Fiji Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==== Measles epidemic of 1875 ==== To celebrate the annexation of Fiji, Hercules Robinson, who was [[Governor of New South Wales]] at the time, took Cakobau and his two sons to [[Sydney]]. There was a [[measles]] outbreak in that city and the three Fijians all came down with the disease. On returning to Fiji, the colonial administrators decided not to quarantine the ship on which the convalescents travelled. This was despite the British having a very extensive knowledge of the devastating effect of infectious disease on an unexposed population. In 1875–76 the resulting epidemic of measles killed over 40,000 Fijians,<ref>[http://www.fiji.gov.fj/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=645:our-country&catid=68:about-fiji-&Itemid=196 "Historical Time line"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629140914/http://www.fiji.gov.fj/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=645%3Aour-country&catid=68%3Aabout-fiji-&Itemid=196 |date=29 June 2011 }}. Fiji government.</ref> about one-third of the Fijian population. Some Fijians allege that this failure of quarantine was a deliberate action to introduce the disease into the country. Historians have found no such evidence; the disease spread before the new British governor and colonial medical officers had arrived, and no quarantine rules existed under the outgoing regime.<ref>[[#Gravelle|Gravelle]], pp. 139–143</ref><ref>David M. Morens, "Measles in Fiji, 1875: thoughts on the history of emerging infectious diseases." ''Pacific Health Dialog'' 5#1 (1998): 119–128 [http://invisibleworld.org/MeaslesinFiji1875.pdf online].</ref> ===== Sir Arthur Gordon and the "Little War" ===== [[File:Sir_Arthur_Hamilton_Gordon.jpg|thumb|left|Governor Arthur Hamilton Gordon]] Robinson was replaced as Governor of Fiji in June 1875 by [[Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore|Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon]]. Gordon was immediately faced with an insurgency of the Qalimari and Kai Colo people. In early 1875, colonial administrator [[Edgar Leopold Layard]] had met with thousands of highland clans at Navuso to formalise their subjugation to British rule and Christianity. Layard and his delegation managed to spread the measles epidemic to the highlanders, causing mass deaths in this population. As a result, anger at the British colonists flared throughout the region, and a widespread uprising quickly took hold. Villages along the Sigatoka River and in the highlands above this area refused British control, and Gordon was tasked with quashing this rebellion.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gordon|first1=Arthur Hamilton|title=Letters and Notes written during the disturbances in the highlands of Viti Levu, 1876|date=1879|publisher=R&R Clark|location=Edinburgh|url=https://archive.org/details/lettersandnotes01stangoog}}</ref> In what Gordon termed the "Little War", the suppression of this uprising took the form of two co-ordinated military campaigns in the western half of Viti Levu. The first was conducted by Gordon's second cousin, Arthur John Lewis Gordon, against the Qalimari insurgents along the Sigatoka River. The second campaign was led by [[Louis Knollys]] against the Kai Colo in the mountains to the north of the river. Governor Gordon invoked a type of martial law in the area where Arthur John Lewis Gordon and Knollys had absolute power to conduct their missions outside of any restrictions of legislation. The two groups of rebels were kept isolated from each other by a force led by Walter Carew and [[George Le Hunte]] who were stationed at Nasaucoko. Carew also ensured the rebellion did not spread east by securing the loyalty of the Wainimala people of the eastern highlands. The war involved the use of the soldiers of the old Native Regiment of Cakobau supported by around 1,500 Christian Fijian volunteers from other areas of Viti Levu. The colonial [[New Zealand Government]] provided most of the advanced weapons for the army including 100 [[Snider–Enfield|Snider rifles]]. The campaign along the Sigatoka River was conducted under a [[scorched earth]] policy whereby numerous rebel villages were burnt and their fields ransacked. After the capture and destruction of the main fortified towns of Koroivatuma, Bukutia and Matanavatu, the Qalimari surrendered ''en masse''. Those not killed in the fighting were taken prisoner and sent to the coastal town of Cuvu. This included 827 men, women and children as well as Mudu, the leader of the insurgents. The women and children were distributed to places like [[Nadi]] and [[Nadroga-Navosa Province|Nadroga]]. Of the men, 15 were sentenced to death at a hastily conducted trial at [[Sigatoka]]. Governor Gordon was present, but chose to leave the judicial responsibility to his relative, Arthur John Lewis Gordon. Four were hanged and ten, including Mudu, were shot with one prisoner managing to escape. By the end of proceedings the governor noted that "my feet were literally stained with the blood that I had shed".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gordon|first1=Arthur Hamilton|title=Letters and Notes Vol. 1|date=1879|page=[https://archive.org/details/lettersandnotes01stangoog/page/n469 441]|url=https://archive.org/details/lettersandnotes01stangoog|publisher=Privately printed by R . and R. Clark}}</ref> The northern campaign against the Kai Colo in the highlands was similar but involved removing the rebels from large, well protected caves in the region. Knollys managed to clear the caves "after some considerable time and large expenditure of ammunition". The occupants of these caves included whole communities, and as a result many men, women and children were either killed or wounded in these operations. The rest were taken prisoner and sent to the towns on the northern coast. The chief medical officer in British Fiji, William MacGregor, also took part both in killing Kai Colo and tending to their wounded. After the caves were taken, the Kai Colo surrendered and their leader, Bisiki, was captured. Various trials were held, mostly at Nasaucoko under Le Hunte, and 32 men were either hanged or shot including Bisiki, who was killed trying to escape.<ref name="Letters and Notes Vol. 2">{{cite book|last1=Gordon|first1=Arthur Hamilton|title=Letters and Notes Vol. 2|date=1879|url=https://archive.org/details/lettersandnotes00stangoog|publisher=Privately printed by R . and R. Clark}}</ref> By the end of October 1876, the "Little War" was over, and Gordon had succeeded in vanquishing the rebels in the interior of Viti Levu. Remaining insurgents were sent into exile with hard labour for up to 10 years. Some non-combatants were allowed to return to rebuild their villages, but many areas in the highlands were ordered by Gordon to remain depopulated and in ruins. Gordon also constructed a military fortress, Fort Canarvon, at the headwaters of the Sigatoka River where a large contingent of soldiers were based to maintain British control. He renamed the Native Regiment, the Armed Native Constabulary to lessen its appearance of being a military force.<ref name="Letters and Notes Vol. 2"/> To further consolidate social control throughout the colony, Governor Gordon introduced a system of appointed chiefs and village constables in the various districts to both enact his orders and report any disobedience from the populace. Gordon adopted the chiefly titles ''Roko'' and ''Buli'' to describe these deputies and established a [[Great Council of Chiefs]] which was directly subject to his authority as Supreme Chief. This body remained in existence until being suspended by the military-backed interim government in 2007 and only abolished in 2012. Gordon also extinguished the ability of Fijians to own, buy or sell land as individuals, the control being transferred to colonial authorities.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=France|first1=Peter|title=The founding of an orthodoxy: Sir Arthur Gordon and the doctrine of the Fijian way of life|journal=Journal of the Polynesian Society|date=1968|volume=77|issue=1|pages=6–32|url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_77_1968/Volume_77%2C_No._1/The_founding_of_an_orthodoxy%3A_Sir_Arthur_Gordon_and_the_doctrine_of_the_Fijian_way_of_life%2C_by_Peter_France%2C_p_6_-_32|access-date=16 April 2018|archive-date=22 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322062652/https://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_77_1968/Volume_77%2C_No._1/The_founding_of_an_orthodoxy%3A_Sir_Arthur_Gordon_and_the_doctrine_of_the_Fijian_way_of_life%2C_by_Peter_France%2C_p_6_-_32|url-status=dead}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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