The tiny, remote Pacific Island of Rotuma is increasingly being recognized as a rewarding area for archaeological, linguistic, anthropological, and geographical research. Until now, it has often often been neglected in discussions of issues of land tenure in the Pacific Islands and the conflict between traditional customs and imported practices. Aubrey Parke, who was a district officer on Rotuma in the 1960s, draws on his first-hand experiences to provide a benchmark for contemporary research into customary change in the rural community of Rotuma.