 In what became known as "Black Saturday", on 28 December 1929, during a peaceful Mau gathering in the town, the New Zealand constabulary killed paramount chief Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III.Apia is situated on a natural harbour at the mouth of the Vaisigano River.It is on a narrow coastal plain with Mount Vaea (elevation ), the burial place of writer Robert Louis Stevenson, directly to its south.