Page 191 - Exile-ebook

190 AN EXILE OF THE MIND THE GRAND DAME OF LEVUKA 191

The Grand Dame of Levuka

Patterson’s ghost. Sir Peter Ustinov
visits Levuka. The legendary Dora on Nigau Hill.
Tales of wild colonial days.

rom the rusted deck of the Patterson ferry the lush tropical
Fvolcanic island of Ovalau came into view surrounded by coral
reefs. This was the real Fiji, off the beaten track with only a light
sprinkling of tourists, with most of them toasting themselves under
the tropical sun at beach resorts on other islands. The historical
port town of Levuka lay quietly tucked away below the green folds
of the 600-metre forested slopes on the opposite side of the island.
The quaint town was the former capital of Fiji with an interesting
blend of decaying colonial architecture set amongst coconut and
mango trees along the beach front. Anna and I stayed at Levuka’s
only hostelry, the Royal Hotel, Fiji’s oldest hotel, and a step back
in time. Colonial furniture and old paintings adorned the rooms
and we expected to find Somerset Maugham nodding off in one
of the wicker chairs, dropping cigar ash on his white linen suit. A
few days later we met a colonial in the flesh; Dora Patterson, the
matriarch of Levuka, who was well into her nineties.
Dora was a descendant of David Whippy, a Yankee sailor, and
somewhere along the line, a Fijian chieftainess. Whippy was one
of the town’s founders when it was a trading centre and port of
call for whalers, merchant vessels and slave traders. The port
had attracted English and American vagabonds, beachcombers
and fugitives. In its heyday drunken sailors filled the 50 bars and
hotels sprawled along the waterfront.

Sunset in Levuka on the island of Ovalau, Fiji.