IT is a place that has some connections to the country’s historical past.
One thing in particular is that this is where the country’s first sugar mill was located.
The then Colonial Sugar Refining Company (Fiji) is reported to have started crushing sugar cane in Nausori in 1882.
Three years earlier, in 1879, the first group of indentured labourers was brought to Fiji from India to work in the sugarcane fields.
In 1881, there was an influx of indentured labourers and most of them are believed to have settled in the Nausori area because the country’s first sugar mill was situated there.
Apart from sugar cane, farmers also planted rice in the district.
As the district progressed over the years because of the then thriving sugar industry, Nausori was declared a township and enforced on July 17, 1931.
Since being declared a town, Nausori is traditionally regarded as the connecting hub for people from Tailevu, Naitasiri and Rewa provinces.
According to the Nausori Town Council website, the town boundary was altered in 1954 and another alteration to boundaries came into force on August 1, 1961, and the former CSR compound was incorporated in the township.
The council’s website says a further alteration to the township boundaries was done on September 17, 1973.
The Nausori sugar mill was shut down in 1959 because of low sugar content in the cane supplied, according to Wikipedia.
But despite this, the township grew steadily over the years.
The migration of people to the Suva-Nausori corridor in the late 1990s, mainly from Vanua Levu because of the expiry of Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Act leases, saw a sudden increase in its population.
With this increase came the sudden rise in economic activity in Nausori Town.
However, the real potential of the town is still said by many people to be untapped.
Considering the connection of the township and the district to some of Fiji’s historical past, it stands a great chance of being a tourist attraction.
According to the council’s website, these include old fortified village monuments and buildings left behind by the indentured labourers.
It says fortified villages established in the early colonial era have been sighted in Kuku, Nausori which dates back to the 1200s to 1500s.
Other memorial artefacts in the township include the Syria monument, which is close to the old Rewa Bridge and Syria Park.
The monument was erected in memory of indentured labourers who perished when the vessel, Syria, which they were on ran aground on Naselai Reef in Rewa in 1884.
Most of those on board the ship were rescued by nearby villagers and the then colonial government officials and they settled in various parts of the Central Division.
The graves of those who died are situated along the beach at Nasilai, a few hundred metres away from where a part of the wrecked ship is still at sea and visible during low tide.
Apart from this, other historical landmarks include the indentured labourers quarters, CSR quarters and the country’s first Methodist missionaries building that was built in Davuilevu.
The town also has the famous Ratu Cakobau Park.
Some distance away from the town is a temple that was started by indentured labourers and is frequently visited by Hindus even today.
On November 11 last year, the centennial anniversary to mark the arrival of the last shipload of indentured labourers was also held in Nausori.
Despite a lot of history ranging from the start of the country’s first sugar mill to the first Methodist missionaries’ building, the town is still seen by many people as a normal urban centre.
However, it has been developing slowly over the years with the construction of a new market for vendors from the three provinces and a new bus stand.
The new market and bus stand were opened by the Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama in 2015, and there are other developments planned for the town.
The town’s new extension of Naulu and Nakasi, which is said to have been a sugarcane farming area in the colonial era, is said to be the fastest developing suburb in the country.
It could mainly be because of the hundreds of people moving closer to the Capital City from the Northern Division in search of a better life.
With a huge potential for economic growth in the township, the Government has set the ball rolling by shifting the Nausori market and bus stand to their new locations.
And the proposed extension of the Nausori International Airport is projected to bring additional benefits to the town, hopefully with tourists visiting the historical sites in and around the town.
