{{Unreferenced, date=December 2009
Tarau of Totoya was the first wife of
Niumataiwalu
Niumataiwalu was a Verata high chief who was the father of Roko Rasolo and his siblings who became the Vuanirewa siblings or clan in Lau. The name Niumataiwalu, translated as 'I came first at Walu beach' was in memory of his grandfather-Tuivanuak ...
, founder of the
Vuanirewa
The Vuanirewa is the ruling tribe (yavusa) of the Lau Islands, a scattered group of more than a hundred islands (16 inhabited) and reefs along the eastern edge of Fiji.
Origins
The members of this clan all hail from the village of Tubou on the ...
dynasty of the
Lau Islands
The Lau Islands aka little Tonga (also called the Lau Group, the Eastern Group, the Eastern Archipelago) of Fiji are situated in the southern Pacific Ocean, just east of the Koro Sea. Of this chain of about sixty islands and islets, about thirty a ...
(in
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
).
Tarau was the mother of
Uluilakeba I {{Unreferenced, date=October 2008
Uluilakeba was the eldest son of Niumataiwalu. He did not succeed to his fathers title, first since his father was not known to have been installed to the title of either Tui Nayau or Sau ni Vanua ko Lau, second ...
and
Rasolo
Rasolo was a Fijian High Chief.
Family
Father of Rasolo was Chief Niumataiwalu of Lakeba. Rasolo's mother was Lady Tarau of Tovu Totoya. Rasolo was a brother of Lady Sivoki and Uluilakeba I and half-brother of Matawalu.
Rasolo's first wife wa ...
.
Oral history indicates that Tarau was the daughter of the High Chief of
Totoya
Totoya is a volcanic island in the Moala subgroup of Fiji's Lau archipelago. It occupies an area of 28 km2, making it the smallest of the Yasayasa Moala Group. Its maximum elevation is above sea level. The main economic activity is cocon ...
, and because of her beauty, Niumataiwalu pursued for her hand on one of his visits to the island. However it is further recorded that she was not the biological daughter of the High Chief of Totoya, but merely adopted by him in order to raise her status to that of a noble and allow Niumataiwalu to marry her. She is said to have been a captive from the island of
Komo and was brought up in the Lord of Totoya's household. When Niumataiwalu became enamoured with her and sued for marriage, the Lord of Totoya instructed him to climb the red coconut palm, harvest the fruit and bathe her with the milk from it to wash away her commonness and Komoan nationality and become a Totoyan. When this was done, only then was Tarau recognised as the High Chief of Totoya's daughter.
Fijian chiefesses
People from Totoya
Vuanirewa