About Us

In 1872, Malolo Lailai was sold to John Thomson by Ratu Kini, a Nadroga Chief (Chief of the area). Malolo Lailai being uninhabited, was purchased to plant cotton, which was in scarce supply at the time. Thomson died in 1876 and Malolo Lailai was sold to an American named Louis Armstrong. Armstrong later died bankrupt and the island was transferred to the Mortgage Agency of Australasia Ltd, who sold and transferred the island to James Borron in November 1891. Borron owned and operated several plantations throughout Fiji. Borron leased Malolo Lailai to a Chinese family by the name of Wongket for 70 years to grow copra. However with Wongket’s agreement to cut short the lease it was sold to three owners, Richard Smith, Reg Raffe & Sir Ian MacFarlane. The three then renamed Malolo Lailai as Leeward Island in the late 60’s. In the early 1970’s the three gentlemen decided to part ways and individually manage their portion of the island. By then the airstrip was built which ran as a boundary and divided the now Plantation Island Resort and Musket Cove Resort . In 1969 Plantation Village Resort opened with six rooms, now known as Plantation Island Resort. Richard (Dick) Smith started building Musket Cove, which was then casually known as Dick’s Place and on the 03rd of October 1976, Musket Cove Island Resort was born. The resort opened with twelve Bures and some 40 years later, Musket Cove proudly stand as Fiji’s Oldest Resort Company boasting a diverse range of Accommodation choices with 55 Bures and Villas, Villa residential development, Marina, a day Spa, Bar & restaurant. In the year 2000, Sir Ian MacFarlane sold his share of Malolo Lailai to the remaining two partners. The islands ownership boundary is now defined by the airstrip, with the 400 acres north of the airstrip belonging to Musket Cove island resort. Today it is still an entirely Fijian owned and operated company with over 170 employees.