Vailima, the residence of celebrated Scottish author, Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife Fanny. Photo / Russell Duncan
Gail Pope is social history curator at the MTG
Many of us, oppressed by constant cloudy days and the cold rainy weather of winter, contemplate with yearning the possibilities of a relaxing sunshiny Pacific Island holiday.
This desire to venture to the islands during winter has been a common theme for Europeans living in Aotearoa since the 1880s, when the first cruise to the Pacific was made by the Wairarapa, a Union Company steamer.
By the 1890s, tourist travel to the Pacific, with accompanying advertising conjuring up images of a charming, relaxing summery paradise, along with romanticised descriptions of golden sands, was well established.
In July 1899, Te Matau-a-Māui/Hawke’s Bay businessman Russell Duncan and wife Emma set off from Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland aboard the Union Company’s steamer Waikare for a six-week cruise.
On the voyage, the Waikare stopped at several islands including Tonga, Fiji, Rotuma, Samoa, Niue, Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
Russell, a prolific photographer, took many images of the islands they visited, amongst which was this photograph of Vailima, the residence of celebrated Scottish author, Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife Fanny.
Robert wrote masterpieces such as Treasure Island (1881), Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) and Kidnapped (1886).
Born in Edinburgh and suffering throughout his life from the effects of tuberculosis, he was an avid “wanderer on the face of the earth, seeking the will of the wisp health with scant success”.
Robert along with his wife Fanny, cruised the Pacific on board the schooner Equador, arriving in Samoa on December 7, 1889. They were met by American trader and friend, Harry Moors, with whom they stayed for a couple of days until moving into rental accommodation.
The couple chose Samoa to build their home, primarily because of the temperate climate, which helped ease the tuberculosis symptoms from which Robert constantly suffered.
The archipelago also had a regular mail service, essential for connections with the author’s agents, editors, and publishers.
On January 10 1890, Robert purchased the Vailima estate of approximately 128 hectares.
It was named Vailima, “five waters”, due to five streams crossing the property.
In April 1890 they moved into their new home, along with Fanny’s son Lloyd and Robert’s widowed mother Margaret. Their home, named Vailima after the estate, was at the base of Mt Vaea overlooking Apia on Upolu Island and stood in the middle of a green plateau, which sloped gently toward the sea.
Constructed entirely from wood, some imported from California, the two-storey house was low and rambling, the exterior painted a subdued colour with a glaring red iron roof.
The homestead comprised five bedrooms, all of which were on the upper floor fronting the verandah, while on the lower floor was a library, combined dining and sitting room, a ballroom which could accommodate 100 dancers with accompanying piano, a kitchen, smoking room and an infirmary.
Throughout the house, the darkness of beautifully polished wood, was softened by large windows and French doors, which let in Samoa’s light and warmth. To remind Robert of his native Scotland, two fireplaces were installed - both of which were never lit.
The couple had separate bedrooms as Robert, a restless sleeper, would get up and write at his desk all hours of the night and did not wish to disturb Fanny.
Their beds were placed on either side of a shared wall, through which Robert built a hatch, so they could converse together while in bed.
Vailima was a warm, inviting home in which visitors were always welcomed and entertained. In December 1893, a reporter described his visit under the title “The novelist at Home”.
In depth he aptly described Robert’s physical appearance as being “a little above medium in height but woefully thin and pale” whose face was “gaunt and haggard” wearing an expression of “continual weariness”.
From the description, it was obvious Robert was extremely ill but regardless, was “good-natured” with “a dim suspicion of a smile in the depths of his big black eyes” as he extended his “long, thin, cool, patrician hand” to greet the visitor.
The two sat opposite, Robert viewing the “ceiling in a retrospective manner” while holding a homemade cigarette in his right hand.
On a small table stood a can of tobacco from which the author rolled a fresh cigarette as soon as the last was discarded.
Robert was dressed in a “tight-fitting sleeveless undershirt, cut décolleté”, with black trousers rolled “halfway to the knees”.
The author’s feet were bare so that the reporter could “plainly see his ingrowing toenail” while his right foot, which rested across his left knee, was “symmetrical, long and slender and beautifully arched, but not overclean”.
As the two conversed, Robert “gently toyed among his shapely toes with his disengaged hand”.
He concluded by stating the Vailima was “an ideal spot for the dreamer [Robert] and a home for the poet and student of nature [Fanny].”
Robert became a trusted friend, firm advocate and political adviser in Samoa, so much so he was gifted the name Tusitala, teller of tales.
During the four years he lived at Vailima, drawing inspiration from life in the Pacific, Robert wrote several books including “The Beach of Falesá” (1892) and “The Ebb-Tide” (1894), before passing away December 1894 from a cerebral haemorrhage.
Both Samoan and European officials carried Robert’s body up the steep “Road of Loving Hearts” to be buried on a clearing just below the summit of Mt Vaea, overlooking his beloved Vailima.
“I love Samoa and her people. I love the land, I have chosen it to be my home while I live, and my grave after I am dead.” - Robert Louis Stevenson.