Fiji

I’ve been reading a lot lately about the effect of the Spanish Flu pandemic on different places in the world. One of the areas that was particularly hard-hit was Fiji. In November 1918, the steamship Talune arrived in the archepelago. The colonial administrators in Suva (the capitol city) knew there was illness aboard, and had heard news from overseas about the deadly flu. Still, they allowed the Talune to dock. Steamship day was a big event in Fiji; many Fijians would have come down to the wharf to enjoy the spectacle. When several locals working on the Talune as stevedores fell ill, they were allowed to return to their villages. By the end of 1920, 8,145 Spanish flu deaths were recorded among the Fijian people – the real number is probably higher – more than five percent of the British colony. Instead of pointing fingers at the administrators, newspapers blamed the high death rate on the “backward” habits of the indigenous people.