He spent 18 months in Newington College, Sydney, where he learned to speak and read and write English. This young scion of the house of Cakobau does not appear to have any ambition beyond that of getting through life comfortably ... Joe however, has very agreeable manners and he has one special good quality – he is strictly temperate as regards intoxicating liquors. Celua married Adi Mere Kulabui in 1879 and had a son, Epeli Popi Seniloli. In the book "Cruise of the Alert – Four Years in Patagonian, Polynesian, and Mascarene Waters (1878–82)", Dr R. W. Coppinger speaks of his visit to Levuka and meeting Celua. The author describes him as "a fine-looking man, twenty-three years old ... He surprised us all by speaking exceedingly good English, and possessing an intimate knowledge of the ways and manners of civilized life ... There was no topic of general interest on which he did not possess a fair amount of knowledge. He wore his hair in the fashion of the country, i.e., in a mop frizzled out to an immense size, and in other respects he was got up as a native chief of distinction. He spoke favourably of British rule, although, as we were otherwise informed, he himself had recently acquired a practical experience of the unpleasant consequences attending the commission of an indictable offence, in having to undergo a sentence of three months' hard labour." This book talks about Celua spending three years at University after returning to Sydney with his father in 1874 but no other reference to his tertiary education can be found. Little more is known of his life until he died in Fiji. The Cootamundra Herald carried the following notice on 27 October 1886: "Ratu Joe, son of the late King Thakambau, of Fiji, and a student of Newington College, has died of leprosy at Levuka, aged 26 years." The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser reports him as dying on 21 September 1886. He is more likely to have been 31 and was survived by his wife and young son who went on to hold the regnal title of Vunivalu of Bau from 1914 until 1936. Celua did not know his grandson, Ratu Sir George Kadavulevu Cakobau, GCMG, GCVO, OBE, Governor General of Fiji from 1973 to 1983, although George and a great-grandson, Ratu Josefa Celua Cakobau (born 1965), also both attended Newington College, in the 1930s and 1980s respectively, making three generations of the family Old Newingtonians.