Taukei ni Waluvu

Condemned by some modern day critics as exploitative, the Fijian chiefly system was the medium of native social interdependence and a traditional contract shared by the indigenous clans of pre-colonial Fiji, that was utilized for colonial rule.

James Turner a latter anthropologist found, "The chiefly families of Nairukuruku were the first in the eastern highlands of Viti Levu to declare their allegiance to the central government and as a result of this support their influence expanded throughout the area".

[7] In September 1862, zealous Methodist missionary Reverend Frederick Langham, had journeyed via Nalawa District Ra, up the Wainimala river headwaters of Viti Levu to Nakorosule-Waimaro.

"[9] As documented in Fiji Methodist history, Ratu Meli Rodavetanivalu II accepted the Lotu and became a nominal Christian through Langham on 14 September 1862 and was later baptized in 1867 by Reverend Thomas Baker on his fateful journey to Navosa.

Reverend Deane in recounting this episode stated "The 'Native of the Flood' was not proof against the high honours placed upon him by Cakobau, and after a long talk with his councillors, agreed to receive the Gospel in a nominal way an act that was fraught with gravest calamity and greatest blessing for his people.

In April 1868, as recorded by Sir John Thurston, Ratu Cakobau in retaliation of the Reverend Thomas Baker massacre at Navatusila, launched a two pronged campaign via the Rewa River and the Ra coast with the Matailobau and Waimaro-Soloira tribes as allies.

Milne's memorandum makes it quite explicit what Cakobau and the Taukei ni Waluvu's intentions were as was spelled out, "By the King's last letter(13 May 1873) the Honourable the Minister for Naive Affairs will see that it is intended to push through the hills and if necessary force all 'Colo' to submit to the general Government.

[14] In 1998, a meke -i- wau (traditional club dance) of Bukuya village in Magodro district in the Province of Ba performed for the Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, recounted the Taukei ni Waluvu's tribal skirmishes in that part of Viti Levu's western highlands.

According to Adolf Brewster,(see Joske's Thumb), Commissioner Colo East 1884–90, and elaborated by Arthur Capell, the genealogies of the hill tribes tend to go back some eleven or twelve generations from the time of his research.

[24] Rokowai's ancestry through his father, the high chief of Navunidakua is traced back to Robonowai, the son with mystical powers of Ranadi ni Namasia the daughter of the Tui Nalawa in Ra.

Clan folklore tells that Rokowai, who was the insolent and audacious youngest son in the chiefly household, had to flee the village as his brothers led by Nayacakuru had hatched a plot to harm him.

Navaulele and Ulira were the hill fortifications and pre-Christian villages of the Taukei ni Waluvu, situated just a kilometer due west from present Nairukuruku across the Wainimala river.

The chiefly clan had moved out of its hill fortification onto the Nairukuruku river plain after the conversion to Christianity by Reverend Frederick Langham of chief Ratu Meli Davetanivalu at Navaulele on 14 September 1862.

Rovucago was replaced by Roraiova's fourth son Ratu Meli Davetanivalu who on 14 September 1862 officially accepted the cloth to lotu on Rev Langham's third approach to the Siko Natabutale tribe.

[29] The cult of Visina corresponded with that of Baal and Rukuruku with Ashtoreth, the ancient deities signifying the creative and the productive powers of nature – e.g. ruku (the feminine) and sina (native spear grass) the masculine symbol.

The chiefly clan's totemic plant and animal, the Vico – native spear grass and the Vo loa – black mud fish is the living heathen symbols to the tribes masculinity and warrior class.

[30][31][32] Deed of Cession Commissioner Commodore G. J. Goodenough[33] and Reverend Frederick Langham also visited Nairukuruku on 21–22 January 1874 which was then the foremost Christianized village in the upper Wainimala river of Colo East.

The first European females to visit Nairukuruku and indeed the highlands were writer Constance Gordon-Cumming and Reverend Fredrick Langham's wife Ann Elizabeth, who had accompanied the minister to the Christian enclave village where they spent Christmas in 1875.

Imbued with his government's Christianization agenda, Cakobau led 1500 warriors of Matailobau, Naloto, Lomaiviti, Suva, Sabeto Nadi and even students of the Methodist Training School, Navuloa Bau to lay siege on this last heathen hill fort in the highlands.

[45] A local Matailobau account stated that, Ratu Cakobau had ordered his musketmen perched up trees with Snider rifles to fire volleys simultaneously in support of the final eighth assault.

Ratu Viliame Batiratu, The Colo Lieutenant Governor in Cakobau's Government and later the Buli Matailobau, with his tribal army played a supporting role in Major James Harding's Wainimala pacification campaign of Muaira, Noimalu and Nagonenicolo in 1874.

Ratu Viliame was to play a prominent role in the administration of Colo East province as the leading Buli or 'Turaga Levu' (Great Chief), from 1874 and resigning from government services in 1896 though remaining on the payroll until 1908.

Peace ensued when, on 28 October 1876, Governor Sir Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore issued a proclamation pardoning all belligerent hill tribes, bringing to a close the third chapter of the clash of cultures – one of tribal versus colonial rule in the highlands of Viti Levu.

When the Wainimala campaign of 1874 and the "little war" of 1876 in central Viti Levu were finished, Sir Arthur Gordon thought that the lately subjugated hill tribes, were scarcely fitted then for the rigidity of British Law.

The 1881 Gerrard Ansdell expedition of Colo East via the Wainimala and Wainibuka rivers is most revealing of all aspects of life in the hill province as many photographs were taken that is preserved in the Alexander Turnbull Library New Zealand today.

According to Methodist history, Reverend Thomas Baker, on his fateful journey spreading the gospel through the hills of Navosa in July 1867, passed through the Taukei ni Waluvu's Christian enclave on the east bank of the Wainimala river.

Deane, some of the Christian teachers from coastal villages who laboured spreading the gospel amongst the heathen tribes and paid the ultimate sacrifice for their faith at Navaulele were: Taitusi, from Nairai; Pita from Rewa, Rupeni from Dravo, Nafitalai from Namuka, Solomoni from Nakoroivau, Nemani, from Waikete, and Nasoni, from Buretu.

In addition to church festivities, they were treated to a spectacle of native dances and an insight into hill people tribal culture by the Taukei ni Waluvu and Buli Matailobau Ratu Viliame Batiratu.

The village banana farmers became exponents of the Viti Kabani movement and the quest by its enigmatic founder Apolosi Ranawai for native indigenous commercial enterprise against the wishes of colonial administrators.

The chiefly households of: Nakamarusi, Vuravura, Dakui, Navaulele, Nadawadamana, Nasirivatu, Navakabatiyavu, Nakacadakui, Navunisalusalu and Nacagabuli decides on the title holder who usually is the oldest male in the Siko Natabutale clan of Nairukuruku village.