Levuka's Harbour

Lights Had

A Tale To Tell

From Captain Stan Brown in Suva In April last year, new leading lights were brought into use in Levuka harbour. Next day, the workmen who had built the new

marks, began dismantling the old

ones. rwas a pity they had to go. They were a definite mark in the pages of Levuka’s history, as the building of them brought to Fiji one of its most colourful characters.

This was in the late 1860’s when the new steamship mail service across the Pacific was in its planning stage, and the merchants of Levuka were concerned lest their port be by-passed because of its lack of navigational aids.

With a public spirit that at least equalled their business acumen, the merchants raised enough money to cover the cost of surveying and marking the harbour and its approaches.

The man chosen to carry out the work was Lieutenant George Woods, a half-pay officer of the Royal Navy, variously reported as having served in New Zealand and New South Wales. At his suggestion, the lights removed last April were placed in position and a light was placed on Wailagilala Island to assist ships from America to make a safe landfall among the reefs.

Appointment Offered

But it was all to no purpose. The captains of the mail steamers pre ferred the port of Galoa in Kadavu md the Levuka merchants were put ;o the further expense of running a feeder service between their well narked port and unmarked Galoa.

But other ships continued to use Levuka, and Woods was offered he appointment of Harbourmaster. \lthough the position may have ieemed attractive to a half-pay )fficer, Woods already had his mind ®t on a higher and more important >ost. He had met Burt, commercial igent to Ratu Cakobau, who had >een crowned “king” at a ceremony n 1867, a title that few recognised.

At this time, both the roistering •ort of Levuka and a Fiji torn by trife between the rival powers, Bau nd Lau, needed a firm and secure :ovemment.

Woods and Burt planned such a

government with the 54-year-old Ratu Cakobau as its titular head. A declaration in Levuka in 1871 brought it into being.

Both the Government and Woods were soon in trouble. The numerous rowdy elements of Levuka were not ready to knuckle down to authority, whether legal or not.

Woods (“Magnificent George”, they had once called him) and Burt became the most unpopular men in

Fiji among those who opposed the Government.

Burt resigned later, but Woods continued in office until the Ad- Interim Government, formed just before Cession, took over from the Cakobau Government, The sites of the old leading lights are now bare. But it is not too late to think of placing a plaque there to tell of their link with Levuka’s palmier days.