Novels | Bendemere Books
FEE-JEE, the Cannibal Islands
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- Published on Saturday, 27 July 2013 00:00
Fee-Jee:
About fifty years ago I spent time in the magical islands of Fiji. During that period I was privileged to meet and talk with many wonderful Fijians, warm, vibrant, welcoming folk, devoted parents and loyal friends, intelligent and possessed of a great sense of fun and humour.
I was intrigued, however, by the apparent contradiction between this carefree, kind and generous nature and the barbarism of their past.
Hours spent examining artefacts of everyday life and instruments of torture and warfare, in the National Museum at Suva, only served to further whet my interest, an interest which was compounded when a chance meeting with its school teacher led to a private tour of the chiefly island of Bau and I saw first-hand the braining-stone where so many had met their death.
On my return to Australia I read as widely as possible old accounts of missionaries, sandalwood traders and ship-wrecked sailors, but the origins of the Fijians and the practice of cannibalism remained a mystery.
Many years later, during my late wife’s long illness, I resolved to write a fictitious tale which attempted to offer explanations for these unresolved questions. As by then I owned a small farm on the reaches of the Hawkesbury, with its background of convict labour and early settlement, it seemed logical to tie the two histories together.
I hope the resultant story will give you, the reader, as much enjoyment as its researching gave me.
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Rob Ennever, July 2013 |