The inaugural prison in Fiji was established in the historic port town of Levuka, located on Ovalau, during the latter part of the 19th century. Initially, it operated as a makeshift facility intended for those violating authority and disturbing the peace in a town characterized by rampant lawlessness, heavy drinking, and beachcombing. The first official prison was formally established in 1874, following the signing of the Deed of Cession.
Reports from The Fiji Times indicate that the initial prison was encircled by an 8-foot wooden fence situated in an open square adjacent to Totoga, the first police station. Along with various prisons for administrative purposes throughout Fiji, the British created small lockup facilities in areas where a magistrate was stationed, referred to locally as “lokamu.” These began as simple detention spaces but gradually transitioned into stone and limestone structures constructed by inmates as a form of punishment. One such early detention center can still be found in the Village of Naburenivalu, formerly known as Namena Village, where remnants of stone and crushed coral walls, along with an old jetty, endure. Although the precise date of the Namena lockup’s construction remains unclear, historical records indicate it ceased operations in 1888.
Recently, a team from The Sunday Times visited Namena’s district to explore the remnants of this 19th-century prison and its jetty. The derelict facility is situated in a location called Nasese, which was on the outskirts of Namena about a kilometer from the shoreline in the 1800s. The group departed at 7 am on a day marked by gloomy weather in the capital. Thick grey clouds loomed overhead, but as they approached the quiet township of Korovou, the sun broke through.
The village was still in mourning for its chief, Tui Nawainovo Ratu Filimoni Verebalavu, who was buried the previous weekend. In 2009, Ratu Filimoni welcomed a team from the same newspaper when they visited Naburenivalu to cover the same prison story. The lockup facility in Namena was constructed similarly to temporary detention centers found in England and Wales, aimed at serving areas where access to official prisons or criminal courts was limited. As noted by Wikipedia, these lockups were primarily used for confining inebriated individuals, typically released the following day, or for detaining individuals awaiting a local magistrate’s hearing.
Naburenivalu’s local chief, Jese Mamanavesi, welcomed the visitors and guided them through the mangrove-dense mudflats of Namena. With the tide receded, they were able to walk in the very places where prisoners historically disembarked from boats coming from Levuka via the old Namena jetty over a century ago. Mamanavesi pointed out that many villagers are familiar with the lokamu but few have visited the jetty where prisoners were dropped off.
Adi Lusiana Canavanua Verebalavu-Senibulu, the senior-most member of the chiefly household and Ratu Filimoni’s older sister, suggested that Namena was an ideal location for a lockup due to it being an administrative center with a magistrate on-site, its alliance with Bau, and the availability of resources for constructing the prison. She recollected the British official stationed in Namena at that time was Magistrate Eastgate, remembering his durable wooden house made from Oregon timber.
The old jetty, made from layers of carefully arranged rocks extending toward Ovalau, now struggles against eroding waves and the impacts of climate change. The visitors trekked through a muddy forest highlighted by dense thickets and tall coastal trees. Mamanavesi noted a spot that once had a row of mango trees along the path prisoners and their warders used to traverse from the jetty to the lockup situated outside Namena village. Only three mango trees remain today, in sharp contrast to the abundance once lining the path in the 1800s.
Records from the National Archives of Fiji show that the first mention of a gaol in the Suva peninsula dates back to 1887, when the prison service assumed control of a mental hospital, the predecessor to St Giles Psychiatric Hospital. The Namena prison was referred to as Nasese, an iTaukei word meaning ‘foolish or wrong’, designated for those who committed wrongful acts. In a 1962 paper by B.M. Sellers, it was mentioned that the early prisons in Fiji were rudimentary huts behind a reed fence, with significant efforts towards modernizing accommodations initiated between 1912 and 1913.
The early prison in Levuka was fundamentally a collection of hastily constructed structures; however, as the colony developed, additional prisons served as backups, as documented in an overview that further noted a gaol was established in Totoga or Totogo, Levuka, on October 10, 1874, when Fiji was ceded to Britain. The administration of this facility involved police oversight, with appointed roles for a gaoler, warder, and a police sub-inspector.
To impose punishment, prisoners planted the line of trees from Namena beach to the prison. They also constructed the lockup facility, allowing Magistrate Eastgate to observe the prisoners as they passed the mango trees. Adi Lusiana revealed that Eastgate wed a woman from the village, with his descendants integrating into the community. Historical accounts suggest that prisoners were periodically taken to Levuka for labor before returning to Namena by boat.
The remnants of the old Namena village site can still be seen today as scattered stone foundations called yavu in the surrounding forest near the main road. Among these ruins lies the foundation of an old church established by a Methodist missionary named Frederick Langham, linked to events involving the people of Lovoni on Ovalau. As villagers relocated inland, they planted a frangipani at the new settlement to signify the transition, believed to have been planted by the first prisoners and still standing today.
While the prison remains silent and largely forgotten today, Adi Lusiana remains optimistic about the potential to preserve the old jetty and prison as a tourist attraction. She emphasized the significance of the prison and jetty as integral components of both Namena and Fiji’s history, advocating for efforts to conserve them and share their stories with younger generations. Currently, Naburenivalu comprises a village and six settlements, home to 425 residents spread across 83 households, organized into seven mataqali and five yavusa.