after the fashionable and exclusive suburb of Melbourne, its subsequent development scarcely justified the association.
Toorak changed hands many a times ,but one of the owners Mr Huon, a pastoralist from Australia was prominent among them all and left his mark in Toorak to this day.
He bought 80 acres in the area at $4 an acre. Three main streets in Toorak are named after him: Amy St, Augustus St and Huon St His son Charles also featured in Toorak with a street named after himCharles St, at Bagasau end of Toorak.
From what has been discovered in researches at the National Archives, the land was bought by Huon from Evans who earlier bought it from Surplice, who bought it from Brewer and Joske who bought it from Swanson and Pickering who had acquired the land from unidentified owners.
It was quite evident that Toorak was a part of a large portion of land acquired by a Melbourne company floated specifically to “buy” land offered by King Cakobau in the 1850s.
A debt arose from a claim by the United States commercial agent in Fiji, J.B. Williams, for damages alleged to have been
January 1
WESTERN Division bakers yesterday welcomed the Government’s announcement that Flour Mills of Fiji Ltd would decrease the price of baker’s flour from $319.56 a ton to $284.12. But Allan Lee, manager of Lees Trading Co of Lautoka which supplies bread to most areas in the Western Division, said his company still was concerned about the high price of normal flour used in the production of biscuits. January 2
THE Lautoka Town Council’s beautification committee will give out about 500 plants on its annual plant exchange day on Saturday. The committee’s secretary, Shiv Kumar, said they had several varieties of ornamental and pot plants and flower trees to give out. He appealed to the town residents to take part in the council’s plant exchange day and bring with them any cuttings or plants they could spare. January 3
FIJI’S nightclubs may continue operating until 2am each night. They will not be affected until 1977 by new laws requiring them to close at lam. Nightclubs whose 1976 licences were granted before the end of 1975 will be exempted from the new law which came into effect on January 1. The majority of the country’s nightclubs received their current licenses before December 31, 1975.
January 5
FONOMANU Sekona will fight anyone in the Pacific any time, provided the money is right. This was the reply by Meli Kama, Sekona’s Fiji manager, to an article by the secretary of the Professional Boxing and Wrestling Association, Mumtaz Ali, who said Sekona would be stripped of his title for not defending it. “Sekona has held the South Seas heavyweight title since October 1974 and yet we have had no takers even after repeated offers,” Kama said. January 6
TWENTY-FIVE young people from Nadi have done by Fijians from Rewa and Beqa during a fire at his store on Nukulau Island on July 4, 1849.
Later, other American citizens put forward claims, especially for damages sustained when, in 1853, the Lovoni people in back hills of Ovalau burnt the town of Levuka. In 1855, Commander Boutwell, USN, investigated all such claims and fixed the total amount at $45,000 including interest.
Ratu Seru Cakobau, being King of Fiji, had been manoeuvred into a position that the United States Government was claiming from him on behalf of its citizens.
Ratu Cakobau tried various means of settling this debt, but to no avail. formed a youth club with a view to help their community and encourage young people to grow into responsible citizens of Fiji. The Leo Youth Club of Nadi has been sponsored by the Nadi Lions Club and established in November last year. At present it is working on its first community service project - a bus shelter for the people of Wailoaloa.
January 7
A NEW road to link Nakorotubu in Ra and Dawasamu,Tailevu North, would encourage the erection of new hotels and bring about major developments in Ra, the Roko Tui Ra, Taitusi Sokiveta, said. Mr Sokiveta told The Fiji Times that the Nakorotubu-Dawasamu new development road, about 20 miles long, would cost about $40,000. He said work on the alignment of the new road had begun and construction was due to start soon.
January 8
THE Roman Catholic Bishop of Suva, Bishop Petero Mataca, will ordain a new priest, Father Tadeo Camaitoga, of Namosi, at Namosi today. Father Camaitoga was educated at St John’s College, Ovalau and Corpus Christi College where he graduated as a teacher. He began his studies for the priesthood in 1970 in Mosgiel, Dunedin, and from 1972 he continued his training at the Pacific Regional Seminary in Suva. January 9
FIJI and Australia travel agents have challenged a claim by the Australian airline Qantas that fares it wants to introduce on the Australia-Fiji route have been used successfully on the Tasman service for more than two years. The secretary of the Society of Fiji Travel Agents, (Softan) Dick Warner, said it disputed the claim. “It is believed that both Air New Zealand and Qantas are concerned with the drop in traffic on the trans-Tasman route, “he said. January 10
VILLAGERS who demanded payment before allowing fishermen to fish in certain areas at
Finally a group of go-getting Europeans stormed the Polynesian Company in Melbourne, Victoria, and agreed to pay off Ratu Cakobau’s debt to the United States and in return receive 200,000 acres of land in various parts of Fiji and certain other privileges.
Most of the land was never taken up and the privileges never eventuated either, after Fiji was ceded to Great Britain in 1874.
The company, however, did take up its land around Suva, divided it into allotments and invited settlers to take them up. This was in 1870; two years after the company got its charter from King Cakobau.
These first settlers tried to grow sugar
Ba were doing so illegally, a member of Parliament and the organising secretary of the National Federation Party, Chirag Ali Shab, said. At a public meeting the National Federation Party called at Ba on Saturday, a representative of the fishermen complained that about 80 boats which had cost them several thousand dollars were lying idle because villagers refused to allow them to fish unless each fisherman paid $150.
January 11
THE Mayor of Ba, Cr Dijendra Singh, was branded as a dictator and criticised for his attitude in the municipal strike there by the general, secretary of the Fiji Municipal Workers’ Union, Ujagar Singh, the Opposition Whip, Karam Ramrakha and the Leader of the Opposition, Siddiq Koya. At a public meeting the National Federation Party held at Ba on Saturday, Mr Singh said it was for the cause of justice that the 36 municipal workers united and remained on strike for more than 70 days. January 13
SUVA City Council is still considering proposal to establish a special area for handcraft hawkers to sell their wares. The Mayor of Suva, Cr Len Usher, said the problem of hawkers was difficult. Hawkers were supposed to keep moving all the time, but this was difficult, if not impossible, and the council was inclined to turn a blind eye.
January 14
SUVA City Council has appealed to motorists not to use the Fletcher Rd, Vatuwaqa, for the next few days. It said heavy vehicles in particular should use Grantham Rd instead of Fletcher Rd as a through route. Drivers of buses and cars which needed to travel on Fletcher Rd to gain access to houses along the road were asked to drive slowly.
January 15
PRELIMINARY work has begun on a new $1,500,000 cannery for Pacific Co Ltd at Levuka. and a sugar-mill was in fact set up about half way along the waterfront in what is now one of the chief business street - Victoria Parade.
Neither the settlers nor the new millers were experienced in making sugar and technical difficulties led to the abandoning of the enterprise.
Most of the cane lands reverted to nature and Suva lay dormant until 1877 when the three-year-old Fiji colonial government was looking for an alternative capital to Levuka on the island of Ovalau.
The Government bought land from the Polynesian Company and marked out a township area one mile square, one side beginning just south of Walu Bay and taking in the harbour front as far as old Suva village, which is now the Botanical Gardens and Government House area.
According to records, the standing of the company was never high with officialdom.
After Cession most of the appeals for the land granted under King Cakobau’s charter failed, but the Government agreed to refund the money paid to square the United States debt and gave legal titles to some of the settlers who had bought land from the company.
But one relic of the company days remains in Suva - the area known as Toorak and it is quite probable that Amy Augustus Huon came from Toorak in Melbourne.
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The director of PAFCO, Kato Tomiva, said yesterday a $250,000 construction contract had been awarded to Marlows Ltd. He said construction was due to start on January 5 and it would take 20 weeks to complete the 3000 square feet cannery. He said machines and building material arrived from Japan last month.
January 16
DELIVERY of two big electricity generators a British company is building for Suva City Council has been delayed indefinitely by a strike. The generators, costing more than $1 million, were due to have undergone tests at a factory in Britain last month in the presence of SCC representatives. The manufacturer, Crossley-Premier Engines Ltd, has now told the council that a strike at its factory has delayed all work on them.
January 18
THE new Government ship, Kaunitoni, whose maiden voyage has long been delayed, may leave for Lau on Wednesday. A spokesman for the Marine Department said Kaunitoni was out on trial runs in Suva Harbour and if all went well she would be able to start loading at Princes Wharf. He said the officers and crew of the ship took her out on a trial run around the harbour on Thursday afternoon. January 20
EX-HEAVYWEIGHT boxer, Sitiveni Matalaba, better known in the ring as S.Joe Louis, has been given a chance to fight a top-ranking heavyweight in Fiji. Matalaba (37), who late last year issued a challenge to fight any Tongan boxers coming to Fiji, is now training hard for his fight with the winner of the VeikosoSunia Cama match. The ex-boxer said he had been in constant training and he was certain of beating either if they were to meet. January 22
A STATEMENT in The Fiji Times yesterday said a “further increase” of $2 a ton in the