Early in the days of Christianity in Fiji, attempts were made to establish a Catholic mission in Lau.
The seven-year endeavour which began in 1844, did not seem too fruitful to the early French priests, Father Breheret, Father Roulleaux and Brother Annet.
The former two were introduced to Fiji by Bishop Bataillon, a French clergyman and bishop for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tonga who was appointed in 1842.
According to church literature, when Bishop Bataillon returned again to Fiji in 1951, he saw the ‘pitiful condition of the mission and the missionaries.’
It was therefore decided to leave Lau and establish missions in more important localities.
Those other areas would be Taveuni in Cakaudrove, Rewa, Verata, Solevu (in Bua) and Ovalau.
Brother Annet later died, and Father Roulleaux, had to retire due to ill health. But Bishop Bataillon brought more priests and brothers.
In the early 1850s, possible in 1851 or 1852, the missionary visited the early port town of Levuka, Ovalau, which from the traders’ point of view, was the capital of Fiji.
According to Kelevi Toka, the head of yavusa Nalulu and Levuka Vakaviti historian, in 1851 a vessel transporting Fr Breheret and a colleague to Ovalau capsized on a Levuka reef.
The priestly pair swam ashore with the help of strong sea currents and landed near Levuka village where a steel peg and a concrete monument stand today at Ucuinaqara.
Mr Toka, who also works as part time tourist guide, said Levuka was “the birthplace of the nation’.
“At the time our village was a bustling place and our chief, who was fondly called Tamana na Vavalagi (Father of the Europeans) was a person of interest,” he said.
“Apart from the town, our village was where powerful white men and traders frequented, church services were held, discussions and meetings were organized and chiefly delegations from other parts of Fiji were received.”
Fr Breheret and his companion were received and looked after well in Levuka until the next leg of their missionary journey.
But during their stay, they helped build Levuka Vakaviti’s church, which is possibly the longest standing village church in Fiji.
French priests who came to Fiji in the 1800s, like most Christian missionaries, were multi-skilled and came with knowledge of carpentry, plumbing, medicine, building construction and other trade.
And because Fiji’s abundant coral reefs, priests built large catholic churches using limestone found in coral. Many of these structures remain standing today.
Limestone comes in different densities, with the hardest limestone used for constructing towers, outer walls and pillars. Through heat limestone becomes marble.
“According to what was passed down to us, coral was extracted from the reef and roasted in ovens at a place near the village called Lovonilase. These baked coral pieces were then pounded to reduce them to power and used as cement,” Mr Toka said.
“Fr Breheret, plus Europeans who were in Levuka village at the time, like David Whippy, built the church, which was finished in 1869.”
Fr Breheret also held the first mass on Levuka soil in 1951 and a monument commemorating this was constructed in 1994 during the 150th celebrations of the Catholic Church in Fiji.
“The church was later used as a rehearsal centre. Those chiefs who did not know how to sign their names, prior to cession, learned how to do this in church.
Above the village was the first Wesleyan mission station and the first school in Fiji which was formed in 1852 by missionaries Joseph Waterhouse and Reverend John Binner.
Led by David Whippy, a group of white men built the school, which according to Stanley Brown in “Men from Under the Sky” was first attended by 80 children of “mixed Fijian and European blood” and described as “one small, peaceful achievement in Levuka”.
Of the school’s maiden roll, Whippy’s household made up a huge portion of the pupils. His nine children attended the school as well as other children he looked after, some of them orphans.
That humble school transformed over the years and today have branches in Delana Methodist primary and high schools.
Deland is also the headquarters of the head of the Methodist Church in Fiji’s Lomaiviti division.
Mr Toka said Levuka Vakaviti experienced major events leading up to two cession attempts.
“We mostly hear about the Deed of Cession of 1874 but for us in Levuka Vakaviti, we experienced two cession attempts including the first in 1863,”
“The chief bure at called Vunisinu caught fire once and only two things were saved, the Bible and the cession documents of 1863, which today hangs inside Valelevu (Tui Levuka’s residence.)”
Mr Toka said many white settlers and traders lived in the village.
“Their homes lined the beach of Levuka, now the township’s main street called Beach Street, and some lived within the village boundary.
“David Whippy himself lived in the village, at a place in front of the church. Some of them owned and renting homes inside the village and traded from within the village boundary,” he said.
“However, this was later rejected by the Native Lands Commission which found these encroachment and disruption to village life illegal.”
“Some traded whisky, mirrors, tools, beads and fabric.”
On the lighter said, Mr Toka said the white settlement in Levuka showed the then Tui Levuka’s tolerance and respect toward European settlers.
“He gave portions of land to the catholics, methodists and the anglicans.
Today, the 155-year-old Levuka Vakaviti church stands an iconic piece of colonial architecture that represents a period when the village was on the crossroads of change, between old and new Fiji.
“Now we can only change the iron roofing of the church. We’ve been wanting to make the village church bigger but breaking down the limestone might put the historic church in ruins,” Mr Toka said.
“The officials from the department heritage had advised against modernizing the church so that is why we still have a small church.
Inside, the church, the walls and Oregon timber ceiling are still intact. At the back of the church is a safe for important church documents and the prayer room.
There are two reserved seats, one for the Tui Levuka’s regular Sunday service and one especially when he is ordained by the church on the day of his instalment.
The latter seat was given by the people of Vagadaci, who are Tui Levuka’s bati leka (warriors who protect from outside the chiefly household.
Above Levuka Hospital, within the Delana mission compound is a place called Valenisaini. This was the exact spot where a huge bure stood in the 1870s. Chiefs who ceded Fiji to Britain put their signature to the cession document inside this bure.
A wooden building stands on the same piece of land where the bure once stood and stones which formed the foundation of the bure can still be seen today at Valenisaini.
A commemorative plaque marking the site of the first catholic mass held on Ovalau (in Levuka Vakaviti) in 1851.
Picture: SOPHIE RALULU
Note the line of bure in old Levuka Vakaviti (bottom half of the photo). Picture:nla.gov.au
Kelevi Toka, Levuka Vakaviti village historian points at the wooden structure built on the old foundation of a bure called Valenisaini, where chiefs of Fiji signed the cession document in 1874. The place is within the Delana Methodist High School compound. Picture: SOPHIE RALULU
