Levuka: Difference between revisions

During the mid 19th-century, the town was quickly becoming a commercial hub for the sea cucumber trade.<ref name = "icomos">{{cite report |title = Levuka Historical Port Town (Fiji): No. 1399 |date = 6 March 2013 |publisher = International Council on Monuments and Sites |url = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1399/documents/ |access-date = 19 September 2021}}</ref> [[Society of Mary (Marists)|Marist]] priests, led by Father {{ill|Jean-Baptiste Bréhéret|fr}}, established a mission in Levuka in 1858, and [[Wesleyan]] missions were built around the same time.<ref name = "icomos"/> The [[Sacred Heart Church, Levuka|Sacred Heart Church]], Marist Convent School, and two Methodist churches still survive today.<ref name = "icomos"/> By 1870, the town had a population of more than 2000.<ref name = "icomos"/> When the first modern nation state of Fiji, the [[Kingdom of Fiji]], was founded in 1871, [[Seru Epenisa Cakobau]] was [[coronation|crowned]] [[King of Fiji|King]] at Levuka. After Fiji was annexed as a British [[British Empire|colony]] in 1874, Levuka remained the capital until 1877, when the administration was moved to [[Suva]], although the move was not made official until 1882. The move was prompted by concerns that the 600-meter high hills, many with cliffs, surrounding Levuka gave it no room for expansion.<ref name="im">{{citationcite magazine |last=Schurman |first=Dewey needed|date=June 1994 |title=Fiji: A Tale of Two Islands |volume=14 |issue=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kIzzsiPGPwsC&pg=PA104 |magazine=Islands Magazine |access-date=23 July 20172023 |pages=104–113}}</ref>

Levuka is famous for many of Fiji's "firsts".<ref name="im"/> It was the site of Fiji's first bank,<ref name="im"/> post office, school, private members club, hospital, town hall, and municipal government.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} Fiji's first newspaper,<ref name="im"/> the ''[[Fiji Times]]'', which is still in operation today, was founded in Levuka in 1869. Levuka's [[Royal Hotel, Levuka|Royal Hotel]] is the oldest hotel<ref name="im"/> in the South Pacific still operating. Historians have not ascertained its exact age, but records show that it was in existence by the early 1860s.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} [[Levuka Public School]], opened in 1879, was the first public school in Fiji<ref name="im"/> and many of Fiji's leaders in the years leading up to and following independence in 1970 were educated there. The oldest [[Freemasons|Masonic lodge]] in the South Pacific, [[Lodge Polynesia 562 SC]], is also to be found in Levuka. It was established in 1875. Levuka was also the site of Fiji's first public electricity system, which began in 1927, three days before the capital Suva was electrified.{{citation needed|date = July 2017}}