Elizabeth McHutchenson, is famously known as Eliza and was born back in 1800 in Scotland. When she became old enough, in 1824 she married a ship's captain by the name of Francis Sinclair. Eliza and her husband were blessed to have six children. Soon after the sixth child, they decided to sail and begin a new life in New Zealand.
But there was no way they could have predicted to what was a bout to come that would eventually change the course of the future forever.
Tragedy was waiting for them even before they could enjoy their new home.
In 1841, the family arrived safely in New Zealand and settled in Pigeon Bay, and started farming, which proved to be successful. Despite the fact that the family was into farming business, but Francis was still a sea captain and utilized his sea skills to transport the family's farming supplies to other up shore cities for sale.
Five years after the family arrived on the island, Francis and his eldest son went on a voyage, and there a great tragedy awaited them. Their ship was hit by a storm and it sank, killing everyone on board and their cargo sank with the rest of the crew.
When tragedy struck and Eliza lost her husband together with her eldest son, it seemed that Eliza had nothing to show for a couple of years of hard work she had put in her farm in Pigeon Bay. Having five children to take care of, Eliza knew that she had to work hard to take care of the five kids.
Eliza worked hard and transformed Pigeon Bay back into a perfect farm. Soon she was able to marry off all her five children and she made up her mind that she her family had to migrate to Canada. In 1863, Eliza and her family set out for sail once again, and this time were heading to Canada in the hope of starting a new farm life.
As soon as they set ashore in Canada later that year, the family was entirely disappointed as soon as they arrived in Vancouver Island. The land was entirely wild and there was no major development on the land and it seemed that it was going to be difficult to establish a successful farm.
Eliza knew that the family could not settle there, and the family planned to move to California, but then she heard of a promising land, the Hawaiian Islands which by the time were known as Sandwich Islands. That is when she made a decision to relocate her family to Hawaii and meet with King Kamehameha V so as to negotiate with him in the hope of purchasing Niihau Island.
The King agreed to sell the Island to the Sinclairs for the amount $10,000 in gold in the year 1864. But before giving them full control of the island, he wanted the family to protect that island together with its residents from and outside influence.
The Sinclairs had no objection to the terms and hence started their new life on the island. The natives considered Eliza to be the chiefess and the family was determined to help the island residents in every way they could.
The Sinclairs were the new owner of the Niihau Island as it was their private property and had taken King Kamehameha V's request so seriously and made sure that they did everything they can to separate the island entirely away from the ever-encroaching United States. In the 1930s, they announced that Niihau is entirely closed to all visitors.
The measures were taken to prevent the island from the spread of diseases such as measles and polio, while maintaining the Native Hawaiian culture of the island that was known as Kahiki.
How does Niihau Island currently look like?
Until today the island is a private property of the Robinson family, who are the descendants of Eliza Sinclair and her family. They had done everything to uphold their ancestors promise to King Kamehemeha V making sure that the island is to be kept private and unaffected from the outside influence of the modern world.
Bruce and Keith Robinson once when conducting an interview with ABC News stated that they are doing their best to maintain the King's request when he turned over the Island to their ancestors, and they have maintained the island for the people and will continue to work it as the King had.
The Island has had little or entirely no contact with the outside community and until now it looks as if time just stopped within the island. The people inside that island live the same way as their ancestors did over hundreds of years ago.
They are living off the land and still use old skills to survive, such as hunting as well as fishing. Besides, the island is the only place on earth where Hawaiian is known to be the dominant language.
Being isolated from the rest of the world has its excitement. Thas no he life on the island as been considered as being so relaxed and peacefully. The island has not running water nor electricity until now, but people sustain themselves by collecting rain water as well as using water panel.
Every house on the island is installed with its own solar panel. Being separated from the outside world and the city hustle as well as technology, life seemed to move slowly.
I know what you might be thinking! The inhabitants are not stranded to the island.
It is not allowed for anybody to come and go out of the island as they wish, but the island's inhabitants can do that. The Niihauans know how life is beyond their island and are able to to spend time in both Kauai and the forbidden island as there is more work on Kauai.
70.
This makes the process of identifying the population of people living on the island quite difficult. Back in 2010, it was estimated that 170 people live on the island, but yet the number is believed to be 70.
Despite the fact that living on the island might seem like a paradise to some people, but the inhabitants still abide by as eries of laws that were created by the Sinclair and now the Robinson family. The residents of Niihaua are not allowed to own guns or alcohol and should attend church every Sunday.
In additional one of the resident claimed that mean are not permitted to have long hair or earings and breaking the rule can lead to eviction from the island.
The Island is isolated from the rest of Hawaii Islands, and therefore provisions need to be delivered directly to the islands. Supplies are delivered on a weekly basis and come by barge and contain all the necessary goods except those items that are banned from the island such as guns, tobacco and alcohol.
What is so interesting is that while the Islanders are not allowed to have guns, due to the position of the Island, but the US Military set a military defensive operation base and has employed some of its inhabtats.
There are mixed views regarding life on the island. Some people compare the residents of the island to an utopian society where everyone adheres to the strict laws and cultural beliefs, while others think differently. Peter T. Young, the former Department of Land and Natural Resources director of Hawaii, gave a reasonable explanation.
He stated that Niihau is entirely isolated from the rest of the world, but for them the island is not isolated. They don't look any different or they don't act any different. They live in a location most of us have limited opportunity to see.
The residents of the island together with the Robinson family agree to maintain their close-knit community against the eyes of tourists as well as other Hawaiians. Non-residents are totally prohibited from entering the island and there are high consequences against anyone who tries to enter the island without permission.
But getting into the island is extremely difficult, so intruding is not a major concern of the island.
Surprisingly, despite the fact that the island is off limit to non-residents as well as the media, the island has exclusive limited tours as well as guided tours. Despite the fact that you will not have an opportunity to penetrate deep within the island, but some tours will at least take you until the island shores.
For an additional amount, some tours will fly you in a private chartered helicopter for half-day tour around the island. but keep in mind that an all day guided hunting safari will cost you not less than $1,700 and you will have an opportunity to access much of the island.
As stated by Bruce Robinson who owns the island, the tours are specifically for people to come to see the undisturbed nature of the Hawaiian island. No tourist will be allowed into the village or no tour guide will jeopardize the residents, and that means the tourists will never fly over the village.
Besides, he added that they respect the privacy of the island residents and their desire to live without any influence from the outsiders and they intend to keep things like that. In case you sign up for a tour then you must understand that there is no way you will ever see how living on the land is really like.
Can you imagine what went there during the 2nd world war?
As the human population on the island is limited, this allows different species of plants and animals to thrive, including those endangered species such as the monk seal, whose population on Niihau after the species began to successfully breed on the island.
Currently, there are almost 35 seals having 10 to 12 pups that are being born on the island annually. This is another reason to why the island is being protected.
Niihau shells are normally referred to as shells that are specifically found on the Forbidden Island and they are used in making shell leis. Basically, there are three kinds of shells that are used even though they come in a different color and texture.
A big number of the population of the island are craft makers and avid artists, as many of them are so focused on creating these identical leis. You can find these leis throughout the stores found Hawaiian Islands, with different price tags depending on the availability of certain shells.
At the time of Pearl Harbor attack prior to the United States' involvement in World war II, one of the Japanese pilot unfortunately crashed his plane on Niihau Island. The pilot was able to survive the crash and took the entire village hostage.
Fortunately, two men from the village were able to out strong the man, take his gun and kill him before he could harm anyone. One of the two men even went on to receive a Purple Heart for his heroic act.
The island has little technological advancement, residents when they are idle and need to refresh, most of them spend their time at the beach, watching movie DVDs or VHS, or anything else to buy time. However, just like any other person, a lot of the islanders also get bored and some decide to leave the island for more opportunities.
Having a privilege of going and coming as they please, many of the island residents upon reaching 20s leave the island to experience life beyond the outside world and they can return whenever they feel like doing so.
Hawaii is a beautiful place made of six beautiful islands. In case you would have visited the island back in 1950 when this photo was shot, you probably would have managed to see such a scene where the native Hawaiian dancers performed the traditional hula. The Hula dancers dance by swaying their hips in a way of telling a story.
Hula was developed by the Polynesians that mainly originated from the Hawaiian islands. Normally people compare Hula to Mele which are traditional island songs, poems or chants. Therefore, the hula is a way of dramatizing the mele in visualizing way like dancing. This can be categorized into two major groups of the dance, namely Hula Kashiko, which is ancient hula that used to be performed before Western contact with Hawaii. Hula 'Auana is an advanced version due to western influences.
This picture was taken back in 1954, where this woman can be seen making leis circa. She works to thread carnations together in order to create colorful flower necklaces which can be used as gifts to visitors who visit Hawaii. It was the Polynesians who brought the lei tradition to the Hawaii. Polynesian voyagers came from Tahiti and they used flowers, shells, nuts, seeds, sometimes even animal teeth and bones to make leis.
The lei is among the ultimate identity of Hawaiian culture to anyone who visits the islands as he/she is greeted with such an amazing warm 'Aloha' as well as fresh flower lei. In case you are offered a lei, you have to accept it and never take it off while you are in front of a person who gave it to you.
The picture portrays how life in Hawaii was like back in 1954. It shows neighbours chatting across a while fence, which is just the same way just like the suburbia on the Mainland. The only difference with the Mainland is that the neighborhood is nestled in a lush, majestic valley along the Oahu Island.
How amazing would it be waking up in such an amazing scene each day? It seems that these people are enjoying the view. These fellas lived in Honolulu which is the capital of Hawaiian which is a westernmost major U.S. city and is the most remote major city in the whole world. It seems that these families lived in Hawaii after WWII.
Not all people were able to live in Hawaii, but tourists get a chance to have a taste of how living there could be.
The cooks are preparing a tradition of Hawaiian luau, the picture was taken back 1954. As pigs are roasted for luau, one stage of the preparations include placing hot rocks from the fire pit within the pig carcass. There are a lot of different methods to eat a roasted pig at luau. Maybe these cooks are preparing laulau, in a native Hawaiian dish.
Laulau normally consists of a pork that is wrapped in taro leaves. The laulau is the steamed to create a perfect meal. But sometimes instead of pork, laulau can be stuffed with butterfish that are salted, chicken or fish. Laulau is traditionally steamed from an underground oven that goes by the name of imu.
In this photo that was taken back 1969, a woman can be seen working with dolphins. These are false killer whales, which is the third largest kind of dolphin. There are three kinds of false population of false killer whales inhabiting the waters that surround the Hawaii Islands. This kind of dolphins can often be seen since population is largely distributed in different parts of the ocean.
There are specific places in Hawaii such as Oahu where this photo was taken, where you can spot these elusive sea creatures so closely. Dolphins are normally so friendly to humans and these false killer whales have been seen in different occasions capturing fish and bringing them to humans who are boating or diving.
If you have never had a chance to live or visit Hawaii, then you are missing a lot. If you happen to visit the islands for a vacation, then you wouldn't want to miss a sunbathe just like what these folks are doing at the Kailua Kona Hilton Resort. This picture was taken back in 1975. The resort has been renamed, but you can still pay a visit to the location.
Back in1975, there was a huge earthquake and tsunami that took place in Hawaii. The catastrophe took place on 29, 1975 and had a magnitude of 7.4 magnitude and shook several of the islands, and led to triggering tsunami that ended up killing at least two people.
After the second world war, Hawaii has become one of the most popular vacation centers. This photo was taken back in 1938 and appeared in a 1938 editorial in Vogue magazine. This is one among the examples that show the general public exposure when it comes to surf culture, which has continued to exist for over 20 years or so.
As early as the 1930s, the Americans were introduced with an entirely new realm of vacation destinations. This was the country's newest acquired state and despite the fact that it was a part of America, this tropical paradise seemed to anyone as if he/she had visited a foreign land. There are plent of classic photos just like that one above that show tourists having fun as well as adventure on the Hawaiian Island.
The guy you see on the above picture is a surf legend Nick Beck and this photo was taken back in 1963. Beck swept the entire nation for his outstanding surfing skills back in the 60s and this picture appeared in the LIFE magazine. The article introduced readers to the surfing world while also warning them of the dangers associated with the sport.
Beck was born in on of Hawaiian Islands, Kaua'i which is the fourth largest among the islands that make up Hawaii. Prior to becoming a surfing legend, Beck worked as a teacher, then he settled and became the principal of Hanalei Elementary School. But later on, he worked hard towards transforming and developing Hanlei and Kaua'i so as to preserve its natural beauty from human deterioration.
This picture was taken back in the 1960 and shows the Wakiki Beach filled with vacationers as they would flock to this spot so as to enjoy a slice of many refreshments that the islands could offer. Waikiki Beach is found in O'ahu which is located to the South Shore in Honolulu, and just a small island, but the most populated of them all. This is due to the fact that the island consists of spouting fresh waters. At one time there used to be springs as well as streams that separated this beach from the interior parts of the island.
Wakiki Beach is famously known for its clear blue waters with white sands as well as an iconic view of a Diamond Head Crater. There is no doubt that this looks calmer than how it is now as currently Wakiki has turned out to be a tourist hub and has plenty of development along the beach.
This photo was taken in 1987, where the ladies can be seen enjoying surfing on the beach at Ho'okipa on the north shore of Maui. The island is the so popular when it comes of all water-related activities. Besides, the name Ho'okipa means hospitality in the native Hawaiian and that is truly what you would expect to see.
Ho'okipa is known as being a home for four different surf breaks, where the swell and reef create a barreling waves that are so perfect for surfing.
There are a lot of sacred places in Hawaii which are known as heiau. These are all different, as some are sacred grounds which are marked by stacked rocks that are used for offerings to the gods. Others are entirely obvious with temples.
For Hawaiians, it is more important to preserve and care these places, but unfortunately some sites were destroyed during the 19 century when Christian missionaries arrived in Hawaii.
This is located on the island of Maui, beyond Hana there is the Hale O Pi'ilani Heiau. This holds a huge importance is a mong the largest heiau in all of Polynesia, and has been well preserved for centuries. The site dates back to the 13th century and was built using basalt rocks that were brought from the mountain ridge.
The rocks have been stacked 50 feet high, having a perimeter of 341 feet by 415 feet. Within the wall there is even more wall as well as enclosures, pits and platforms.
The Pu'u o Mahuka Heiau was constructed during the war period. Some historians have stated that it was built back in the 17th century and it was expanded during the 18h century. It sits upon the hill on the island of O'ahu, facing Waimea Bay and Waimea Valley.
Ka'opulupulu oversaw the creation of heiau, which was meant to serve as a lookout spot for much of the north shore of the island at the time of a conflict. Some historians believe that the site was also used as a heiau luakini or a sacrifice temple for the war god.
It is located upon the north shore of the island of Kaua'i. Kaulu Paoa Hula Heiau has a lot of Hawaiian culture and history. It is upon this site that the Chief of Kaua'i, Lohiau, where he was buried, His body was buried within a cave within the sea cliffs.
There is a legend that Lohiau died as soon as he fell in love with the goddess of fire. His youngers sister, Pele and Wahineomao scaled the cliffs so as to try to raise him from the deads. In the process three rainbows appeared while the two women were chanting with herbs but Lohiau never rose from the dead.
Haleki'i-Pihana Heiau State Monument which covers 10-acre park that is known to be a home of two laukini heiau. Both situated near the mouth of the 'lao Stream in Wailuku, Maui. Both sites are linked back to the main Hawaiian chiefs and archaeologists have studied the location for many years.
Back in 1985, November 25th, the site was added too the National Register of Historical sites. These temples are believed to have been built back in the 1200s.
Kamakahonu is a former residence of Kamehameha I, who si a founder and a ruler of the Hawaii Kingdom. He is the ancestor of King Kamehameha V, the king who sold the Niihau Island to the Sinclairs family. The site is situated in the north end of Kailua Bay upon one of the biggest Hawaii Island.
Besides, the site has served as a residence for several other Hawaii rulers as well as officials.
Ulupo Heiau Historic Site is located on the edge of Kailua, Hawaii and is so connected to the ancient legend of the Menehune, that involves a mythological dwarf people that exist in Hawaiian tradition. But later developed to be connected with the top chiefs of O'ahu. The area has existed for many years until 1750, where it was conquered in 1780's.
Despite the fact it was formerly referred to have been used as an agricultural temple, but it is assumed that it was later transformed into a place for human and animal sacrifices.
Kea?iwa Heiau State Recreation Area refer to the remains of a ruined holy temple. The site is located at the top of a hill within the neighbourhood that is referred to as 'Aiea Heights upon O'ahu. It faces the Pearl Harbor memorial monument. The place is so famous as it is commonly used by campers and hikers.
Historians believe that the temple was built back in 1600's, and the site is surrounded by different ancient medical herbs that until today residents come to seek for their medical needs.
The Wailua River State Park make up a portion of the Wailua River Valley. tourists are allowed to enjoy its waters by swimming, kayaking, boating as well as water skiing. Within the Wailua River State Park you will find Wailua Complex of Heiaus.
This is a famous National Landmark and was once the center of chiefly authority. Inside the complex, you can find worship places, refuge as well as location for royal births.
The Hokukano-Ualapue Complex is situated a long the Hawaii route 450 in Ualapue, upon the Moloka'i Island. This is also considered being a National Historic Landmark as well as being a pre-contact archaeological site. Within the entire complex, you will find three temples, and many of them are referred as being one of the most important collections of the ancient Hawaiian locations in the entire Hawaii Islands.
Ili'ili'opae Is the most revered temple within the complex and being the second largest temple among all the temples found in the Hawaii.