MUST SEE: LEVUKA, FIJI 

THE ORIGINAL GUNKHOLES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC

Levuka is a town on the eastern coast of the Fijian Island of Ovalau.  Up until 1877, it was the capital of Fiji.  Currently, this strangely haunted town has a population of about 5,000.  It is the economic hub of the largest of 24 settlements on the Island.  Levuka was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in June 2013, in recognition of the port town’s exceptional testimony to the late colonial port towns in the Pacific Ocean.

The modern town of Levuka was founded around 1820 by European settlers and traders as the first modern town in the Fiji Islands.  Levuka quickly became an important port and trading post in the Pacific.  A disparate band of settlers made up Levuka’s population- traders, missionaries, shipwrights, speculators, vagabonds, and even respectable businessmen.  Much of Levuka’s unique heritage is in its wooden architecture (highly vulnerable to fire).

The South Pacific’s first Masonic Lodge was built in 1913 and housed the Freemasons that were established in Levuka by Alexander Barrack in 1875.  There is much controversy about the Masonic fraternity in Fiji.  The dominant traditional Christian faiths consider the Masons to be devil-worshippers.   The Masonic Lodge was burned down in the 2000 Fiji coup d’etat.  The Lodge contained priceless historical artifacts and records of Levuka’s history dating back to 1875.  The arsonists have yet to be identified and prosecuted.