Mothers' Darlings of the South Pacific by Judith A. Bennett

Author:Judith A. Bennett
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780824858278
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Meeting Through Work

Although soldiers complained about the lack of “white round-eyed females”39 in the colony, this attitude did not inhibit their social and sexual encounters with indigenous women. Neither did military regulations prevent such contact. Villages were located close to military camps, and this proximity enabled Fijian women, such as Adi Romera’s mother, to meet Americans. For instance, on the other side of Viti Levu, a handsome tall blonde from the Lodoni military camp, who was remembered as having the name “Smith,” visited Selai, a young woman, in the nearby village of Nananu every weekend. He was only one example of several such probable liaisons between American men and Fijian women. Indigenous women were also resisting colonial and chiefly restrictions on their mobility by visiting towns and camps, earning money, and having fun. As Ratu Sukuna politely suggested, “in the tropics, with so many Fijians on active service or attached to military camps, a number of native women are looking for male companionship.”40 The war was “an opportune time for the Fijian ladies.”41 Americans paid for, courted, and fell in love with women of all ethnicities in Fiji. Sergeant Ira Reader Steed recalled that men of the 227th Regiment “fraternized ‘often’ with the local women of Suva.”42

Women not only met servicemen through social activities such as dances or movies but also paid work brought some couples together. “Half-caste” and Rotuman women earned comparatively high wages as preferred employees at military laundries where a small number of indigenous Fijian women were also hired, such as at a new laundry in Nausori.43 This is where Nive met Frank, when he was allocated light duties while recovering from the ravages of the battles on Guadalcanal. They traveled together on the truck transport between Nausori and Suva, and soon Frank was spending many of his evenings at Nive’s home. Another big laundry facility operated at the 142nd Division hospital in Tamavua, Suva, where Jessie worked. Americans may have also met locals through private laundry services, such as that established by Arthur Solomon’s Samoan grandparents, Aufai and Milovale Selio.44 Their daughter Kupe Selio Dass was married to employee Bob Chalek Dass when she had an affair with American Sam Butler. In rural areas both Indo-Fijian and Fijian women did laundry for servicemen.45 Other everyday opportunities for civilians and military to fraternize included riding the cane trains that transported troops and locals between Lautoka and Nadi—named the “Lautoka Express” by New Zealand troops (see Map 7.1).46

For many of Fiji’s women the war was a time of flux, offering them new independence as paid workers and a hectic social life outside the family. Martha reflected on how this freedom affected her mother: “I guess because of the strictness once she probably had the chance to come out and work, she probably went straight headlong into it.”

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