The hand over of Fiji

THE following are snapshots of historic events covered by The Fiji Times newspaper from 1869 to present. These events reveal a depth of information recorded within the pages of The Fiji Times for 150 years.

Deed of Cession

THE Deed of Cession was signed on October 10, 1874 by 13 chiefs and Sir Hercules Robinson who acted on behalf of the British Crown.

The historic document allowed the handover of Fiji to Great Britain.

Upon signing, the chiefs gave full sovereignty to Her Majesty the Queen of England. Before this, a formal cession of Fiji was made and accepted by Great Britain in September.

The proceedings took place at the Government Buildings, Nasova.

Copies of the Deed of Cession were prepared in both English and Fijian.

Saturday, October 16, 1869 Discussion on Suva boundary

A meeting was held at Lami between the sub-Mmanager of the Polynesia Company Ltd,and the chiefs of Suva and Lami. The object of the meeting was to inquire into the action of some of the Lami people in preventing the surveyors from going on with the survey on the site selected for the future town of Suva.

The Lami people stated that it was not their intention to prevent the company from taking possession, but simply a wish to know where the exact boundaries extended.

It was explained to them that the company only wanted to occupy such land as had already been ceded by the Vunivalu Cakobau, after which the country was walked over, and the people were satisfied with the boundaries pointed out to them.

Saturday, February 26, 1870 Offer of sovereignty

The first offer of the sovereignty of these islands to the British Government was considered and a Commission was sent out to report upon its desirability.

June 5, 1875 First governor

Sir Arthur Gordon, is appointed the first Governor of Fiji by Queen Victoria.

May 17, 1879 Arrival of indentured labourers

The ship Leonidas, captained by McLachlan arrived into Fiji ports on Wednesday May 14 after leaving Calcutta on March 3.

On board was Fiji’s first indentured labourers from India.

Picture: FILE When the Cession memorial was unveiled at Nasova, Levuka, on December 3, 1938, the lali was beaten by Takalaigau, who claimed that as a young man in 1874, he had performed the same task when Sir Hercules Robinson came ashore at the same spot he stood to sign the Deed of Cession.