Legislative Council of Fiji

The Fijian Legislative Council was the colonial precursor to the present-day Parliament, which came into existence when Fiji became independent on 10 October 1970.

Immediately after Fiji was ceded to the United Kingdom, on 10 October 1874, the first Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, established an Executive Council with himself as President and comprising six other Europeans. This was a temporary measure to make policy decisions necessary to found and legitimise the new Colonial Government and to carry out the day-to-day affairs of the Government. With the arrival of Sir Arthur Gordon, on 1 September 1875, a permanent machinery for governing the new colony was established. In addition to the Executive Council, Gordon established a Legislative Council composed entirely of nominated members, of whom six were official (public officers, usually heads of Government departments), including the Governor of Fiji, the Colonial Secretary (the day-to-day executive power), the Chief Justice of Fiji and the Attorney General of Fiji; and four unofficial (representatives of the community not directly employed by the Government) members nominated by the Governor with the approval of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Thus all ten members of the Legislative Council were Europeans.

The first step towards making the Council a popularly elected legislature was taken in 1904, when the council was reconstituted as a 19-member body consisting of the Governor, 10 official members appointed by the Governor, 6 elected members chosen by European males, and 2 Fijian members appointed by the Governor from a list of 6 nominees submitted by the Great Council of Chiefs. Persistent demands by Europeans led to an increase in their representation to seven in 1914.

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