Bill Text: HI HR100 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging The Board Of Land And Natural Resources To Rename The Russian Fort Elisabeth State Historical Park In Waimea, Kauai, As "paulaula".

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-04-07 - Resolution adopted in final form. [HR100 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2022-HR100-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	100
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE BOARD OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES TO RENAME THE RUSSIAN FORT ELISABETH STATE HISTORICAL PARK IN WAIMEA, KAUA‘I, AS "PA‘ULA‘ULA".

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, King Kaumuali‘i was born in 1780 at Pōhaku Ho‘ohānau at Holoholokū, Wailua, Kaua‘i, to Kamakahelei and Kā‘eokūlani; and

 

     WHEREAS, Pa‘ula‘ula is the traditional place name for the eastern bank at the mouth of the Waimea River, and was the location of the royal compound of Kaumuali‘i, the ali‘i ‘ai moku of Kaua‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, on January 27, 1779, Georg Anton Schäffer was born in Münnerstadt, Bavaria; and

 

     WHEREAS, Schäffer studied medicine in Gottingen, Germany; and

 

     WHEREAS, by 1808, Schäffer, a German National, travelled to Moscow to practice medicine; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1799, the Russian-American Company was established to engage in the fur-trade, in which Russian explorers were dominant in Alaska; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1813, in St. Petersburg, Georg Anton Schäffer joined the Russian-American Company as a medical physician and sailed to Sitka, Alaska; and

 

     WHEREAS, on January 31, 1815, the Russian-American Company's trade ship Bering was shipwrecked on the beach at Waimea Bay, in front of the royal compound of Kaumuali‘i, the ali‘i ‘ai moku of Kaua‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, Kaumuali‘i, the ali‘i ‘ai moku of Kaua‘i, appropriated the Bering and its cargo; and

 

     WHEREAS, in December 1815, the Russian-American Company sent Georg Anton Schäffer on a mission to Kaua‘i to recover the Bering's lost cargo, and instructed him to receive payment for the cargo, salvage what he could from the vessel, and return immediately on the ship Otkrytie; and

 

     WHEREAS, on July 1, 1816, Schäffer and Kaumuali‘i entered into a secret treaty, which provided for the construction of forts on the island of Kaua‘i, including one in Pa‘ula‘ula; and

 

     WHEREAS, on September 12, 1816, in Pa‘ula‘ula, Schäffer began construction of a stronghold, built of lava blocks, to be named "Fort Elisabeth", after the consort of Emperor Alexander I; and

 

     WHEREAS, the fort at Pa‘ula‘ula was constructed largely from a Hawaiian labor force, and with rocks from Waimea River's east bank, which many Native Hawaiians consider a sacred area; and

 

     WHEREAS, in January 1817, Alexander Andreyevich Baranov, Chief Manager of the Russian-American Company, promptly repudiated Schäffer and Kaumuali‘i's transaction; and

 

     WHEREAS, in May 8, 1817, less than one year after Schäffer's arrival at Kaua‘i, Kaumuali‘i, the ali‘i ‘ai moku of Kaua‘i, and thousands of his people ran the Bavarian physician and his men off of Kaua‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Russian Emperor informed Charles de Nesselrode, a Russian Empire diplomat, that acquisition of the Hawai‘i Islands would be useless, that acquisition could lead to "unpleasantness" in the country's relations with other powers, and that the Russian-American Company should try to keep Kaumuali‘i's esteem and good will; and

 

     WHEREAS, on February 24, 1818, Charles de Nesselrode informed the Minister of Interior, Kozodavlev, of the Emperor's decision, which Kozodavlev relayed to the Council of the Russian-American Company in a letter dated March 13, 1818; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Council of the Russian-American Company decided to:

 

     (1)  Return to Kaumuali‘i the possessions he gave to Schäffer, with the explanation that the Emperor already had enough possessions;

 

     (2)  Ask the Ministry of the Interior to strike a gold medal inscribed "To Kaumuali‘i, King of the Sandwich Island of Kaua‘i, as a mark of Russian friendship", to be given to him on a ribbon of St. Anna; and

 

     (3)  To inform Baranov to recall Schäffer as soon as possible, and to put in the hands of a wiser person the matter of Russian-American Company trade with the Sandwich Islands; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Russian government informed Schäffer that he had acted beyond his authority, brought him back to Russia, removed him from employment, and sent him back to Germany; and

 

     WHEREAS, for more than forty years after the departure of Schäffer, Kaumuali‘i, ali‘i ‘ai moku of Kaua‘i, and later his descendants, occupied the Waimea fort; and

 

     WHEREAS, the fort was used as an administrative center, prison, and a burial ground of the island of Kaua‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaiian government completed the half-finished structure and used the fort until 1864, when it was abandoned and its buildings dismantled to its foundations, with only its outer walls remaining; and

 

     WHEREAS, since the creation of the fort at Pa‘ula‘ula, no Russians have ever garrisoned the fort; and

 

     WHEREAS, the iwi of King Kaumuali‘i's grandson is buried within this sacred site, along with six other Hawaiians who died in battle; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1885, over twenty years after the fort's deconstruction, George Jackson, a Hawaiian government surveyor, rendered a map entitled "Plan of Old Russian Fort Waimea, Kaua‘i"; and

 

     WHEREAS, the numerous names that have been given to this enclosure, including "Pa‘ula‘ula", "Fort Elisabeth", and "stone fort", reflect its cultural significance and multicultural history; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1972, the State of Hawai‘i acquired the seventeen-acre property encompassing the fort structure for the purpose of preserving the site; and

 

     WHEREAS, the site, administered as the Russian Fort Elisabeth State Historical Park, was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1962 and listed on the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places in 1981; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 2017, the two hundredth anniversary of the fort was commemorated with a forum on Kaua‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, in March 2018, a working group, composed of representatives from various cultural and historical organizations on Kaua‘i, government agencies, and the Russian-American community, formed to discuss the future of the site; and

 

     WHEREAS, Kaua‘i community representatives believe the name "Pa‘ula‘ula" should be honored by its inclusion in the name of the site, so that the mo‘olelo of this wahi pana is shared and the ‘āina that cares for the iwi kūpuna is honored; and

 

     WHEREAS, on Saturday March 20, 2021, an eight-foot-tall bronze statue of King Kaumuali‘i, the ali‘i ‘ai moku of Kaua‘i, was unveiled at Pa‘ula‘ula, Waimea, Kaua‘i, and symbolized his return to his ancestral home; and

     WHEREAS, various provisions of Hawai‘i's State Constitution provide for the preservation and promotion of native Hawaiian

culture, history, and language, including article X, section 4, which states, "The State shall promote the study of Hawaiian culture, history and language"; and

 

     WHEREAS, Mua ‘Ōlelo Hawaii emphasizes ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i place names, which should reflect the State's cultural heritage and its historical and geographical integrity; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawai‘i, Regular Session of 2022, that the Board of Land and Natural Resources is urged to rename the Russian Fort Elisabeth State Historical Park in Waimea, Kaua‘i, as "Pa‘ula‘ula"; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Division of State Parks of the Department of Land and Natural Resources is urged to develop new interpretive signs, brochures, and websites for the site that are available in Hawaiian and English and primarily reflect the ‘āina of Kaua‘i's ali‘i nui, as well as the rich multicultural history of the site; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Division of State Parks of the Department of Land and Natural Resources is also urged to collaborate with the National Park Service to update the National Historic Landmark designation of the site and incorporate its Hawaiian place name and recent research findings by scholars of history and anthropology; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Secretary of the Interior, Director of the National Park Service, Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Administrator of the Division of State Parks of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and mayors of the several counties.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Board of Land and Natural Resources; State Parks; Paulaula