Roko Tui Bau

Turaga na Roko Tui Bau is a vassal chief to the Vunivalu of Bau, Paramount Chief of the Kubuna Confederacy.[1]

Nobility of Fiji
Titles
Institutions
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Rotuman Traditional Leadership

From his seat at the chiefly residence of Naicobocobo, the Roko Tui Bau is Suzerain of the Vusaratu chiefs which include the Roko Tui Viwa, Roko Tui Kiuva, Tui Nuku and has special relationships with the related titles of Roko Tui Dreketi, Ratu Mai Verata, Roko Tui Namata, Roko Tui Veikau, Tui Vuya and many other chiefly titles in Fiji's Chiefly Households.

The succession to the title does not follow primogeniture, but the candidate must be a high-ranking member of the Vusaratu clan. Although the Roko Tui Bau is technically a subordinate chief, the selection process is completely independent of the Vunivalu 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 to gain power resulted Vunivalu Tanoa Visawaqa expedition to the interior (Naitasiri) of Vitilevu (1600-1700) only to be captured and held hostage only to be released by a ninth rescue party to the area from the edlest progency of the Ratu that was assumed missing on his maiden voyage, through Kapaiwai Mara. [2][4] His son Seru Epenisa Cakobau was not born and raised at Bau, but used his acquired knowledge to subvert the Lasakau people to plot and execute the overthrow of the ruling group, led by Ratu Ravulo Vakayaliyalo, in 1837; Seru Epenisa Cakobau then reinstated his fathers legacy through his quest with the help of British colonizing compatriots.

Origins in folklore

According to legend, the Fijians originated from Tanganyika in Africa.[5]

The arrival of Tura (landed at Naicobocobo, Bua),[6] his eldest son Lutunasobasoba [7] (landed at Vuda)[8] and Degei & siblings (landed at the Rakiraki coast) [9]

Nakauvadra Mountains 1860

Vueti (Lutunasobasoba's great grandson) was given a sacred stone by the chiefs of Fiji at Nakauvadra because he had defeated the Tui Viti's twin sons at Nakauvadra. After the Nakauvadra war, Vueti left via Nakorotubu where he had his first (1st) born child, a son, the original Gonesau [10] or 'child with supernatural power', called Nadurucoko who was born through supernatural circumstances with a women from Suva in Bureiwai, Nakorotubu.[11]

Nadurucoko the original Gonesau, was the father of Nailatikau Nabuinivuaka, the first (1st) Vunivalu of Bau and Kubuna.[12] [13]

When he reached Bau island, he ordered for a sacred temple to be built and buried the sacred stone (tawake kei Viti) at the foundation mound and named the temple as Vatanitawake translated as 'the shelter or shelve of the signifying authority award/flag of Fiji'.[14]

The Moturiki group were direct lineal descendants of Vueti's three sons. They became the three Tokatoka of Vuaniivi, Nacokadi and Nadruguca and comprised the Mataqali Vusaratu and were the first to settle at Kubuna. Vueti is buried at Kubuna in a mound called Tabukasivi, and was deified and became the ancestral god of the people of Kubuna, they worshiped him in the form of a serpent. After his death a division arose over the installation of a successor to Vueti. Eventually a new Roko Tui Bau, Ratu Serumataidrau, was selected from the Vuaniivi, which was the senior line.[15]

Those that went to Moala travelled considerably more and were led by lineal descendants of Roko Nadurucoko and therefore claimed collateral descent from Vueti. They dispersed to Totoya and even to Tonga. Some returned and they gathered once again first at Verata then at Nayavu (second time). From there they split, one group left Nayavu to settle at Kaba peninsula, they took the name Tui Kaba. The second group called the Vunivalu continued travelling first to Viria, before ending up at Ovea.[16]

All groups acknowledged the Roko Tui Bau as paramount but due to their separation, they were quite independent as well. At some point, the Roko Tui Bau settled on the island called Ulunivuaka that was already home to the Butoni and Levuka people[17] The island was renamed Bau in honour of the Roko Tui Bau. The Vusaratu and the Tui Kaba, together with their warriors of the Vusaradave were the first to settle the island, the Butoni were expelled to resettle at Namacu in Koro. The Levuka remained and served as fisherfolk and navy, moving to the hill on the center of the island to leave the more desirable spots to their social betters.[18]

In 1760, legend has it that the Vunivalu people found that the Levuka were keeping the choicest seafood and deepsea fish for themselves and presenting smaller specimens for the Sevu or tribute. In retaliation, Nailatikau, chief of the Tokatoka Vunivalu promptly expelled the Butoni (who eventually settled at Lakeba). In the same move, he took the additional name Nadurucoko established himself as the first Vunivalu of Bau or secular chief, reunifying the two groups that had originally split at Moala and aggregating to himself the title of Tui Kaba, much to the chagrin of the latter as they were the senior line of Nadurucoko I.[19][20][21]

Nailatikau was succeeded by Banuve, who in the 30 years as Vunivalu, reclaimed wide areas of the adjacent reef flats and built up stone docks and sea walls. He allowed new fisherfolk from Beqa and Kadavu to settle on the island and establish the villages of Lasakau and Soso. Those of Lasakau were the core of the new Bauan navy.[22]

See also

Footnotes
  1. The Fijians - Page 62, 1908.
  2. Apologies to Thucydides: Understanding History as culture and Vice Versa – pages 27, 52, 63, 162, 198, 211, 216, 233, 249,
  3. 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. ISBN 982-214-001-0, Published by Tiara enterprises Nadi, Part 10 Page 44 – reference to Paper by Deve Toganivalu documenting Bauan pre-history and the superiority of the Roko Tui Bau as supreme Chief of Bau and the Vunivalu as his second.
  4. Oceania By University of Sydney, Australian National University. Ratu Tanoa and the battle at Lomaloma secures his supremacy
  5. Eräsaari, Matti (2015). "The iTaukei Chief: Value and Alterity in Verata". Journal de la Société des Océanistes (141): 239–254. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  6. Ai Tukutuku kei Viti. Methodist Missionary Magazine (April) Epeli Rokowaqa, 1926.Republished as 'Viti Makawa', Kolinio Meo.
  7. Lutunasobasoba n. name of legendary chief who led a migration to Fiji perhaps in the 1500s, landing at Vuda, a story often touted as the First Landing. In fact he was long preceded by Melanesians from the Solomons and Vanuatu. Stories differ, whether he remained there, died there, or travelled on to Nakauvadra Range, or even went on to Verata before dying. 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.
  8. Ai Tukutuku kei Viti. Methodist Missionary Magazine (April) Epeli Rokowaqa, 1926.Republished as 'Viti Makawa', Kolinio Meo.
  9. Ai Tukutuku kei Viti. Methodist Missionary Magazine (April) Epeli Rokowaqa, 1926.Republished as 'Viti Makawa', Kolinio Meo.
  10. 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.
  11. Native Lands Commission (NLC), Ratu Meli Salabogi (2), 1918.
  12. Native Lands Commission (NLC), 'Tukutuku ni Yavusa Kubuna', Ratu Isoa Natuituba, 1918
  13. Genealogy on the Origin of the 1st Vunivalu from Nakorotubu, Ra presented on page 31 by the late Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, Roko Tui Bau & 2006-2009 Vice President of Fiji in 'The Life and Times of Cakobau: The Bauan State to 1855'- A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Otago, New Zealand By Hurray P. Heasley, B.A. (Hons.), Otago. August, 2010.
  14. Archeological Investigation of Vatanitawake; A Ceremonial Mound on the Island of Bau. Tui Viti signifying authority award or flag (tawake) is mentioned on pg 103
  15. Ai Tukutuku kei Viti. Methodist Missionary Magazine (April) Epeli Rokowaqa, 1926.Republished as 'Viti Makawa', Kolinio Meo.
  16. Na Sala Vakavanua: A Study in Fijian Ethnology and Customs, unpublished paper, 1942
  17. A History of Fiji ,Chapter 4 Page 54 and 55
  18. Waterhouse, Joseph (1997). The king and people of Fiji. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. p. 23. ISBN 0824819209.
  19. Derrick, R.A. (1946). "V". A History of Fiji. Suva: Government Press. pp. 53–55.
  20. Lester, R. H. (December 1941). "Kava Drinking in Viti Levu, Fiji". Oceania.
  21. Waterhouse, Joseph (1997). The king and people of Fiji. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. p. 29. ISBN 0824819209.
  22. Waterhouse, Joseph (1997). The king and people of Fiji. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. p. 24. ISBN 0824819209.

References
  • Fiji and the Fijians, by Thomas Williams, James Calvert.
  • 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. ISBN 982-214-001-0, Published by Tiara enterprises Nadi.
  • The Cambridge History of the Pacific Islanders, Page 189 - 190, By Malama Meleisea, Donald Denoon, Karen .L Nero, Jocylyn Linnekin, Stewart Firth
  • Apologies to Thucydides: Understanding History as culture and Vice Versa, By Marshal Sahlins.
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