Paying off Labourers at Fiji.

Scarce colonial era engraving of plantation workers.

In 1862 Chief Cakobau attempted to cede Fiji to Britain in exchange for payment of debts that he ad accrued. These were paid in 1868 by the Australian Polynesia Company who agreed to clear Cakobau’s debts to the Americans in return for the right to trade in Fiji and land which covered the Suva Peninsula. New Australian settlers the came to the area in 1870. These settlers cleared the land and attempted to grow cotton and sugar cane. Two Australian merchants, Thomson and Renwick, encouraged the government to relocate the capital from Levuka to Suva providing incentives in the form of land grants.

From the original edition of the Illustrated Sydney News.

Collections:
State Library New South Wales: TN115 SLNSW
State Library Victoria: RARENSL N.S.W. 1875