Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 6, 1 June 1988 — Uluhaimalama and the Queen [ARTICLE]

Uluhaimalama and the Queen

Part III

The story about the Queen and her garden at Uluhaimalama began two issues ago with the planting ceremony that took plaee on October 11, 1894. The story included Lizzie Nakanealoha Mana, her husband John Mana and her children's father, William Austin Whiting,

whose hves intermmgled with that of the Queen. The story last month ended with the Queen being tried by the Military Commission presided over by Whiting, for "misprision of treason" after the counter-revolution attempt of 1895. On the afternoon of February 27, the Queen was called into court. As if by design, she was found guilty of the charges against her. The Queen was sentenced to pay a fine of $5,000 and to be imprisoned for five years at hard labor, penalties whieh were never completely executed. Upon being confined, the Queen was not allowed to have newspapers or current reading material. However, she was allowed writing paper and lead pencils, and she was able to pen her music. Two of the favorite songs of many, the immortal "The Queen's Prayer" and "Paoakalani," were among many composed during this period. The Queen was permitted to walk upon the veranda for relaxation after the business hours of the day, and friends were allowed to send her tokens of sympathy. Bouquets of flowers and baskets of fruits of all varieties eame in almost every day. There were also flowers from her garden at Uluhaimalama. In Hawaii's Story, Lili'uokalani wrote: "It was the duty of the guards to search whatever was sent to me before it was delivered into my hands; so the baskets, whether of food, flowers, clothes, or papers, went to them first, and at least at the start were closely examined . . . Every newspaper, however, had to eome through the hands of Mr. (Charles B.) Wilson; and if he detected in it anything whatever relating to the government, he would take it away, not permitting me to see it. I used to find great comfort in the bits of newspaper that were wrapped around my bouquets whieh were brought to me from my own garden at Uluhaimalama. They were generally wrapped in the newspapers, foreign and loeal, obtained from Mr. Whiting's house, near my own . . ." Ironically, Wilson had been the Queen's Marshal of the Kingdom and had been one of those who was prepared to use force in quelling the "revolution of 1893." It was he who had to be ordered by the Queen in writing not to make any arrests or do what he could to maintain the peaee because the Queen had hoped to settle the matter without bloodshed. It was probably in utter frustration with the Queen that he became an agent for the provisional government, and, as fate would have it, became the Queen's primary jailer. One ean almost guess that it was Lizzie Nakanealoha Mana who regularly gathered flowers for the Queen at Uluhaimalama in the early mornings. There were probably times when others either helped or accompanied her. Lizzie and Whiting had remained friends over the years. Because of the relationship, Lizzie was able to gain entry to the judge's house to obtain the newspapers that the Queen enjoyed so mueh. Little did Whiting know that his discarded newspapers played such an important part in consoling the Queen during this, the saddest part of her life.

Because Mrs. Wilson, the Queen's almost eonstant eompanion, reported to her husband everything the Queen mentioned, he began to suspect that newspapers were being secretly sent in. When ! he finally found out that they had eome as wrapping paper, he became very angry. On September 6, almost eight months after the Queen's arrest, the Queen was released on parole. Upon being driven from her palaee prison to the gateway of her home at Washington Plaee, the Queen was elated to return to her own home. There she was met by others of her people who after being released from imprisonment were there to greet her. The Queen never gave up. She continued the fight to reestablish the Kingdom for the rest of her days. The written record says very little more about the principals of our story. We know, however, that Judge Whiting became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1896. In January, 1903, probably in an attempt to reconcile his domestic life, W. Austin Whiting adopted Lizzie, Ethel and Austin Whiting, the children he had with Lizzie. He began to suffer from dropsy and returned to Boston about that time. Later, surprisingly, Whiting returned to Honolulu where he was cared for by Lizzie and her husband John until he, Whiting, died in 1908. We know that Lizzie and the Queen continued to be friends. From time to time, they would stroll up to Uluhaimalama in the evenings, for it was an excellent plaee to talk about the intimacies and secrets that Hawaiian women loved to share. There were no "ears" to eavesdrop at Uluhaimalama. Sometimes, Kealoha, one of the girls hanaied by the Manas, would go along, but when they reached the garden, Kealoha was on her own. John Mana died in 1911 and was buried in Nuuanu. Lizzie reached the ripe old age of 81 when she died in 1929 and was buried with John. The Queen, of course, died in 1917, never to regain the crown that she had lost. However, she has remained close to most Hawaiians of that and later generations who have continued to love and respect her. The counter-revolution that most Hawaiians and many of their friends had hoped for never materialized. Between then and now, the welfare of Hawaiians sank to its lowest levels, but contrary to the expectations of many, we did not become extinct. In spite of the shock of invading foreign cultures, we are holding our own. With some luek and the blessings of our akua, we will preserve those good Hawaiian qualities that have been bred into us and rebound as the proud people we onee were.

Postscript: Somewhere in time, Austin, the son, lost track of Kealoha. He must have missed her. He went looking for her and found her. They were married in December, 1930, and became the parents of four children. Note: The location of Uluhaimalama has been confused by many authorities. The location written about here is confirmed by the location description of the planting ceremony in the October 15, 1894, issue of "Ka Makaainana" whieh translates to "mauka of Pauoa by the section near the (Pauoa) stream just as you make the turn makai of the Chinese graveyard and at the plaee facing, but not quite opposite from, J. Mana's house." J. Mana's lot has been identified as TMK: 2-2- 14-03 whieh was sold for $5,000 to the Chinese Christian Church Assn. in 1918 by Austin Whiting (son) with a release of life interest by (Lizzie) Nakanealoha Mana (widow). The parcels on whieh the planting ceremony took plaee are identified as TMK: 2-2-14-04 and 2-2-14-05 whieh were acquired from the Territory of Hawaii on June 9, 1922, at auction by John H. Wise, Trustee for Uluhaimalama Cemetary Assn., and are now cemeteries on Auwaiolimu St. The two ohi'a trees were planted on the Uluhaimalama Cemetery parcel but are no longer there. Nothing remains of the plantings. It would be a "ehieken skin" event for a monument to be placed at Uluhaimalama and dedicated on October 11, 1994, to commemorate the historic protest that took plaee there. This writer thanks Princess Poomaikelani Kawananakoa, grand-daughter of Prince David Kawananakoa, for enlarging his knowledge of Uluhaimalama, and Manu Whiting Kon and Puna Whiting Kaaialii, grand-daughters of William Austin Whiting and Lizzie Nakanealoha Mana, for bringing Lizzie into his life. Thanks must also be given to Louise Pohina Tolles, whose father James Pohina played with the band at the time of the Uluhaimalama planting ceremony and who is buried there; Mealii Kalama, lay pastor of the Kawaiahao Church who grew up next to Uluhaimalama; Mary Kaoihana, present caretaker of Uluhaimalama and sister of Mealii; and Kahikina Akaka, father of Rev. Abraham Akaka and U.S. Rep. Daniel Akaka, who lived across Pauoa Stream from Uluhaimalama and who told stories about it. Thanks also to Ilima Piianaia and Jeanette Paulson, writer of the video — "The 'Aina Remains."

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