THE GUIDE - Rough Guide to Fiji - page 240

hotels and bars. It was joked that ships would navigate into port by following the bobbing
rum bottles drifting on the tide.
Levuka's short life as a South Pacific metropolis came to an abrupt end in 1881 when the
British moved the capital to Suva, which offered more land for expansion. The town suffered
a second blow in 1895 when the north side was flattened by a hurricane . After the collapse
of the copra trade which briefly occupied Levuka in the 1920s, the settlement gained a new
lease of life thanks to the PAFCO tuna cannery set up here in 1976. During the 1980s, with
the emergence of tourism , Levuka found itself as a curio, a relic of Fiji's colonial past. It also
realized its unique status as a town of Fijian firsts: the first Methodist church, the first hotel,
the first bank, school and newspaper are but a few of its proud claims. In 2013, the town's
colonial architecture became protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site .
The port
At the southern end of Beach Street is the large tuna cannery and port . There's a lovely view
of the seafront from the port, although the smell from the factory and the persistent noise of
whirring generators from the power station spoil the atmosphere. At the junction of Beach
Street and Queens Wharf is a drinking fountain on a small island in the road; this was once the
site of a pigeon loft used to send post between Levuka and Suva in less than thirty minutes.
The Morris Hedstrom building
Beach St • Museum Mon-Fri 8am-1pm & 2-4.30pm, Sat 8am-1pm • F$2 • 344 0356
Beach Street is dominated by the Morris Hedstrom building , standing proudly at the south-
ern end of town a hundred metres north of the power station. Opened in 1868 as a grocery
store, Morris Hedstrom built up a trading empire which thrived during the colonial era, find-
ing its way to every corner of the archipelago. You'll still find Morris Hedstrom supermarkets
in most Fijian towns but this original store was dedicated to the National Trust in 1980 and
today houses the Levuka Community Centre , as well as a tiny museum . The latter houses
a rather sad collection of chemist's bottles, clay pipes and shells - a printing press and photo-
graphic equipment being the only tangible relics of the colonial era. There is a useful library,
though, and the museum's curators are hugely knowledgeable about Levuka's history. They
can also help arrange home visits to local residents.
Church of the Sacred Heart
Midway along Beach Street is the Church of the Sacred Heart . This picturesque Catholic
church with a domed roof was built in two stages: the main section for worship was crafted
from local timber in 1858 with the arrival of the first Catholic missionaries, while the impos-
ing clock tower was erected forty years later, using thick limestone blocks baked from coral.
The blue light on top of the tower acts as a beacon for ships together with another on top of
the hill. The church is worth a peek inside for its gruesome yet humbling series of fourteen
paintings depicting Christ's crucifixion.