David Robbie (Fijian politician)

Captain David Robbie (4 March 1849 – 1940) was a Scottish-born businessman, planter and politician in Fiji. He served as a member of the Legislative Council between 1905 and 1908.

David Robbie
Member of the Legislative Council for Levuka
In office 1905–1908
Succeeded by	John Maynard Hedstrom
Personal details
Born	4 March 1849 Forfar, United Kingdom
Died	1940 (age 91) Levuka, Fiji
Profession	Sailor, Trader, Planter

Biography

Robbie was born in the Scottish town of Forfar in 1849.^[1] After being educated in the town, his first job was as a telegraph clerk in the Scottish Railway Company.^[1] He then became a sailor, joining a ship trading between Australia and eastern India. In 1872 he moved to the Thames goldfield in New Zealand, before becoming a coastal trader. He then moved to Fiji in 1876, where he bought his own boat, a schooner named Midge,^[2] and traded across the Pacific islands.^[1] A sunken lagoon that he discovered to the north-east of Wallis was named Robbie Shoal.^[2]

He became a manager in the Kopsen & Co company in Suva in 1882. After the company's premises burnt down in 1889, he moved to Levuka, where he married and started running the Royal Hotel.^[2] He subsequently established his own merchants firm, Robbie and Evans,^[1] which was later bought by Burns Philp.^[3] He then established a cocoa, coffee, rubber, tea and vanilla plantation on Vanua Levu.^[1] Due to his influence in business, he became President of the Levuka Chamber of Commerce.^[1] He also acted as Harbourmaster at Levuka on several occasions.^[4]

Robbie entered local politics in Levuka, serving as a member of Levuka Town Council for over two decades.^[4] He was also warden and mayor of the town, and chaired the town's school board.^[1] In 1905 he contested the Levuka seat in the first elections to the Fijian Legislative Council, and was elected unopposed.^[5] However, in the 1908 elections he lost by four votes to John Maynard Hedstrom.^[5] He challenged Hedstrom again in the 1911 elections, but lost by six votes.^[5]

After retiring he lived on his Wainunu estate on Vanua Levu. His wife died in 1924,^[6] and Robbie died in Levuka in 1940.^[3] He was described as "tall, and very erect... even to his nineties".^[7]