Most of you may be aware of one of the oldest photography studios in Fiji (it was opened in 1904), Caines Jannif Limited, located opposite Suva Central in town. But what I wasn’t aware of was another photography company that operated back in pre-independence days, and seemed to be the major photo studio of its era. Of course, I say seemed to since buying a full page advert is as expensive as it was back then as it is now. If your company can afford a full page ad, then its safe to say that you’re a big player in company circles

Stinsons Ltd comes out with all guns blazing in this ad that’s meant to pull at your ‘old is gold’ heart strings. Starting in the old days of 1869, thanks in part to Fiji Times, they’ve come a long way, photographing historic moments and places of Fiji, with their most prolific era around the 1940s and 50s, where they were official photographers for the movie “His Majesty O’Keefe” as well as the devastating hurricane that left 35 people dead, and 1,109 people injured.

Here’s one of their pictures of Victoria Parade in Suva. For more of their pictures, check out the Just Pacific’s website.

1869 is a very long time ago. A very, very long time ago. During that time, celluloid was invented, the Suez Canal is opened in a grand ceremony, and Night at the Museum’s playground ‘The American Museum of National History’ is founded. More closer to home, the Fiji Times newspaper had just started out, a fledgling little newspaper, and as newspapers go, had much to report on, with history in the making. In those days, Levuka was still the centre of Fiji, Civil unrest is on the rise, Britian starts to take a very strong interest in the islands, and powerplay amongst the chiefs reached new heights with the introduction of weapons and foreign powers.

Pretty heady times indeed.

While being of long ago, copies of the papers have been kept over the years, and as luck would have it, I’ve managed to secure a scanned copy of an issue of the Fiji Times all the way from 1969, which is still quite a long time ago. As in, I wasn’t even born long time ago. In this particular issue, they’ve brought out the archives and reprinted the Fiji Times as per 1869, and as such, have granted the readers a chance to peer into the past and see what Fiji was like, in both 1869 as well as 1969.

Blast From The Past is going to be a new weekly (or somewhere around that timeframe, as I claim ‘Fiji Time’ as my defendent) post, and will go through 1 page a week, allowing you to have a read of issues, politics and topics that formed the news in those days. To read the page in detail simply click the picture to load a close up version.