Rabi Island

Rabi lies off the northeastern corner of Vanua Levu and is home to the Banabans, whose own island, Banaba or Ocean Island, was stripped by phosphate mining until it could no longer support them. They were moved to Rabi in 1945, and the island has been governed since by its own council with the community keeping the Banaban language and Gilbertese custom. The four villages are named after settlements on Banaba. It is a quiet, green island with few visitors.

History

Before the Banabans came, Rabi was a copra plantation of Lever's Pacific Plantations, and it was also the first place in Fiji where Indian indentured labourers worked: when the first Indians arrived on the Leonidas in 1879, most planters refused them, but Captain J. Hill took 106 as field workers here. In 1941 the British government bought Rabi from Lever Brothers for £25,000, paid from phosphate royalties, as a new home for the Banabans of Ocean Island in the Gilbert Islands, whose island was being destroyed by phosphate mining, and the first group of 703 arrived on the Triona on 15 December 1945, with 300 other Gilbertese. More Banabans followed in 1975-1977 and in 1981-1983, after mining on Banaba ended in 1979, and most of them still live on Rabi, which covers 66.3 square kilometres and rises to 463 metres (Wikipedia, Rabi Island).

Highlights

• The Banaban community - a displaced island people keeping their language and customs.
• The four villages - named for the settlements left behind on Banaba.
• The island council - the community's own governing arrangement within Fiji.
• The coast - quiet bays and reef with almost no visitor infrastructure.

When to go

May to October is the drier season and calmest for the crossing. Boats depend entirely on weather. The community's calendar includes the December anniversary of the landing.

Things to know

Visiting requires permission from the island council rather than simply arriving. There is no tourism infrastructure and no accommodation beyond homestays. The history here is one of dispossession and it deserves to be understood before arriving rather than treated as scenery.

Nearby

Karoko on Vanua Levu is the mainland landing, and Kioa is south.

Key facts