IDNO

P.99734.VH

Description

F.H. Dufty photograph of the Armed Native Constabulary parading in battle array under the command of Lieutenant Henry Olive of the Royal Marines outside Government House, Nasova, near Levuka, Ovalau. The occasion is the swearing in of the governor, Sir Arthur Gordon, on 1 September 1875. [See “The Fiji Journals of Baron von Hugel”, 1875-1877, p.137]. ?Captain Louis Knollys watching from the verandah.
Though a few retain their white issue isulu kilts, most of the men (who include a boy) have discarded their uniforms in favour of traditional war dress, concessions to Christianity only being evident in their lack of war paint, shorter hair and the wearing of liku overskirts over their malo loincloths, which are nevertheless hitched up high beneath their chests in the challenging malowala fashion. Some wear itaubebatinivuaka or boar tusk pendants, highly fashionable at the time, and imported from Tanna and the wider New Hebrides (currently Vanuatu) by the labour traders. Many wear vesa arm and leg wrappings, bracing the muscles above the elbow and below the knee, some qato bracelets made from the sici or trochus shell above their elbows. They are standing to attention, armed with Enfield rifles with bayonets fixed, with Fijian ovisa to the left of the line being armed with swords, including Ratu Seru, the ovisa who is usually distinguished in the photographs by his tunic, but who has shed it in favour of war dress on this occasion. Note the rain gauge. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003]

Physical Condition: Print mounted onto card.

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji; Ovalau Island; Near Levuka; Nasova

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Lieutenant Henry Olive; ?Captain Louis F. Knollys; Ratu Seru

Photographer

Dufty, Francis Herbert (Dufty Brothers, Levuka)

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

?1 September 1875

Collection Name

von Hügel Collection

Source

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.99725.VH to P.99758.VH were in the belted folder now numbered C539/1/. This was formerly kept in paper archive Large Box G; VH1/4/5. It has now been transferred to the photo archive. The lists describing the contents of this box have been returned to the Paper Archive.

Related Image: This print or negative appears to be a unique image within the MAA Photograph Collections. [JD 8/1/2012]

This print has been catalogued with the support of the Getty Grant Fund. [A. Nadin, 4/9/2003]