Many people do not know about this place even though they may pass it every day. It is a place where some children are said to have been crushed to death years ago.
Three weeks ago, The Sunday Times visited the area in Rakiraki and obtained two different versions of events. A further investigation has led to a different version of what happened, as per stories passed down generations.
However, it still does not prove whether the incident did happen and when, if it really happened, as elders have only heard stories when they were small boys.
Today, the Tu Navatu, Ratu Akuila Kubou, tells us what he knows about the incident through stories from his aunt.
IT is a boulder that is metres away from the Kings Rd at Vitawa in Rakiraki. The boulder is covered with bushes and some branches thrown there by someone is slightly visible from the road.
But what is there with this boulder that it is or should be of interest?
Stories have been passed down the generations about this boulder, which is said to have been in the same spot for years. And directly opposite it on top of a rocky mountain is said to be the other half, after the one lying near the road broke and came tumbling down.
The boulder that is said to have crushed some children to death is on the right near a bend at Vitawa if one is travelling from Tavua to Rakiraki.
Three weeks ago, we reported Vitawa villager Inia Waqa’s version of what he heard from his grandfather about the boulder when he was a boy.
“According to the story told to me by my grandfather, there was a pond next to where the Kings Rd is,” he said.
“One day some children from Vitawa Village went to the pond for a swim. They were making noise while swimming and causing a disturbance.
“All of a sudden, a piece of the mountain opposite the pond split into two from right on top and went tumbling down.
“The last turn that it made covered the pond. From that day there is no pond and the boulder is still sitting there as it cannot be moved.”
Mr Waqa, 57, said he was not told by his grandfather about the number of children who were swimming in the pond when the boulder covered it.
Narayan Singh, 40, of Wairuku in Rakiraki said he was about 10 years old when he heard that three children were crushed by the boulder while on their way home from school.
Then there is another version as told by the Tu Navatu, Ratu Akuila Kubou, 66, who is from Vitawa Village, where the children reportedly crushed to death were from.
Ratu Akuila’s account of the incident was narrated to him by his aunt.
“Five children were bathing in the pond which is metres away from where the Kings Rd is now on a Sunday and making noise,” he said. “Since Sunday is a taboo day, they were not supposed to have gone to the pond. They were making noise and the rock broke right on top and went tumbling down.
“When the boulder tumbled down, it buried the pond and the children and rested there.
“From the stories told to me, if one of the five children had survived the incident, then the remaining half would have come down too.”
Ratu Akuila said from what he was told, the children were from Vitawa Village.
“Before, when it’s Sunday and for instance if you live in Narewa Village, then you can’t come to Vitawa Village, and vice versa.
“You would have had to stay in your village on Sunday and wait until Monday morning comes, no matter what important things one had to attend to.
“So from what I was told, this incident happened because the children had breached the Sunday taboo by going to bath in the pond.
“My aunt told me the story and it’s one that has been told from the place where the first Vitawa Village was several years ago.”
Ratu Akuila said Vitawa Village was now at its third site, facing their sacred rock, Uluinavatu.
“It’s a very old story. The story about the boulder is from our forefathers’ time,” he said.
He could not recall being told when the incident happened.
A 78-year-old villager of Vitawa also said he had heard the same story. He also said it was a very old story that has been passed down the generations.
While stories passed down the generations suggest that the incident happened, there is no confirmation on when it happened and how many children died, if it really happened.
Until such time some written evidence comes up on the story of the boulder, what lies underneath it and if the rock at the top is its remaining half, no one will be the wiser — it will remain a mystery.
