The plaque reads
"Hier wurde am 1 Maerz 1900
die deutche Flagge gehisst"
"O iinei lava na sisi ai
le Fua Siamani
ile aso 1 Mati 1900"
"Errichtet 1913"

[English translation: Here at this spot, the German flag was raised on the 1st day of March 1900
Erected 1913]

On 1  March 1900 at the point where this monument is erected , Dr Wilhelm Heinrich Solf , the first German Governor of Samoa, raised the German flag .Practically the entire European community and several hundred Samoans witnessed the ceremony . Dr Solf declared "We hereby , in the name of the Empire , take these islands under our Imperial protection." The German Consul handed over the Imperial flag of his consulate to the Governor and to the Commander of the German warship Cormoran , Captain Emsmann . Dr. Solf was Governor of  Western Samoa from 1900 until 1910 when he returned to Germany. During his absence Dr Enrich Schultz was Acting Governor , and then was appointed Governor in 1912.