Up Front

with the Publisher

Sydney, oldest British settlement in the South Seas (it was founded in 1788) naturally has a number of buildings that are both beautiful and historic, and one of the most pleasing bits of architecture is a row of terraced shops which recently appeared at Circular Quay, where the big cruise ships come in, I say ‘appeared’, although the terrace no doubt dates from last century. But nobody noticed those shops until somebody with a good eye for line and colour had them painted so as to bring out their most attractive features, and hung out new shingles in the style of the period.

This sort of thing is being done everywhere these days. I saw some beautiful examples in the city area of Auckland recently, and in much maligned Chicago I’ve seen some large areas of restoration done in great good taste. But I know of no similar activity going on in the Islands.

I was reminded of this the other week when I, and wife Jo, spent a pleasant fortnight in old Levuka.

Levuka was the capital of Fiji until the seat of government was moved to Suva in 1882, but it retains an old world charm that continues to attract all manner of visitors.

The buildings ramble along the beach road and up into the sharply rising hills, so reminiscent of Tahiti, where the paths are so steep they give way to stone steps.

The views out across the Koro Sea, of course, are nothing short of wondrous.

But the charm is in the town itself. There’s the quaint Ovalau Club, and next to it the town hall, and within a stone’s throw the equally historic Royal Hotel (rebuilt in the 1880 ? s, but little changed in outward appearance since). These are some of my favourite buildings, but as a single architectural vista there’s nothing to

surpass the whole line of the Beach Road stores.

Beginning with Burns Philp, there they sit, with their verandah posts and awnings, their fretwork scrolls, facing out to sea like a setting of Somerset Maugham’s.

Until April 1, Morris Hedstrom’s store was among them, but it’s closed now after almost 100 years, and the land will be used by the government for a different purpose.

And that’s the point. There’s history in Levuka, but it’s architectural history as much as the history of old wars, blackbirders and cession.

It shouldn’t be allowed to disappear, little by little, for the lack of a coat of paint, or some repairs, or because renovations are done from time to time for reasons of commercial expediency, but with no appreciation of a heritage.

I might be wrong but I doubt if the heritage can be safeguarded, let alone enhanced, by individual owners unless they are offered both professional and financial help.

Beach Road can be made even more pleasing than those terraced shops at Circular Quay if the Levuka council organises a planned restoration programme. This might require little more than paint in the first instance - but it has to be an integrated plan.

Levuka begs for this attention, and the town is in so confined a space that the results would be seen immediately. But there are other parts of Fiji, and the South Pacific, where the architecture needs safeguarding. The most obvious is historic Apia, but there are buildings of charm that I know of in Nukualofa, Papeete, Pago and Rabaul, among other places.

If anybody wants to come up with his own list of priorities, or suggestions, in this appeal, I’ll be glad to publish it.

Stuart Inder