In Fiji, Turaga na Roko Tui Bau is a vassal chief of the Vunivalu of Bau (the chief of the post-Cakobau enclaves of the Kubuna confederacy).[1] From his seat at the residence of Naicobocobo, the Roko Tui Bau rules the Vusaratu chiefs (including the Roko Tui Viwa, Roko Tui Kiuva, and Rokodurucoko) and has relationships with the Roko Tui Dreketi, Ratu Mai Verata, Roko Tui Namata, Roko Tui Veikau, Tui Vuya and other members of Fiji's House of Chiefs.
The title is not received by primogeniture, but the candidate must be a high-ranking member of the Vusaratu clan. The Roko Tui Bau is a subordinate chief, and the selection process is independent of the Vunivalu of Bau and his Tui Kaba clan.
Status
The Vunivalu was not always the senior chieftain in Kubuna and Bau; the title was considered subordinate to the Roko Tui Bau.[2][3] Power struggles resulted in Vunivalu Tanoa Visawaqa undertaking a 17th-century expedition to the interior (Naitasiri) of Vitilevu; he was captured and held hostage until his release by Veremi of Wainikelei in Moala, whose people now occupy the highlands of Sera, Ra, Naitasiri, and Vugalei. The lineage is said to be from the eldest son of Ratu mai Vereta, who presumably died on his maiden voyage after landing at Qaliqali in Moala. His clan knew themselves as Wainikelei through Kapaiwai Mara, who advised councillors of Bau to seek Wainikelei help after the eighth conquest by Namosi failed.[2][4]
Origin in folklore
According to myth, the Fijians originated in Tanganyika.[5] Tura landed at Naicobocobo (Bua);[6] his eldest son Lutunasobasoba[7] landed at Vuda Point,[6] and Degei and his siblings landed on the Rakiraki coast.[6]
Fiji was already occupied when they arrived.
The Nakauvadra Mountains in 1860
Among them were the descendants of Koya Na Sau, the eldest son of Tui Waicala-na-vanua I's 11 children, from whom the first Roko Tui Bau derived. He was known as Ratu Vueti, the son of Ratu Vaula, the son of Ratu Vula (or Ra-Vula) from Moturiki, and his mother was Buisavulu (Lutunasobasoba's eldest daughter).
After the Nakauvadra war, Ratu Vueti left via Nakorotubu, where he had his firstborn child (a son, the original Gonesau[8] or 'child with supernatural power', named Nadurucoko). He was born to a woman from Suva in Bureiwai, Nakorotubu District.[9]
Nadurucoko was the father of Nailatikau Nabuinivuaka, the first Vunivalu of Bau and Kubuna.[10][11]
When Ratu Vueti reached Moturiki, he returned to Bau Island and ordered the construction of a temple to bury the sacred stone (tawake kei Viti) in its foundation mound. The temple is known as Vatanitawake ("the shelter of Fiji").[12]
The Moturiki group were lineal descendants of Ratu Vueti's three sons. They became the three Tokatoka of Vuaniivi, Nacokadi and Nadruguca, and were the first to settle in Kubuna. Ratu Vueti was buried there, in a mound known as Tabukasivi, and was worshiped in the form of a serpent. After his death, a division arose over the installation of a successor to Vueti. A new Roko Tui Bau, Ratu Serumataidrau, was selected from the senior Vuaniivi line.[6]
Those who went to Moala Island travelled more and were led by lineal descendants of Roko Nadurucoko, claiming collateral descent from Ratu Vueti. They dispersed to Totoya and Tonga; some returned, regrouping first in Verata and then in Nayavu (second time). From there, they split. One group left Nayavu to settle on the Kaba peninsula (adopting the name Tui Kaba); the second group, known as the Vunivalu, continued to Viria before ending up in Ovea.[13]
Although all groups acknowledged the Roko Tui Bau as paramount, they were independent due to geographic separation. The Roko Tui Bau settled on the island of Ulunivuaka, which was already home to the Butoni and Levuka peoples.[14] The island was renamed Bau, in honour of the Roko Tui Bau. The Vusaratu and the Tui Kaba, with their Vusaradave warriors, were the first to settle the island; the Butoni were expelled, to resettle in Namacu on Koro Island. The Levuka remained as fishers and sailors, moving to the hill in the center of the island.[15]
In 1760, the Vunivalu people reportedly learned that the Levuka were keeping the best seafood for themselves and presenting smaller fish as tribute. Nailatikau (chief of the Tokatoka Vunivalu) expelled the Butoni, who settled on Lakeba). He also adopted the additional name of Nadurucoko and established himself as the first Vunivalu of Bau (secular chief), reunifying the two groups who had split on Moala Island and taking the title of Tui Kaba.[16][17][18]
Nailatikau was succeeded by Banuve, who reclaimed wide areas of the adjacent reef flats and built stone docks and sea walls during his 30 years as Vunivalu. He allowed fishers from Beqa and Kadavu Islands to settle on the island and establish the villages of Lasakau and Soso. The Lasakau sea warriors formed the core of the Bauan navy.[19]
^ abApologies to Thucydides: Understanding History as culture and Vice Versa – pages 27, 52, 63, 162, 198, 211, 216, 233, 249,
^Fiji’s Heritage a history of Fiji by Kim Gravelle, reprinted under its new name in 2000; it was originally published as Fiji Times: a history of Fiji in 1979. ISBN982-214-001-0, Published by Tiara enterprises Nadi, Part 10 Page 44 – reference to a paper by Deve Toganivalu documenting Bauan prehistory and the superiority of the Roko Tui Bau as supreme chief of Bau and the Vunivalu as his second.
^Lutunasobasoba, a legendary chief who may have led a migration to Fiji during the 1500s and landed at Vuda (known as the First Landing). In fact, he was preceded by Melanesians from the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Accounts differ about whether he remained there, died there, or travelled to the Nakauvadra Range or Verata. He was accompanied by Degei who settled at Nakauvadra. This whole movement introduced the notions of aristocratic chiefs, a foreign notion to earlier immigrants. Fijian–English Dictionary: with notes on Fijian culture and natural history-Ronald Gatty. Suva,Fiji, pg 149, 2009.
^Gonesau n. chiefly title, centred in Ra province in the area of Nakorotubu. There is confusion and dispute as to the origin and lineage associated with this title. There is no tradition of a formal installation ceremony. Close connection to super-tribe Dewala and the early history of Bau Island. The origin has a very close relationship with Bau. Curiously, this title has no extensive territory and no direct control over any extensive tribe. N. L. C. official report lists the title as Na Sau. Fijian–English Dictionary: with notes on Fijian culture and natural history. Ronald Gatty. Suva, Fiji: 2009.
^Native Lands Commission (NLC), Ratu Meli Salabogi (2), 1918.
^Native Lands Commission (NLC), Tukutuku ni Yavusa Kubuna. Ratu Isoa Natuituba, 1918
^Genealogy on the Origin of the 1st Vunivalu from Nakorotubu, Ra presented on page 31 by the late Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, Roko Tui Bau and 2006-2009 Vice President of Fiji in The Life and Times of Cakobau: The Bauan State to 1855, a Ph.D thesis submitted to the University of Otago by Hurray P. Heasley, August 2010.
^Archeological Investigation of Vatanitawake; A Ceremonial Mound on the Island of Bau. Tui Viti is mentioned on p. 103.
^"Na Sala Vakavanua: A Study in Fijian Ethnology and Customs", unpublished paper (1942).
Voyage Round the World: Embracing the Principal Events of the Narrative of the United States... - Page 383, by Charles Wilkes - 1849
Elites: choice, leadership and succession - Page 116, by João de Pina-Cabral, Antónia Pedroso de Lima - Social Science - 2000
The Fijians - Page 62, 1908.
The Golden Bough A Study in Magic and Religion: A New Abridgement from the Second and Third Editions - Page 149, by Sir James George Frazer - 1998.
‘Matanitu’ the struggle for power in early Fiji by David Routledge 1985 – published by the Institute of Pacific studies and the University of the South Pacific Fiji, Chapter 2 Struggle between the Chiefs 1760 to 1842 Page 40,56
Tukutuku Raraba – History of Bau – Chapter 1 Page 1, records tabulated by the Native Lands and Fisheries Commission, the book The Pacific Way – A Memoir by Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara published by the University of Hawaii press Honolulu refers to the ‘Tukutuku Raraba’ as the ‘registrar of land owners rights and customs’
Oceania By University of Sydney, Australian National Research Council - 1930.
Fiji's Heritage a history of Fiji by Kim Gravelle reprinted under its new name in 2000 it was originally published as Fiji Times a history of Fiji in 1979. ISBN982-214-001-0, Published by Tiara enterprises Nadi.
