In 2014, the remains of six Solomon Island laborers, buried for over a century on Nawi Island in Savusavu Bay, were exhumed. This somber event took place under police supervision, with the graves being excavated by the Miller family from Nukunuve. Among the items reportedly recovered were a bottle of liquor, a mouth organ, coffin nails, and fragments of coffins belonging to Melanesians who were brought to Fiji during the blackbirding era that began in the 1860s. The Fiji Times indicated that the exhumation aimed to facilitate hotel development on Nawi Island.
The remains, which had rested on the island for approximately 180 years, were relocated to Nukunuve for reburial. However, on one of the highest hilltops on Nawi Island, the grave of a woman known as Mouga remains untouched and largely unknown to the public. It is believed that she was of Samoan royal ancestry.
Old tales suggest that Mouga eloped with a man named Mr. Miller, the ancestor of the contemporary Miller family in Fiji. Sources vary on whether this man was William Miller or D.B. Miller, with some claiming the two were brothers. Nawi Island, set in a picturesque harbor next to the coastal town of Savusavu, is surrounded by a lush and ever-changing natural landscape.
Mouga’s story is a romantic adventure. A genealogy record on the Miller family accessible online notes that Mouga, whose true name was Aheamauga Lalomauga Mona Miller, was of chiefly descent. She married Daniel Bathe Miller, a sailor who brought her from Samoa to Fiji. Daniel was born in Levuka, Ovalau, in 1816.
The Fiji Times published in December 2019 mentioned that Daniel was the child of one of two brothers who migrated from England and possibly settled in different areas of Fiji. One brother traveled to Samoa, where he fell in love with a woman of royal lineage. The young woman, recognizing the cultural barriers they faced, chose to leave her home and family to join her love in Fiji.
According to genealogical sources, Mouga was born in the 1820s in Fasito’otai, Upolu, Samoa, making her 224 years old if she were alive today. She had two sons, Jim and William Henry Miller II, and a daughter named Maunga Miller. Mouga ultimately passed away in Vanua Levu and was laid to rest on Nawi Island, where her grave remains.
Daniel Miller’s eldest son married into an influential family, linking the Miller lineage to significant familial connections throughout Fiji. In 2014, when developers sought to remove the graves of six laborers from Nawi Island, the Miller family negotiated to keep Mouga’s grave as a prominent tourist site.
Recently, The Sunday Times team visited Nawi Island to document Mouga’s grave, located on the western side of Nawi Island Marina. A family member stated that the grave site is designated as a reserve, ensuring its protection. The journey to Mouga’s grave requires a $5 boat ride followed by a 30-minute hike across the island’s rolling hills, offering stunning views of the coastal town.
The guide explained that Mouga is buried alongside her husband and a young daughter. Despite the taxing hike, the breathtaking scenery was deemed worth the effort. The tale of Mouga and her final resting place serves as a testament to the power of love and the legacy of women, uniting families and connecting diverse lineages across distances.
Mouga’s influence extends to numerous descendants, many of whom married into notable Part-European families in the northern regions of Fiji.