Shania Shayal Prasad 
[Source: Fiji Government / Facebook]
Fiji is fast-tracking the digitisation of its most fragile and historically important records.
The National Archives of Fiji has completed nearly half 49 percent of the digitisation of Indian Indentured Labour Emigration Passes.
This marks a major milestone in the preservation of records that trace back to the colonial-era recruitment of workers.
This is the first phase of a broader initiative aimed at improving public access and ensuring long-term survival of Fiji’s documentary heritage.
Also on the digitisation agenda are records tied to the arrival of Melanesian labourers under the Polynesian Labour Trade between 1876 and 1911, and the Land Claims Commission files from 1875 to 1881 documents that are critical to understanding Fiji’s socio-political foundations.
The National Archives, which manages the government’s recordkeeping system, is moving to strengthen institutional memory through more transparent, accessible and accountable frameworks.
The initiative comes amid growing concern over the vulnerability of physical records to deterioration, loss, or damage from natural disasters.
Cabinet has been briefed on the project’s scope and progress.
Officials say the digitisation effort not only supports preservation but lays the groundwork for more open and equitable access to information for descendants of indentured or displaced communities seeking to trace their roots.
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