There is only one way that overseas guests and even the majority of Fijian citizens can
gain access to the historically significant island of Bau. That is through FijiBure.com and
a homestay at the village of Namuka in the Talevu Province near Suva. Bau is a sacred
Fijian Island, a chiefly island, cut off from the world at large.
The garden village of Namuka is located within about twenty minutes boatride of Bau
which is situated where the Waisiliva or “silver river” meets the Pacific Ocean.
Bau means “everything included” – and so it was.
If one was to turn back the hands of time to the first days of human civilisation in these
parts one would have to go back over 1000 years when the village of Namuka became the
pivotal village in Fijian history at a time when cannibalism ruled. It was only much later,
in the 19th century, when the first missionaries likes Rev James Hunt came to these parts
that the historic nature of the small island of Bau, measuring just over 100 acres, became
the catalyst for the new Fiji as we know it today.
Historically it was from the small village of Namuka that the traditional Fijian leaders of
recent times located at Bau have their roots and even today have to harvest their crops.
You see only the Wesleyan, or Methodist, Minister can harvest crops on Bau – and he
does. Historically it was long after th village of Namuka was established that the small
island in the mouth of the Waisiliva river was inhabited and became the sanctuary for
Fijian royalty many centuries later.
For anyone who has even the mot basic understanding of Fijian history the name
Cakabau is pivotal to history in Fiji as we know it today. King Cakabau united all the
tribes throughout the Fiji islands in the 1870s because of his might and key allegiances
with other tribes in this region on the west coast of Viti Levu.
In effect Cakabau was the equivalent of the Royal King of England and the island of Bau
was his fortress.
Now homestay guests to the village of Namuka can, as a result of Bau’s historic ties with
the village, and the reputation of FijiBure.com as a force of enlightenment for the Fijian
people gain access to the traditionally closed, historic and sacred island of Bau.
Our unique day tour not only includes Bau but also the island village of Viwa. It was at
Viwa, just a half hour boat ride from Bau that the Rev John Hunt wrote the first Fijian
bible. His gravestone is situated behind the church carrying his name which looks out
over the village and the ocean below. His memorial stone stands near the point where you
will berth before being taken around this amazing island where the rare Fijian iguana,
birds, and (non-venomous) snakes still roams free. This is one of the parts of Fiji not
decimated by the mongoose brought onto by the first Indian settlers or by the equally
devastating cane toad
In fact at a time when missionaries from the London Missionary Society were spreading
the word across the globe Hunt and the Rev Lindsay had found sanctuary in this small
village of Viwa near the mouth of the Waisiliva river at the very time the colonisation of
this continent was at its peak.
This was the missionaries’ only sanctuary which came by God-given circumstances.
The King of Fiji, Cakabau, held the Chief Ratu Verami from Viwa in high esteem.
Verami was his right hand man in the 1870s when Cakabau conquered all the tribes and
villages of Fiji.
At this time the colonialist forces of France, England and the United States of America all
had the islands of Fiji in their sights – and Cakabau, living on the island of Bau, was the
man they had to get on side to achieve their expansionist roles.
Now Verami had allowed the missionaries like Hunt and Lindsay to stay at Viwa when
all other Fijian villages, including the royal village of Bau, had rejected Christianity in
favour of pagonistic rituals and cannibalism. In fact in these early days of the 1840s the
missionaries, like Thomas Baker, had a very good chance of falling into the hands of
cannibals. As a result the first Bible translated into Fijian took place at Viwa in the
1870s!
Cakabau was incensed by Verami’s acceptance of the missionaries and launched an
attack on his neighbour. His attack backfired and, as a result, in 1876 Cakabau gave his
life to Jesus. This was a pivotal time in Fijian history – its significance can only be truly
measured when you consider the cessation of Fiji to England in 1876 as a direct result of
his conversion
Modern Fiji as we know it today evolved from this cessation – the message to the Fijian
islands of this historic event coming from, yes you guessed it, the island of Bau!
Today the island of Bau’s significance remains. In 1982 Queen Elizabeth came here and
opened the venue for Fiji’s Great Council of Chiefs. At this time an amazing mausoleum
was built out of stone. The mausoleum is the home of Cakabau and his descendant’s
children. Nothing could be more sacred to the Fijian’s than this memorial.
The Burekalou or meeting house on Bau is the only remaining remnant of pre-Christian
community gathering places. The church on the island of Bau is significant because it is
built from the remains of the other 25 Burekalou established in the days before 1870.
Even the stone walls of this Methodist Church come from these historic relics of Fiji’s
pre-Christian past. The stone at the altar of this church is uniquely Fijian. It is the
“Vatunibokola” stone on which men or women ordained to die were killed by crushing
their skulls before their remains were cannibalised!
Today it s the Methodist minister alone, at the decree of Cakabau who can harvest crops
on Bau – the reason Namuka is so strategically important to this uniquely sacred symbol
of Fijian royalty.
There are three clans that live on Bau today, Soso, Lasakau, and Bau with the latter being
the most significant.