Kadavu (IPA: ka nda βu), with an area of 411 square kilometers, is the fourth largest island in Fiji, and the largest island in the Kadavu Group, a volcanic archipelago consisting of Kadavu, Ono, Galoa and a number of smaller islands in the Great Astrolabe Reef. Its main administrative centre is Vunisea, which has an airport, a high school, a hospital, and a government station, on the Namalata Isthmus which almost cuts the island in two. Suva, Fiji's capital, lies 88 kilometers to the north of Kadavu. The population of the island is about 10,000.
Kadavu is one of Fiji's fourteen Provinces, and forms part of the Eastern Division, which also includes the Provinces of Lau, Lomaiviti and Rotuma. Kadavu also belongs to the Burebasaga Confederacy, a hierarchy of chiefs from southern and western Fiji.
Geography
The island is 93 kilometers long, with a width varying from 365 meters to 13 kilometers. The island is almost sliced in two by the narrow Namalata Isthmus, which connects Namalata Bay on the northern coast with Galoa Harbour on the southern coast. Within Galoa Harbour lie Galoa Island and the tiny islet of Tawadromu. Kadavu is characterized by its rugged and mountainous terrain. The tallest mountain is Nabukelevu, also known as Mount Washington, which stands at 822 meters high, on the western end of the island.
Kadavu still has 75% of its original rainforest cover and a rich bird diversity, including four species endemic to the island, the Velvet Dove, the Crimson Shining-parrot, the Kadavu Honeyeater and the Kadavu Fantail, in addition to several endemic subspecies (such as a subspecies of the Island Thrush). Offshore , stringing around the south, east and then away to the north, is the Great Astrolabe Reef, a large barrier reef that is one of Fiji's premier scuba diving resorts.
Economy and culture
Kadavu is one of the least developed areas of Fiji. There are few roads, and the local economy is largely dependent on subsistence farming, supplemented by exports to Viti Levu. There are no banks on Kadavu. Tourism is becoming popular, however, with snorkeling and diving among the major attractions. The chiefly system in Kadavu gives much greater authority to local chiefs than most other areas in Fiji, where local chiefs are more often subservient to a few "paramount chiefs."
On 17 December 2005, Ratu Josateki Nawalowalo, Chairman of the Kadavu Provincial Council, announced major development plans to build roads throughout the island and to upgrade jetties, improving Kadavu's links with the mainland. He revealed that much of the finance would be provided by the government of Taiwan.
History
William Bligh was the first known European to sight Kadavu, which he discovered in 1792 on his second voyage to Fiji on the HMS Providence. He was followed in 1799 by the United States vessel Ann & Hope, skippered by C. Bently en route from Australia. In 1827, French commander Dumont d'Urville nearly shipwrecked the Astrolabe on the reef that now bears the vessel's name. The island later became hope to beche-de-mer traders, as well as whalers from Sydney, Australia and New England in the United States. Galoa Harbour became a regular port of call for vessels carrying mail between Sydney, San Francisco, and Auckland.
Notable Kadavuans
Well-known Kadavu names include Foreign Minister Kaliopate Tavola, Forests and Fisheries Minister Konisi Yabaki, James Ah-Koy, Senator, former Minister for Finance and businessman, Akuila Yabaki, a Methodist minister and political activist, and Ratu Josateki Nawalowalo, Chairman of the Kadavu Provincial Council and of the Fiji Kava Council. Yet another noted Kadavuan is Jesoni Vitusagavulu, Fiji's current Ambassador to the United States.
Jone Duikoro Tabuya is another notable Kadavuan. He hails from the village of Tiliva from the tikina of Nakasaleka, in Kadavu. He is the former Director Finance (DF) of the Suva City Council (SCC), amongst other prestigous accomplishments in his career history. The first Indigenous Fijian to hold that position as it was initially the Financial Controller and was recreated to an upper position of DF, first of the DF's, and he successfully brought the SCC out of its debt-wricked status that stems from such a history, something no other individual from Fiji had achieved. In his term of service, he served a term of 5 years, with repeated renewals of his contract as SCC perceived his service as an invaluable asset to them, and a further 1 year to mentor and supervise the incoming DF on 2004.
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