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Contact usLevuka - Fiji's First Capital
Levuka: A Journey Through Fiji's Historical Heart
To truly understand Fiji’s past, head to Levuka, a colonial seaside town on the rugged eastern coast of Ovalau that was once Fiji’s first capital and now, the only UNESCO World Heritage site.
Levuka’s history reads like some fictional South Sea adventure novel set on a tiny island outpost world away from Europe’s stately castles, vast cities and broad boulevards.
The quaint weatherboard buildings that line main street today mask a wilder era when copra laden cutters crowded the bay and rowdy patrons packed into noisy saloons. But the old-world atmosphere remains thick and a walk down the town’s quiet lanes easily transports you back in time.
Levuka’s history reads like some fictional South Sea adventure novel set on a tiny island outpost world away from Europe’s stately castles, vast cities and broad boulevards.
The quaint weatherboard buildings that line main street today mask a wilder era when copra laden cutters crowded the bay and rowdy patrons packed into noisy saloons. But the old-world atmosphere remains thick and a walk down the town’s quiet lanes easily transports you back in time.
Frontier Town
Levuka’s roots trace European settlement in Fiji, stretching back to the 1820s, when beche-de-mer traders and whalers established a small trading post on Ovalau island in central Fiji.
The town’s early settlers were a mixed lot of traders, castaways, convicts and deserters who drifted in with the tides and mingled with planters, missionaries and merchants.
Despite having no official government to settle their disputes, the town flourished. By the 1870s Levuka was the region’s most important trading post with over 3000 European residents and 52 bars and boarding houses crowding the small stretch of coastline.