Roko Tui Bau

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 Veremi of Wainikelei in Moala whose people now occupy the highlands of Sera, Ra, Naitasiri, Vugalei. The linage is said to be from the eldest Son of the Ratu mai Vereta that pressumed dead on maiden voyage beaching at Qaliqali in Moala whose clan knew themselves as Wainikelei, through Kapaiwai Mara, who advised councillors of Bau at the time to seek Wainikelei help afterthe eighth conquest fron Namosi failed [2][4] His son Seru Epenisa Cakobau was not born and raised at Moala by his grand parents from Nukulau and their Votua kin who took Tanoas priced wife as his token of appreciation (vakacirisalusalu) to the General that freed him from Nadaravakawau, 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.

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 woman 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 Vueti 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]

• Vunivalu of Bau
• Turaga na Rasau
• Bau Village
• Bau Island
• Verata

• 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.

• Roko Tui Bau
• Vunivalu
• Everyculture.com: "Bau and the Vunivalu" — article with historical details.