BACKGROUND OF LAUTOKA & A DOSE OF HISTORY

Prior to 1936, Lautoka was known as Namoli Township, named after the village of Namoli, situated on the North Western side of the city.

Namoli Village comes under the chief of Vitogo: Tui Vitogo.

Along with Namoli and Vitogo, four other villages are under the chief of Vitogo: Matawalu, Naviyago, Vakabuli and Saru villages.

Many stories float around how the name Lautoka came about. But we'll leave those stories in the past, and focus on Lautoka in this Era: the land, and the people that make up this city now. And maybe a slight Dose of History every now and then.

Now, the boundary of Lautoka is presently questionable. Most definitely it begins from Lomolomo stretching to Matawalu village on the King's Highway. 

Now Matawalu boundary stretches up Teidamu hills over towards Tuvu, and here is where the boundary of Lautoka becomes distorted due to past events surrounding the life of a major landowner in Matawalu Village.

In the early 1930's, the village head and landowner of Matawalu married a lady from the village of Nailaga in Ba: the first village in Ba, if you're travelling from Lautoka towards Ba. 

On marrying her, it is said (more or less, presumed) that he surrendered all his land which stretched from outside Matawalu village in Lautoka to where the Padarath's Red Rooster factory is in Ba, on the outskirts of Nailaga village. 

Around the 1990's the descendants of the head of Matawalu village receded themselves to Vitogo along with their land. However as of today the land and fishing grounds that belonged to that landowner is still demarcated with the government, under the township of Ba, belonging to Nailaga Village.

The Turaga Na Tui Vuda is the other high chief within Lautoka. The Vuda high chief's jurisdiction spreads over four villages: Veiseisei (Vuda), Lauwaki, Nailaga and Lomolomo.

Vuda is of historical importance. For this is the place officially known as where the First Fijians Landed and settled. 

Beginning from Lomolomo, running along the coastline to Matawalu, and over the hills of Teidamu, then crossing inland right up to Nagaga Village (the Table Top mountain) is said to be the boundary of Lautoka.

Within this boundary are farms of sorts: sugarcane farms, pineapples, goat, cattle, poultry, vegetables and fruits of sorts; the Fiji Sugar Corporation Sugar Mill, the Queens Wharf, Amex iron ore processing plant, two cemeteries for the permanently weary; the Commissioner Western's Office, iTLTB office which serves Lautoka right across to the province of Ra, the second largest hospital in the country - Lautoka Hospital; the Lautoka Fisheries Wharf servicing boats and ships on the local front, but more so, an entrance/exit to Yasawa Group of Islands; the Lautoka Golf Club - a mass piece of prime vacant land; acres of pine trees supplying Tropik Woods, and unfortunately, the Vunato Rubbish Dump servicing the disposal of refuse for Nadi Town and Lautoka.

The history of Lautoka from the Colonial era, is closely associated with the Fiji Sugar Corporation (formerly CSR: Colonial Sugar Refinery). It is through the FSC that majority of the land in Lautoka was turned over to Crown Land and Freehold. And on the same token provided employment for the masses in the Sugar Mill, and also for local Stevedores on the Queens Wharf. And what about the tramlines running through the heart of the city, parallel with the renown Vitogo and Narara Parades; all the contribution of FSC. A humorous contribution of our Colonial masters was giving us a "Queen Elizabeth Square" that is almost shaped as a circle.

Previously, and we're not talking long ago, but up to 2007, Lautoka was a ghost town after 7pm. Almost no shops were open then. However, with the Village 4 playing movies into the night, businesses around this vicinity took advantage of this, but very slowly. The service stations, Internet shops, Stores close by, and shops around the Corner Shop (now known as Nayan's Corner Shop) started thriving after hours. Hawkers selling cooked food around Nayan's Corner Shop, and van drivers filtering out the good passengers among the night crowd. 

No longer you have evening mini-buses travelling from Nadi or Suva to Lautoka to drop off at their base, but rather make their first stop here to drop off passengers at the Corner Shop, before heading to their base at the Deluxe Taxi Stand, beside Kasabia Hardware down town.

What do I love about Lautoka?  Maybe it's because it's such a laid back city. The pace of life is not as fast as Suva or Nadi. Stay a while and you can easily find your way around the city and its outskirts.

I've known people who gave up job promotions, where the promotion required them moving to Suva. Some of them were originally from Suva, spent most of their lives in Suva, transferred to Lautoka, and refused to move back to Suva.

Now there are major developments earmarked for Lautoka City, some which would push this laid back jewel into a hive of business activity, booming the population in Lautoka exponentially. 

Some of those developments are already underway such as the erection of the Tappoo Complex on Churchill Park, the operation of Amex Processing Plant at the Queens Wharf. There are also proposals for P Meghji to construct a 5 star resort on Shirley Park, the construction of a shopping mall at Coronation Grounds, who knows what's next, and whether Lautoka will still be able to maintain itself, its spirit and what it is after these expansions.

Personally, I would like to see the following developments in Lautoka City: a public clock erected a the "market triangle", a large public pool with slides. 


We hope you'd love Lautoka for what it is, and behold it the way we do.

On Teidamu Hills, overlooking Nacilau Point and the Bligh Waters

Across Tuvu Bay, from Teidamu Hills/Nacilau