‘Never conquered’
For decades, when Billy Lemn drove through Lihue, he would ask his wife why there were no statues of the island’s past rulers.
“Where was the Hawaiian?” the Anahola man would say.
Luella Lemn said this went on for nearly 60 years — until she could take it no more.
”I am tired of you saying the same thing over and over, ‘Where is the Hawaiian?’” she told him. “Why don’t you do something about it?”
Her husband loved to doodle, so she suggested, “Why don’t you draw something?”
“He just looked at me. He didn’t say anything,” Luella added.
But Billy Lemn was thinking about it.
A few months later, he produced a drawing of Kauai’s King Kaumuali‘i (1778-1824) and Queen Deborah Kapule (1798-1853).
His wife approved.
Billy Lemn then wondered, where could they put statues of Kauai’s and Ni‘ihau’s last king and queen. The airport? State land? Nothing seemed right, until a family member suggested the Kauai Museum.
“That is the perfect place,” Billy Lemn said.
Saturday, two prototype statues of Ali‘i Aimoku Kaumuali‘i and Mo‘i Wahine Kekaiha‘Akulou will be unveiled in a special ceremony from 9 to 11 a.m. in front of the Kauai Museum. A luau, $25, will follow. The public is welcome.
Chucky Boy Chock, museum director, is delighted to honor Kaumuali‘i. He said he was a man with courage and compassion.
“He’s the kind of person you want to follow as a leader,” Chock said.
The statues, still under construction, are being created by Chris O’Conner, who moved to Kauai a few years ago.
Billy and Luella Lemn said the life-sized statues will be welcoming and inviting.
“The statues will open the doors. People are going to wonder, ‘Who are those people?’ And they will begin to tell the story,” Luella said.
Education on the island’s history is important, said Luella, who taught for many years.
“I realized a lot of kids had no clue as to the history of their island or of Hawaii. I think it’s important to kind of bring a melding of all the people to come here,” she said. “I’m thinking that through the museum and by their educating tourists as well as the people who live here, you will reach a different level.”
Billy Lemn said when he came to Chock with the idea of honoring King Kaumuali‘i and Queen Kapule about two and a half years ago, “I saw him just brighten up.”
They quickly began formulating a plan, and when O’Conner came into the picture, things fell into place.
Still, it was a long, sometimes challenging process, passing through several steps for approval.
But it was worth all the effort, Chock said. He believes it will pique people’s interest in Kauai’s history while honoring its great leaders.
“The educational component is the most valuable piece in this,” he said.
He said O’Conner was key to the project — its designer and creator — and has been a blessing.
“There’s only one other person in state who does bronze statues,” Chock said.
O’Conner was pleased to be part of it. To save money, they purchased equipment to do the work here, including a kiln from California.
“They all just gave me a lot of freedom to go in and come up with what I felt,” he said.
Billy Lemn said in his research, he found that when King Kamehameha I was going to again try and conquer Kauai, this time with more ships, guns and warriors, Kaumuali‘i sailed to Oahu to see him.
Kaumuali‘i, Lemn said, told Kamehameha he didn’t want him to invade Kauai because he knew many of his people would be killed, so he told him not to come, that Kauai was his.
“He didn’t know if he would live or die,” Billy Lemn said.
He added, with a big smile, Kamehameha agreed with the terms and Kauai was never conquered.
“Never conquered,” Billy Lemn repeated. “All of us should be proud. People always say we’re different because we were never conquered.”
Luella Lemn said people who live on Kauai need to know and appreciate it.
“It’s not only a beautiful island,” she said. “But it’s special. There is something special about it.”
Her husband says he knows why it’s special: Because Kaumuali‘i was a noble man, a great warrior and a strong but kind ruler.
“He was willing to sacrifice himself for his people,” Billy Lemn said.
He is looking forward to Saturday’s unveiling.
“I just want to have an area feel Kaumuali‘i’s presence here,” Billy Lemn said, to remind people, “at one time this was a kingdom, ruled by kings.”
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Bill Buley, editor-in-chief, can be reached at 245-0457 or bbuley@thegardenisland.com.
The reason that Hawaii was conquered was due to royalty being the sole native landowners in Hawaii. History does show that commoners were treated similar to property. They were not allowed to eat certain foods or go to certain areas reserved for Ali’i.
When the invaders arrived the royal family thought of them as equals but the native commoners were not. Haoles were allowed to own land and visit kapu areas. Missionary families were given huge parcels of land and became rich and powerful.
Now the Department of Hawaiian Homelands holds Native property hostage. It’s difficult for Native Hawaiians to afford the homes being built. Now with property values at a premium many native Hawaiian have fled to the mainland.
The power of the People lies in the land and the value of that land! Seize control from the corrupt leaders and you will be a powerful force! History has valuable lessons but don’t glorify the royalty that have your lands and power away!!
“Never conquered” seems a little odd for someone to say who chooses to give up without a fight. Yes, at first Kamehameha accepted Kaumuali’i’s surrender and did not invade. But later, as Kaumuali’i made deals with the Russians and let them build a fort as a way of defying Kamehameha and perhaps reasserting Kaua’i independence, Kamehameha sent troops to Kaua’i and there was a small civil war where Kamehameha’s troops defeated Kaumuali’i’s troops and ousted the Russians. Thereafter Kamehameha ordered Kaumuali’i to leave Kaua’i and spend the rest of his life living directly under the supervision of Kamehameha at Kamehameha’s headquarters. I think that if you surrender without a fight and let the victor take you away and keep you in custody, you have been conquered. If a man holds a knife to a woman’s throat and demands sex, and the woman chooses not to resist and to avoid getting stabbed by letting the man do what he wants, would we say it’s not rape because the woman gave consent? Maybe later she would try to maintain her dignity by saying “No, I didn’t get raped — I cooperated with him.” Uh-huh. Would a jury say the man is not guilty of rape because the woman gave consent? Yeah, sure.
very cool
So proud if this project! People of Kauai, and elsewhere need to know who is was. One mistake though with the education, the Kamehameha dynasty did finally take over Kauai and killed almost all the ruling families, including all their descendents. There was a war with fire burning nearly one year. This is fact and can be read in Mercy Whitney’s personal journal (for those that don’t know her, he was one of the first missionary wives here and actually lived with King Kaumualii’ Pa’ulaʻula (the name Kaumualii have to his super Fort (and where Russians have changed the history – our king would have Never called Pāʻulaʻula a Russian Fort!!!!!). Pā means Fort, or enclosure, ulua”ula is an emphasis on Royal red and more…) While learning about our true King of Kauai, we need to remenber about the killings that happened afterwards. Please do your homework. Aloha.
Ken Conklin another haole transplant continuing his white ancestral oppression of native peoples from the American Indians to Hawaiians distorting historical facts in order to “justify” their genocide by making up lies about Kamualii and Kamehameha.
Kamehameha sent troops to attack Kauai but his fleet was destroyed by a storm before reaching the island. Years later he again built up another force to again attack, but as they prepared to embark from the Waiane valley his troops including himself came down with a terrible sickness killing off a large number and almost killed him as well.
His high preist then told him because Kamualii had inherited the burning kapu and was trained by his mother in chanting a special prayer reserved for him because of high royal rank the exceeded Kamehameha by a large amount. The priest also said if he invaded Kauai he would die in battle.
Kamehameha who never accepted the missionary god but still respect the ancient ways thought deeply of the failed attempts and agreed not to attack Kauai, but accepted Kamualii to respect Kamehameha’s status as supreme ruler of Hawaii in exchange for Kamualii to continue to rule Kauai of which he would afford the same to his son Kam II.
However when Kam II became ruler, he violated this agreement and kidnapped Kamualii at the behest of Kahaumanu to be sent off to Oahu in a forced marriage to her in order to “justify” her status to continue ruling when Hawaiians were questioning her low royal ranking when compared to those from Kauai especially Kamualii.
By this marriage she hope it will silence those Hawaiians who had a justified reason to question her, which proved a major reason when the opportunity came she went on a killing spree to kill off as many as possible those of royality on Kauai when Kauai Wilcox and his band of supprters tried to restore Kamualii as ruler for Kauai.
The uprising failed, but Kahaumanu sent over a force to put down the rebellion and start the genocide of eliminating anyone who could prove their ranking was higher then her. She was a brutal dictator who murdered without passion to remain in power. So therefore Kamehameha did not sent any troops over Kauai, it was this degenerate psychopath Kahaumanu who sent forces over.
As with most history, there are different versions and different “memories” of what happened. I’ve always been fascinated by a note on the official county tax maps at or near Shipwreck Beach on the south shore that says, “King Kamemeha’s Army defeated here.”
Years ago I asked a friend if there were any Hawaiian legends or chants about any such incident and he told me, yes, there were stories of the people comes with rocks and spears and driving Kamehameha’s troops back into the ocean. That set me wondering about how that stacks up with the “official” version that Kamehameha’s army started out for Kauai, but ran into storms and rough seas in the channel between Oahu and Kauai, and were forced to turn back. It made me wonder what the “official excuse” might be if battered warriors and lost canoes had to be accounted for and were embarrassed to admit they’d had their asses kicked on a Kauai beach. Might the “authorities” claim they’d run into storms and had to turn back, thus accounting for lost and wounded me and lost canoes?
I don’t know, but it’s a fiction that has a bit of a ring of truth, don’t you think? I have a digital photo of the notation from an older Tax Map book and have always wondered about it’s true historic meaning.
Living in the past is easy, because we don’t have to do anything about it. Yeah…the good old days, but you still haven’t solved the problem of finding a place to live, how to feed all those kids your wife “couldn’t live without,” and why you never know where your oldest is on a school night.