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| Type | National museum |
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| Location |
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| Origins | Form by the Friends of Fiji Museum |
Area served | Fiji |
| Services | Curation and research of Fiji's national heritage |
| Website | fijimuseum |
The Fiji Museum is a museum in Suva, Fiji, located in the capital city's botanical gardens, Thurston Gardens.
The museum is a statutory body and is under the administration of the Fiji Museum Act and the Preservation of Objects of Archaeological & Palaeontological Interest Act. [1]
The museum was founded in 1904 by a voluntary association - the Friends of Fiji Museum. [2] [3] [4] During the twentieth century its location moved several times before its current location in Thurston Gardens. [2] Its original location was in the old Town Hall. [5] The museum was opened in 1955 by the Governor of Fiji, Sir Ronald Garvey. [6] In 2019 a proposal was put forward that part of the site of Thurston Gardens could be developed by the Indian High Commission; this proposal was opposed by the Director of the Fiji Museum, Sipiriano Nemani. [7] In 2021, former director of the museum, Timaima Sagale Buadromo, had an acquittal for corruption charges and abuse of office reversed, in order to await a new trial. [8]
The museum is part of the Museums & Climate Change Network. [9] The Fiji Museum was the host institution for the Pacific Islands Museums Association (PIMA) secretariat until 2006, when the secretariat transferred its base of operations to Port Vila, Vanuatu.[ citation needed ]
The Fiji Museum holds the most important collection of Fijian artifacts in the world. [10] The centrepiece of the museum's collection is the 13 metre-long double-hulled canoe, Ratu Finau. [11] Other important objects include the rudder from HMS Bounty, objects relating to cannibalism, as well as objects that record the impact of colonial impact on the islands. [11] This includes a display about Indo-Fijian communities. [12] The museum collects oral histories and undertakes archaeological excavations. [11] [13] The museum has a collection of contemporary art. [11] It also has a manuscript collection. [14]
The museum's archaeological collections date back 3700 years. [10] Osteological material from the archaeological collection was used for stable isotopic (δ13C, δ15N) analysis of bone collagen in order to identify the "percent contribution of human flesh" to prehistoric diets. [15] The study's results showed that this was "low for all individual Lauans". [15]
The museum organised and partnered on archaeological excavations across the islands, including:
In 2021 the museum signed a memorandum of understanding with four British museums to mark Fiji's 50th anniversary with a knowledge exchange programme. [22] Under the proposal staff from the Fiji Museum would provide cultural information about iTaukei artifacts held in British collections. [23]
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about 1,100 nautical miles north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The most outlying island group is Ono-i-Lau. About 87% of the total population of 924,610 live on the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in the capital city of Suva, or in smaller urban centres such as Nadi or Lautoka. The interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited because of its terrain.
Fiji is a group of volcanic islands in the South Pacific, lying about 4,450 kilometres (2,765 mi) southwest of Honolulu and 1,770 km (1,100 mi) north of New Zealand. Of the 332 islands and 522 smaller islets making up the archipelago, about 106 are permanently inhabited. The total land size is 18,272 km2 (7,055 sq mi). It has the 26th largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,282,978 km2 (495,361 sq mi).
The Lapita culture is the name given to a Neolithic Austronesian people and their distinct material culture, who settled Island Melanesia via a seaborne migration at around 1600 to 500 BCE. The Lapita people are believed to have originated from the northern Philippines, either directly, via the Mariana Islands, or both. They were notable for their distinctive geometric designs on dentate-stamped pottery, which closely resemble the pottery recovered from the Nagsabaran archaeological site in northern Luzon. The Lapita intermarried with the Papuan populations to various degrees, and are the direct ancestors of the Austronesian peoples of Polynesia, eastern Micronesia, and Island Melanesia.
Fijians are a nation and ethnic group native to Fiji, who speak Fijian and English and share a common history and culture.
Viti Levu is the largest island in Fiji. It is the site of the country's capital and largest city, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population.
Located in the central Pacific Ocean, Fiji's geography has made it both a destination and a crossroads for migrations for many centuries.
Nadroga-Navosa is one of the fourteen provinces of Fiji and one of eight based in Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island. It is about 2,385 square kilometers and occupies the South-West and Central areas of Viti Levu, Fiji's principal island. The province includes the Mamanuca Archipelago,Malolo Islands, off the west coast of Viti Levu, Vatulele, as well as the remote Conway Reef in the southwest. The population at the 2017 census was 58,931, being the fifth largest province. The main town in Nadroga-Navosa is Sigatoka, with a population of 9622.
Moturiki is an island belonging to Fiji's Lomaiviti Archipelago. Covering an area of 10.9 square kilometers, it is situated at 17.45° South and 178.44° East. To the north-east is the nearby island of Ovalau.
Oceanic art or Oceanian art comprises the creative works made by the native people of the Pacific Islands and Australia, including areas as far apart as Hawaii and Easter Island. Specifically it comprises the works of the two groups of people who settled the area, though during two different periods. They would in time however, come to interact and together reach even more remote islands. The area is often broken down into four separate regions: Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia and Australia. Australia, along with interior Melanesia (Papua), are populated by descendants of the first waves of human migrations into the region by Australo-Melanesians. Micronesia, Island Melanesia, and Polynesia, on the other hand, are descendants of later Austronesian voyagers who intermixed with native Australo-Melanesians; mostly via the Neolithic Lapita culture. All of the regions in later times would be greatly affected by western influence and colonization. In more recent times, the people of Oceania have found a greater appreciation of their region's artistic heritage.
The Tu'i Pulotu is believed to be the head of an ancient group that settled in Pulotu (Fiji) during the Lapita period. The Tuʻi Pulotu is believed to have originally come from the Fiji Islands and ruled the islands from late BC to 800 AD. Some anthropologists believe there is an association between Pulotu and Burotu, the term for the paradise underworld in the Fijian religion. This is because of the different pronunciations within Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji. Burotu in Fiji was the Burotukula, which, according to Fiji's religion, is near Matuku in the Lau Islands.
Drua, also known as na drua, n'drua, ndrua or waqa tabu, is a double-hull sailing boat that originated in the south-western Pacific islands. Druas do not tack but rather shunt. Both ends of each hull are identical, but the hulls are of different sizes and the smaller one is always sailed to windward. The main differences, compared to proas, are that the hulls have a symmetric U-form profile, and a second hull is used instead of an outrigger. When a float (cama) is used in place of the smaller hull, the craft is called a camakau.
The Fijian double canoe was the largest and finest sea-going vessel ever designed and built by natives of Oceania before contact with Europeans.
Roger Curtis Green was an American-born, New Zealand–based archaeologist, professor emeritus at The University of Auckland, and member of the National Academy of Sciences and Royal Society of New Zealand. He was awarded the Hector and Marsden Medals and was an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his contributions to the study of Pacific culture history.
Vorovoro is an island in the province of Macuata in the Vanua Levu Group of northern Fiji, 40 minutes away from the town of Labasa by boat.
Archaeology of Samoa began with the first systematic survey of archaeological remains on Savai'i island by Jack Golson in 1957. Since then, surveys and studies in the rest of Samoa have uncovered major findings of settlements, stone and earth mounds including star mounds, Lapita pottery remains and pre-historic artifacts.
Thomas Baker was a Methodist missionary in Fiji, known as being the only missionary in the archipelago to be killed and eaten, along with seven of his Fijian followers. The incident occurred in the Navosa Highlands of western Viti Levu in July 1867, and the rock used to kill Baker is still displayed in the village of Nabutatau. The soles of his leather sandals, which were also cooked by the cannibal tribe, are preserved at the Fiji Museum in Suva. Records show that Baker was killed and eaten as a result of him touching a chief's head, which is considered disrespectful in Fijian culture.
Malolo Lailai, also known as Plantation Island, is the second largest and most developed of the Mamanuca Islands, lying 20 kilometres west of Nadi on Fiji's main island Viti Levu. Malolo Lailai is the centre of tourism in the Mamanuca Islands, and consists of four resorts, a number of residential houses, a marina and a golf course. The island can be reached in 50 minutes from Port Denarau by the Malolo Cat, a catamaran, or by Malolo Lailai Airport, a 10-minute flight from Nadi International Airport. Separated by a small isthmus which can be walked at low tide, the larger island of Malolo Levu lies north-west of Malolo Lailai.
Tarisi Vunidilo is a Fijian archaeologist and curator who specialises in indigenous museology and heritage management.
Cikobia-i-Ra, also Thikombia Island,Tchecombia and Tikobia, is the northernmost island in Fiji and has a primarily limestone geology. As the island is affected by climate change, women there have established the Cikobia Island Development Committee, which supports businesses that donate some profit to sustainability initiatives. The island has some of the earliest evidence for Lapita culture in the Pacific, as well as significant archaeological sites.
Lutunasobasoba is considered to be one of the ancestors of the Fijian (iTaukei) people, along with Degei.
Merewai Turukawa (1938–2018) was a Fijian athlete who won the first-ever gold medal at the South Pacific Games. She competed in shot put, discus and javelin events.
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