New Dravuni Pontoon

Engineers and workers arrived on Dravuni on 17 May 2010 to install the new pontoon, co-funded by Carnival Cruises, the Fiji Government and Yavusa Natusara (Dravuni and Buliya Islands). Carnival Cruises and the Fiji Government are the principal funders. However, to facilitate early realization of this project to boost the tourism industry on Dravuni, Carnival Cruises stepped in to provide bridging finance. DDC, on behalf of the Yavusa Natusara, is eternally grateful to Carnival Cruises.

The ship ‘Kaiwai’ shipped all the materials from Lautoka port on the west of Viti Levu to Dravuni

Fourteen engineers and workers from Australia and Viti Levu came to Dravuni and they were supported by 20 men from Dravuni and Buliya. The visitors were accommodated in the dormitory of the USP-funded Dravuni Research Centre on the island. DDC is most appreciative to the USP management for its support. Cooking arrangement was shared between the visitors and the villagers. But the lion’s share of the cooking was done by the visitors’ own chef.

Another 10-12 villagers were trained during the installation period on the R&M, upkeep and protection of the pontoon. They were also trained on the assembling and disassembling of the various modules comprising the pontoon. The latter will become necessary if storms and rough seas are expected.

Heavy machinery on Dravuni beach was a strange and unusual sight indeed for the villagers.

The new pontoon will open a new chapter in the tourism industry on the island. More ships will be expected to call in and more services for the tourists are also being planned between Carnival Cruises and the Yavusa Natusara.

The pontoon will be tested over a space of two or three arrivals of tourist ships before a grand opening is performed. Guests from Carnival Cruises Australia, its Fiji agents (Pacific Agencies Fiji Ltd) and the Fiji Government are expected for this happy occasion.

Dravuni beach became a mini-construction site.

The pontoon is taking shape.

The finished product and the testing looks well with one tender.

The finished product and the testing is still looking well even with two tenders alongside.

Identity of the Young Lad Learning the Ropes Revealed

Some of the ‘takias’: canoes, arriving at Suva Harbour on that late November 1953 to join the flotilla to receive HM Queen Elizabeth

A previous posting carried a picture of  a Dravuni outrigger, and all its crew members were named except the young lad helping Captain Osea steer the canoe. I can now reveal his identity. He is Pauliasi Tuiviwa, son of Timoci, Vunivalu of Buliya, also in the picture. The Vunivalu and his family lived in Dravuni for sometime.  His wife was a kaidravuni.

Dravuni men in Malayan Campaign, 1952-56

HM Queen Elizabeth’s coronation visit to Fiji was in December 1953 (see earlier posting). This came one year after the first contingent of Fiji soldiers (1 Bn FIR) left for the Malayan Campaign to fight the Communist insurrection. Kaidravuni Isimeli Vulatolu was a member of that contingent. He stayed for the full duration of the campaign and was a Company Sergeant Major when the campaign ended successfully in June 1956.

Livai Veilawa (grand father’s namesake) joined Isimeli Vulatolu in 1954. Both returned to Fiji safely on the ship Devonshire on 18 June 1956. The returning soldiers were welcomed back with traditional and military pomp that befitted the occasion at Albert Park. This was preceded by a celebratory march though Suva from the wharf to the Park.

I watched the military march, lined up on the side of the road with thousands of others, as a Class 4 student of Nabua Central Fijian School. I was 10. My fellow students were lined up where Kadavu House is today, along Victoria Parade.

A returning soldier on the ship Devonshire looking out to get a glimpse of relatives in the crowd at the Kings Wharf

1 Bn FIR marching along Victoria Parade, taking the mayoral salute. The battalion is led by its Commanding Officer, Lt. Col. Ratu P.K.Ganilau

The memorable ceremony of welcome at Albert Park. Half of the 1,600 men on parade were dressed in khaki, being the soldiers returning from Malaya. The other half, in white, are those whose tours of duty in Malaya had concluded earlier in the campaign