Holy Trinity Cathedral
People are anxious to have the building finished to improve the image of the Diocese and to show that the church has committed itself to this colony ...
– The Rev D McQueen
AREPORT in The Fiji Times reported on Wednesday, October 23, 1968, said that the Diocese of Polynesia set itself the task of completing the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Suva by 1970 at a cost of £30,000 – about $F1.3 million today.
“People are anxious to have the building finished to improve the image of the Diocese and to show that the church has committed itself to this colony, as symbolised by the completion of the building,” the Dean of Suva, the very Rev D McQueen, told The
Fiji Times.
The first half of the cathedral, built in concrete, was consecrated in April 1953 and consisted of the high altar section, two chapels, a robing room and two small meeting rooms.
A wooden wall that formed the western side of Suva’s Holy Trinity Cathedral had long signalled the half-complete state of the building. It would be removed when the second half of the cathedral, which would stand on concrete foundations.
Because it would have been too costly to construct the original design for the second half – the nave — it has been replaced by an entirely new one.
“It will not be concrete, they are planning to use steel frame construction,” the Dean said.
“The architecture will be reminiscent of a Fijian bure.”
A great west window of coloured glass, to fill the interior of the cathedral with coloured light, is one of the main features of the design prepared by Derrick, Dignan and Associates, of Suva.
The nave’s sides would have
slidings so that it can be opened up to the air and a tower to link the new section with the old one.
“We see this as a multipurpose building,” Dean McQueen added.
It was being designed for drama and music recital, as well as worship, while the area of the crypt could be used as a parish hall or office space.
The Dean envisaged the completed cathedral as a reflection of
the country it stood in – the design suggesting a bure, the brilliant west window symbolising the colour of the Indian community and the old solid concrete part a reminder of a colonial past.
An appeal for the money needed to finish the cathedral would be launched early the following year.
The Diocese hoped to see the
cathedral complete in 1970 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the first public Anglican worship in Fiji.
It also hoped that the Synod of the Province of New Zealand – now known as the Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand – of which the Diocese of Polynesia is a part, would hold its biennial meeting in the city that year.