​Why we created hakalauhome.com

This is a personal website, not a commercial endeavor. It is an effort to dig deep into the history of a small slice of the Big Island, and distill from that history cultural values to share with the area's current residents and others. Most of the current residents came from someplace else. ​

​Background:
  • Ken has a personal interest in the history of Hakalau since his father was the Harvesting Superintendent from 1954-1959, and his family lived in Wailea during that time. Any chance to talk with folks who grew up here was an opportunity not to be missed.
  • Right: "Home movie" (1.2 minutes) taken by Robert Forbes, Harvesting Superintendent at Hakalau Plantation (1954-1959).  This was very near the still-existing warehouses in lower Hakalau (just below the manager's house).  Men, including Field Superintendent Tommy Crabbe, have gathered for work at a building just below the warehouses.
  • On the day of the open house, about 25 people visited our home and encouraged us to join them for the bus tour of their old stomping grounds. What a tour that was! Ken was delighted with memories shared by individuals who remembered his family, having delivered milk and the newspaper to his home, or having played baseball with his older brother Roger. Of course, there was also Ken’s fellow cub scout pack member, Cal, whom we had met in 2011 at the showing of Aloha Buddha at the Hakalau Jodo Mission.​
Picture
Cub Scouts, Troop 5, circa 1954-55. Left to right: Kneeling: Gary Morishita, Van Dale Furusho 1st row: George Muramatsu, Calvin Motoda, Wayne Yoshida, Ken Forbes 2nd row: Gary Yoshizumi, Curtis Ochiai, Chadwick Andagan, Francis Ouye, Melvin Souza 3rd row: John Kunishi, Mrs Andagan, Wilfred Morikawa, Mrs Souza. Photo and identification of individuals provided by Calvin Motoda.
Diligent Efforts to Preserve History:
  • Former residents share a love of Hakalau and work diligently to share pictures, stories and maps to reinforce their memories. Ken and I learned a lot from these folks and, gladly, have maintained contact with many. The key lesson:  culture and values can be passed from one time to another and one group to another.
  • The values from the plantation community that former residents shared are gifts to us:​
Engage in collective effort.
Look out for each other.
Honor hard work.
Show respect for those who came before us.
  • As we've learned more about Hawaiian and Sugar Era history of this area, we realized there is another important value critical to us today:
Aloha and Malama `Aina:
Aloha 'aina simply means to love and respect the land, make it yours and claim stewardship for it.
Malama 'aina means to care for and nurture the land so it can give back all we need to sustain life
​for ourselves and our future generations.
Creating hakalauhome.com is our way of showing our respect for those that came before us, building upon the their history and values and sharing them broadly, and showcasing the collective effort of residents of Hakalau today.

We hope you enjoy hakalauhome.com,
​Ken and Susan Forbes

​How this website grows:

This website grows as we learn more about the Hakalau Kuleana*. The timeline, in particular, grows as we scour old English and Japanese language newspapers.  Visits to the UH Manoa Hamilton Library produced a treasure trove of photos of buildings owned by the Hakalau Plantation, including the camp houses. Other organized sources include the Lyman Museum, the Hawaii Plantation Museum and the Edmund Olson Trust Archive. 

The most heartwarming sources are people. Sometimes, individuals contact us through the website, sometimes they meet us and give us pictures or tell us stories, staff at museums and libraries assist us. We now have several "email pals" who regularly answer questions. Our gratitude extends to all of them, at this time including:
  • People who grew up in Hakalau
    • Clyde Chinen--Chin Chuck
    • Bobby Fujimori--Chin Chuck
    • Jay and Maureen Ishimoto--Maureen grew up in Hakalau Upper Camp
    • Kay and Antoku Kobashigawa--Wailea. Antoku, son of Toku Kobashigawa 
    • Lloyd Matsunami--Hakalau Upper Camp. Grandson of Masujiro Matsunami and son of Yasuo Matsunami, community leader who worked for the Hakalau Store and later purchased it from the Plantation
    • Calvin Motoda--Hakalau Lower Camp
    • Robert Nishimoto--Ninole resident. Son of Sakae and Yukio Nishimoto, proprietors of the Nishimoto Store
    • The family of Waichi Ouye--Hakalau Upper Camp, community leader, avid chronicler 
    • Ken Shimabukuro--Hakalau Upper Camp
    • Emi Uemura--Hakalau Upper Camp, source of many, many memories and photos
    • Harold Uyeno--Honohina 
    • Robert and Norma Yara--Chin Chuck
    • Arlene Yonemine--Chin Chuck
  • Descendants of those who grew up in Hakalau
    • Darrelyn Bates, granddaughter of Ralph Murray, bookkeeper at the Hakalau Plantation
    • Gordon Ferguson, grand nephew of Georgiana Ross, wife of Plantation Manager John M. Ross
    • Susan Fuller, great granddaughter of Mrs. Benjamin P. Macy, the last teacher at Hakalau School when it was located in Hakalau gulch
    • Kim Kohl, granddaughter of William Ross, clerk then manager of the Hakalau Store from 1902-1937
    • Rob Morita, whose father, Shigeyoshi Morita, grew up in Wailea Spanish Camp
    • Corrine Yabuta, descendant of the Nishiyama family of Wailea
    • Jaime Yugawa, great grandson of Tetsuo and Yae Yugawa, grandson of Takeshi and Hanako Yugawa, Hakalau Lower and Upper Camps
    • Kathy Zoellner, granddaughter of Willis C. Jennings, Hakalau Plantation Manager (1942-1948)
Your contributions of pictures and information are appreciated. Contact us if you have stories and/or pictures to share. Thank you!

2020 Goals

Continue implementation related to goals 1-3 from 2019: 
  • Goal 1 (2019-2020): Expand historical information about the former Hakalau Plantation using newspaper sources. 
  • Goal 2: (2019-2020): Track and explain the sale of lands to sugar interests after the Great Māhele and the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875.
  • Goal 3 (2019-2020): Quantify and describe the demographic changes over time in the Hakalau Kuleana, the area within the boundaries of the former Hakalau Plantation from the Kolekole River in Wailea to the Poupou Stream in Ninole (at the 20 Mile Marker).
​Add new features:
  • Goal 4 (2020): Redesign so users have the option to view pictures in full size. (Contact us with suggestions related to pictures.)
  • Goal 5 (2020): Add more downloading options. (Contact us with recommendations regarding downloading files.)
Please also contact us with other recommendations you have for hakalauhome.com.

​2019 Goals

Goal 1:  Expand historical information about the former Hakalau Plantation using newspaper sources. 
  • As of November 8, 2019: The timeline has been expanded to include articles and ads. In June 2019, digitized and searchable copies of Hilo newspapers became available, greatly expanding reporting sources and enhancing human interest stories. The approach is to tackle one decade at a time and within a decade, one year at a time. The timeline for the following decades are most fully developed: 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1960s-2000s. Not only is this an ongoing process, but it is iterative as well. 

​Goal 2: Track and explain the sale of lands to sugar interests after the Great Māhele and the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875.
  • As of November 8,  2019: Research in progress. 

Goal 3: Quantify and describe the demographic changes over time in the Hakalau Kuleana, the area within the boundaries of the former Hakalau Plantation from the Kolekole River in Wailea to the Poupou Stream in Ninole (at the 20 Mile Marker).
  • As of November 8, 2019: Research in progress.