Deaths of Islands People

Captain M. Whippy

One of Fiji’s best known sea cap tains, and one of the last of the “old school”, Captain Moses Whippy, master of the pleasure cruise ship “Casa Mia” belonging to Bounty Cruises, died suddenly in Lautoka on July 13. He was 70.

An hour after the “Casa Mia” had sailed from Lautoka with a party of tourists on a trip to Malolo Lailai Island, Captain Whippy was taken ill and was brought ashore at Vuda in a collapsed condition. He died in Lautoka Hospital shortly after ad mission.

His first command, at the age of 28, was the “John Forrest”, which plied between Suva, Levuka and the Macuata ports. He captained many of Fiji’s well-known inter-island ships including the “Tui Labasa”, the “Helena”, “Yanawai”, “Altair”, “Ratanui” and the “Ai Sokula”. He lived for many years on Yanuca Lailai Island off Moturiki.

Mrs Annetta Maria (Ria) McGrath Mrs Ria McGrath died in Suva recently after a short illness. She was 66. Mrs McGrath was the granddaughter of Jacob Storck, famed German naturalist who settled in Fiji in the 1850 s.

Mrs McGrath was known through out Fiji for her dedication to charitable causes. She was at one

time director of the Junior Red Cross in Fiji.

She spent her whole life in Fiji, apart from a few years in Christ church, New Zealand, and a spell in England.

She is survived by her husband, former Deputy Director of Educa tion Maurice McGrath, of Suva; two daughters, Mrs Doon Woods of Galway, Ireland and Mrs Mary Murranka of Nevada, USA; three sisters, Betty and Doon Davis, and Mrs Jess Bradley, all of Suva; and a brother, James C. Davis of Lakes Entrance, Victoria.

Mr G. J. Flatten An old New Guinea identity, Mr Gil Flatten, died at his home in Adelaide on May 18. He was 72.

South Australia was his birthplace, and he went to Rabaul, newly married to his wife Isabel, in 1927 as a Methodist missionary.

He spent over 12 years in New Ireland as a supervisor of schools in the area, returning to Sydney and working in the Methodist Church there for three years from 1942. He was back in PNG in 1945 and three years later joined the administration Department of Education. He spent some time with the South Pacific Commission studying methods of teaching in the vernacular.

He became well known for a study he made of the traditional shark

snaring ritual of the Tabar Islands, off New Britain.

Mr Flatten suffered a stroke during 1971, from which he had not fully recovered. He is survived by his wife, and a son and daughter.

Pastor S. W. Carr Pastor Septimus Walfred Carr, former Seventh-day Adventist mis sionary in the South Pacific has died in Adelaide aged 93 years.

Born in Sweden, Pastor Carr migrated to Australia at an early age. He graduated from Avondale College, New South Wales in 1903.

His first mission appointment was to Fiji in 1904, and he retired from mission service in 1948.

Most of his service was to Fiji but he also served in Papua from 1908 to 1914 on Niue Island from 1916 to 1919.

Pastor Carr’s wife, Edith Mary died three years ago in Brisbane. He was also buried in Brisbane.

He leaves a son, Arthur, an Adelaide engineer and daughter Murieal, Mrs Sydney James.

Mr J. W. Christian A member of the well - known Christian family of Pitcairn and Norfolk Islands has died. He was Mr. John Walter Christian, Norfolk Island-born who died in the island’s hospital in June in his 75th year.

The son of Austen and Elizabeth Christian, he was known to the islanders as Wally Ott. A bachelor, he worked as a farmer and labourer.

Mr A. R. Paul Mr Anthony Robert Paul, eldest son of New Hebrides businessman and plantation owner Mr R. U. Paul, was killed in a plane crash in New South Wales on July 9. He was 23.

Seconds after taking off from an airstrip near Holsworthy Army Camp

at Moorebank, near Liverpool, his two-seater Cessna 150 Aerobat plane nose-dived into the ground after a wing had touched a tree-top at the end of the runway. Mr Paul is be lieved to have died instantly.

Dr Bridget Webber Returning to England on holiday in June, Dr Bridget Webber, wife of Dr Roger Webber, resident doctor at the Malaita District Hospital in the Solomon Islands, was killed with 82

other people when their Japan Air lines DCS crashed in flames at New Delhi in India on June 15.

Her two children, Lucy, aged four, and Sophie, aged were among the six survivors. Though badly shocked and with some bones broken, the children were flown to England several days later to be reunited with their father.

A Requiem Mass for Dr Webber was said at the RC Church at Auki in the Solomons on June 28.