AS a young boy growing up, I learnt in school how a house on Nukulau Island resulted in Fiji being ceded to Great Britain by self-proclaimed Tui Viti Ratu Seru Cakobau.
That house belonged to an American, John Brown Williams.
Over the years I have wondered how was it an American was on the island, let alone owning it.
History tells us that decades after the incident, a former governor of Fiji Sir Arthur Gordon ruled after an extensive deliberation by the Native Lands Commission the island was sold illegally and should be returned to its rightful owners — the people of Vutia, Rewa. After careful consideration it was confirmed a Ro Cokanauto had sold the island to Williams.
Ro Cokanauto was the brother of Ro Qaraniqio the sons of Ro Tabaiwalu the then Roko Tui Dreketi (paramount chief of Rewa).
Ro Tabaiwalu had two wives.
The first, Ro Waqainaweni, was from the chiefly household of the Roko Tui Bau family on Bau. With her he begot Ro Kania, Ro Qaraniqio and Ro Batinivuaka.
His second wife, Ro Salaiwai, was from the chiefly household of the Vunivalu family in Kaba of which Ro Cokanauto was the fourth child.
The two brothers argued over the title of the Roko Tui Dreketi and the dispute led to Ro Cokaunauto seeking refuge at Nawi next to Nukui in the Rewa delta.
Ro Cokanauto was known as the first chief in Fiji to board a foreign ship and travel overseas. He was also known to have brought cattle to Fiji on his return from Tahiti.
Upon his return a bull and a cow were dropped off in Rewa, while another bull and a cow were taken to Macuata. History states Macuata was first to have a cattle farm.
Ro Cokanauto was also known to have befriended a lot of visitors who visited Fiji. Accordingly, it happened to be that they were on the best of terms with Williams.
Born on September 20, 1810 Williams came to the country in the early 1840s as the US commercial agent in Fiji.
According to the New Zealand Journal writing on the life of John B Williams and published by the Victoria University of Wellington “his relations with the chiefs and tribesmen seem to have been good; he made frequent trips into the mountainous interior where, he wrote, no other white man had ever ventured, was hospitably received, and addressed by the natives as Tui America (King of America).”
One thing for sure he (Williams) had a great personality and had great attributes that according to a letter he wrote to his mother on October 24 1847 he was well known and liked by the natives in Fiji and also Rotuma.
“The natives of Rotumah say they would give up their island for me, and be under me, but never to the French or the English. I observed to them that it was contrary to our Constitution to colonise, but our consuls are appointed to all parts of the world, their reply was, ‘that was good talk, we like it, we want you to live here, and not go to Feeje.’
“The remark of the head chief Feejee, ‘you live in Feejee as long as I live, you no stop Rotumah’.
“My reply was where my duties call me, there I must go.”
Cokanauto and Williams had been very close friends, such was their connection that Cokanauto sold Nukulau Island for only $US30.
According to the New Zealand Journal this friendship did not stand in the way when Williams demanded for compensation following the burning of the trade store on the island.
“He (Williams) reported to the Secretary of State on 25 July, 1849 that ‘a melancholy fire occurred in consequence of my men firing the national salute on the 4th of July, on this Grand Epoch, the jubilee of our Independence.’ Blazing wadding from the saluting cannon struck and set fire to a native hut, spread quickly to Williams’s property and destroyed his house, furniture, business and consular records.
“As the fire spread, the natives emptied the dwelling and storage sheds, but later stole most of what they had salvaged from the flames and disappeared with their booty into the jungle.
“Although Williams was on the best of terms with Thokomant (Cokanauto), or Philips, the chief of this portion of the island, it did not avail him much in the return of his goods.
“Persuasion failing, Williams threatened the vengeance of the United States Government, but as there had been no United States ship of war in the Fijis since the Wilkes Expedition in 1840, this threat was taken lightly.
“Williams had to content himself with making a legal claim against the chief of Bau, and wait with what patience he could muster for the arrival of a United States ship of war. The prosecution of this claim was to become the absorbing interest of Williams’s life.”
The journal further reported after the interception of Ratu Seru Cakobau and assistance of the British that in “1869 the claims were finally collected and forwarded to the US Treasury in three payments during 1869, 1870 and 1871”.
It was reported John B Williams’s share amounted to $19,365.50 which was paid to his estate.
In 1874, the US consul in Fiji sold Williams’s Levuka property for $11,664. This finally liquidated the holdings of the controversial American consul and commercial agent well over a decade after his death.
In 1874 Fiji was ceded to Great Britain.
On September 28, 1881 after a commission of inquiry by the Native Lands Commission, Governor Sir Arthur Gordon ruled the island was illegally sold and Ro Cokanauto did not have the right, authority to sell the island on June 8, 1846.
The writ of judgment of 1881 read: “The claims of the heirs of JB Williams to this island was disallowed on the grounds the vendor had no right to sell; that the deed was of a most unsatisfactory character; that there had been no sufficient occupation; and that there had been long use by the natives
“On a careful review of the whole case, the Governor in Council consider that the vendors had no right to sell the land; the deed is in favour of several parties, of whom one alone cannot now claim to the exclusion of the others.”
The judgment stated there was no confirmation either that at the time of the dealing, Ro Cokanauto was installed chief of Rewa. In addition, the fact that the signatories of its traditional owners — the people of Vutia were not taken into consideration gave more grounds to justify that the land was in fact sold illegally.
Following that judgment, in 1892 government leased the island from the people of Vutia especially the Mataqali Naocodogo. In 1907 the island was sold without the consent of the owners and to date there has been no confirmation whether that land will ever be returned to its owners.
On a recent trip to the island a signboard read that in order to visit the island one, must first get approval from the permanent secretary for Lands and Mineral Resources.
Jaqueline Leckie in her abstract for Return to Nukulau: The Trouble Waters of Ethno-Nationalism in Fiji wrote: “Nukulau became a quarantine station for most of the 60,000 Indians who came to Fiji as indentured labourers. They waited on this tiny space, often for months, until officials decided they were fit to labour.”
The island is also famous for having accommodated George Speight and his band of 2000 coup conspirators.
In 2008 it was reported the Rewa Provincial Council had given its blessings towards a proposal to have an $8 million resort on Nukulau.
The planned resort would feature a conference, facility, accommodation for 200 guests, The plan, to make it an environmentally-friendly resort, has been put on hold.
Hopefully, this plan will eventually realised to show what can be called the Rewa group of islands — Makuluva, Namuka and Laucala — has the potential to be developed into five-star island resorts similar to that in the Western Division and other parts of Fiji.
Nukulau is close to Suva lying about 10 miles off its coast. It is rich in history, and has played a pivotal role in Fiji’s demographic and political development over the past 160 years. If there is something that needs to be done on the island, let us protect it and declare it a National Heritage site.
