F is for... Fee

 

Hello and welcome! to another A-Z series on M-i-V... 

All through April I'll be posting on the broad theme of Museums & Monuments Across the World - mostly those I've been to and a few on my bucket list that I haven't been able to visit yet. Museums are one of my favourite ways to get to know a culture, they sum up what those peoples want to preserve and pass onto their grandchildren, the facets they want to show their foreign visitors, how they perceive, present and preserve their own storyline and that of their interactions with the world. Come museum hopping with me!

F is for Fiji

Fiji Museum is basically a two gallery building, one for the iTaukei or indigenous Fijians and another smaller one for the Girmitiyas (the Indians who were taken there as indentured labourers). I landed up there because I had visitors from India during the A-Z in April 2023 when I was actually writing about Aspects of Fiji for the Challenge. By the time I got there however, the M-day was over, no way I could fit the museum in. Looking back, it's worked out okay, hasn't it? - though at the time I'd felt a bit miffed. :) 

Fiji has a 3500 year old history which is super turbulent, violent and discriminatory. Unimaginable cruelty was a way of life, ritual human sacrifice was required for everyday activities as a matter of course. Cannibalism was practised till the 1870s, abolished only after formal British rule began in 1874. 

Colonial rule stratified the society into the land-owning indigenous Fijians, the wealthy European business class settlers and the marginalised indentured Indians or girmitiyas who were essentially slaves. A political tinderbox. There have been several coups d'état since Fiji's independence in 1970. The iTaukei or indigenous populations continue to have greater representation and share of voice, the Indo-Fijians continue to feel under threat and migrate out. It's all too recent and raw.

Add in the fact that Fijians themselves had no writing systems, all history was recorded and transmitted through an oral tradition. The Latin script was modified and adapted for Fijian use only around 1840s.  Well, you'll appreciate that it's a tough job for any museum there to curate what to present and how. 

How the ancestral Fijians came to settle
the islands.

Pot shards always tell a story! and define entire
 cultures. These ones are called Lapitaware.

Whale ivory is currency and a mark of respect. Trade is controlled tightly.
No exports allowed. The souvenir shops carry replicas, not the real thing.

A garland of whale ivory strung on a string tassel made of
coconut fibre. Exchanged/given on auspicious occasions as
mark of respect/celebration/blessings. 

Double hulled vessel known as drua in the Fijian culture.
The Fijians were formidable navigators.

Fishing remains an important economic activity and
seafood constitutes a good share of the export basket.

My visitors taking photographs outside the Fiji Museum. It is
located in Thurston Park in Suva, the capital. The trees were
 gorgeous! probably as old as most of the specimens inside.

From the Girmit gallery. A straight connection to my
hometown, Kolkata! The Girmitiyas led super hard lives
and even death wasn't merciful. 

Most of the specimens I saw were from the 19th century, barring the Lapitaware.  The Museum also has artefacts relating to cannibalism, which I find I haven't photographed. It's one thing to read some words on a page/screen, quite another to be faced with the tangible, visual evidence of it. The Museum also has a section on Fijian textile art called Masi. 

Fiji was visited by almost 1 million international travellers in 2025, separate visitors numbers for the Museum aren't available. Not many around when I was there, remember seeing  maybe one or two people apart from our party. Find out more about the Fiji Museum over here and here. 

~~~

Should Museums be free or charge an entry fee? There's an ongoing, endless debate on the issue. Free entry increases accessibility, promotes awareness and knowledge, supports diversity and equality. On the other hand, entry fees mean much needed resources for conservation, research, maintenance, security and last but not the least, attracting young talent. Btw, the Fiji Museum charges an entry fee, if I recall correctly, FJD 20 (about USD 9) for adults. 

Thank you for visiting and reading. Have a wonderful A-Z if you are taking the Challenge and a wonderful April if you're not!

Posted for the A-Z Challenge 2026