AT the time before its development, Yanuca Island was known only as an archaeological site where some of the earliest remains found in Fiji were excavated. According to radiocarbon dating by archaeologists, Yanuca was inhabited about 1200BC. The island comprised 109 acres of crown land and was covered with hundreds of coconut and mango trees and dense undergrowth.
A member of the chiefly family of Cuvu lived on the island and cultivated root crops, raised goats and planted pawpaw trees.
The first recorded “sale” of the island dated back to 1865 when Ratu Kini Nanovo (the Ka Levu — Paramount Chief of Nadroga, and one of the 13 signatories who ceded Fiji to Great Britain in 1874) and his brother Ratu Penijamini Navidividinisiga and one Ruviqi traded Yanuca Island to Francis Henry Davis, merchant of Nasoata, Rewa, for 13 muskets, 100 bullets, 30 canisters of powder and some axes. However, it was not until 1883 when Crown Grant no 992 in respect of Yanuca Island was issued in the name of Francis Henry Davis.
The island then came in possession of William Scott (barrister and solicitor of Suva) in the late 1880s. After his death it was transferred to the secretary of Native Affairs to be the trustee in 1909.
The island has since been returned to the chiefly family of the Ka Levu and a senior member, Ratu Kini Nanovo Vosailagi, is now the chairman of trustees.
