item details
NameNewspaper masi (The Fiji Times, with which is incorporated the Suva Times. Suva, Fiji, Wednesday July 1, 1891. Issue number 2211)
Production01 July 1891; Fiji
Classificationnewspapers
Materialstapa, bark cloth
DimensionsOverall: 470mm (width), 840mm (height), 20mm (depth)
Registration NumberGH002315
Credit lineAcquired 1964
Overview
For centuries, people across the Pacific have created beautiful and functional tapa cloth from the inner bark of a range of tropical trees. They share common techniques of tapa-making, but produce cloth richly varied in both design and use.
Newspaper masi
This Fiji Times newspaper is printed on masi (Fijian tapa cloth). it is an unexpected use of an indigenous material.
Christian missionaries introduced literacy to Fiji and other Pacific islands from the late 1700s. The written word opened up a whole new way of viewing and understanding the world.
The Fiji Times began in 1869 and continues today. This ‘edition’ from 1891 is printed on a single sheet of masi which, when unfolded, makes a four-page spread.