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𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗬𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦 𝗩𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗦𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗙 𝗕𝗨𝗥𝗢𝗧𝗨𝗞𝗨𝗟𝗔

In his book “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘪𝘫𝘪” published in 1866, 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗽𝗵 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 describes the Island of Burotu as “𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴.”

The name Burotu or Burotukula has become synonymous with ‘paradise’ a place of luxuriant vegetation and wildlife and beautiful women.

Legend has it that the island is home to some of the most beautiful women in the world. The island is surrounded by beautiful flowers that give out an irresistible fragrance. Everything on this island is surrounded with beauty and the sand surrounding the island sparkle like diamonds.

Legend tells of a young man from Matuku who went out fishing one evening and got lost. As he waded through the night, he fell asleep in his canoe. When he awoke, he found himself surrounded by the most beautiful women he had ever seen.

While wandering around the island, he saw the most beautiful woman who told him not to sleep for if he did, the island will disappear forever and he will never find them again. The tired man fought sleep for as long as he could but eventually succumbed. When he awoke, he was back on his home island of Matuku and the mysterious island had disappeared, never to be seen in daylight ever again.

Legend says that the island of Burotukula can still be seen today in the foggy haze of dawn or at dusk at last light before the coming of the night. Sometimes, if you wander down to the beach in the early hours of the morning, you may find beautiful fragrant flowers on the beach or burnt-out fishing torches of a strange design with handles made of shells washed up on the shoreline, which the people of Matuku say is from Burotukula.

Over the years, there have been numerous accounts of sightings of the famous vanishing island. One such recent account happened on Thursday 4th September 2003 and was witnessed by the Head Teacher of Babasea Primary School in Levukaidaku while he, other teachers, pupils and some villagers were exercising in front of the village. He said that the island appeared early that morning over the eastern horizon and that the island was high and mountainous, that it was well-vegetated and that clouds lay around its summit. In his log book, he wrote:

𝘈𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 6 𝘰’𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘶𝘬𝘶𝘭𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 10 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘶𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘴𝘦𝘢. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘰𝘯 (𝘌𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘪 𝘝𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘨𝘶, 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 2𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 2003).

According to an article in “𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘖𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢”, the first written accounts of the Burotu tradition in the Matuku area all talk of an island having disappeared suddenly at some unspecified time in the past but none report any details such as where exactly the island was located or how many people survived the sudden disappearance of the island and where they might have settled.

Early European accounts suggest the disappearance of Burotu was within living or even recent memory at the time of early contact between Fijians and foreigners. For these reasons, it seems likely that the disappearance of Burotu occurred in the distant past, perhaps around 1000 AD or even earlier.

Myths and legends often have their roots in shared human experiences and therefore usually have some factual basis. In the past, our ancestors told stories to try to explain the inexplicable, such as significant and sometimes sudden changes in their physical environment.

Was there ever an island next to Matuku that suddenly "disappeared" under the sea? My view is Yes, and this can probably be explained by modern science. Can the island mysteriously reappear at certain times of the day? Here is where science ends and myths and legends begin.

゚viralシ ゚viralシfypシ゚

OPINION | Are we exporting our future? | The true cost of Fiji’s labour policies
Local News, News, Opinion | By Arvind Maharaj investment to reduce operating costs. Streamlined approvals and reduced red tape. Make it economically viable to employ Fijians in Fiji.

We need to address remittance dependency. Consider graduated workforce participation requirements for working-age household members receiving substantial remittance support. Channel remittances toward productive investment rather than purely consumption spending. Investment matching programmes. Financial literacy initiatives. Make remittances strengthen our economy, not weaken it.

And frankly, we need to capture returns on education investment. If taxpayers fund someone’s training, some obligation to contribute to Fiji’s economy for a defined period before emigrating seems reasonable. This is standard practice in many countries.

The bottom line

After 14 years of aggressive labour export, the results are clear:

• Workforce participation: collapsed from approximately 64.9% to around 51.2%

• Unemployment: risen from 5.5% to 5.7%

• Youth unemployment: stuck above 18%

• Total departures: 114,000 people in six years

• Business impact: companies reporting losses from labour shortages

By what measure is this policy succeeding?

The real question is straightforward: Are we building Fiji’s economy or someone else’s? Because right now, the evidence suggests we’re subsidising workforce development for Australia and New Zealand whilst our own economy struggles with acute labour shortages, declining productivity, and rising costs.

This is about Fiji’s sovereign right to prioritise policies that protect our employers, support our businesses, and advance our long-term development. No successful nation exports its way to prosperity by sending its human capital abroad.

Our businesses deserve government policies that support domestic growth, not facilitate workforce depletion. Our young people deserve opportunities at home, not just pathways abroad. Our economy deserves better than becoming a labour supplier for developed nations. The data is published. The trends are clear. The question is whether we have the political will to change course before the damage becomes irreversible.

Remittances provide short-term household relief—nobody disputes that. But when they come at the cost of long-term economic capacity, we need to ask if the trade-off serves our national interest. It’s time for serious policy recalibration. Protect critical domestic skills. Make local employment competitive. Address remittance dependency. Capture returns on our education investment. Build our economy, not someone else’s.

The choice is ours. But the window for action is closing.

OPINION | Are we exporting our future? | The true cost of Fiji’s labour policies The scale of the problem SINCE 2018, approximately 114,000 Fijians – nearly 12 per cent of our entire population – have left the country. That's equivalent […]

Growth begins when you stop asking why something happened and start deciding what to do with it 🌱🔥