Levuka Museum

Museums determine who their target visitors will be and create a theme and design that will appeal to the general public.

It is important to craft an experience that makes people talk about the museum visit because referrals are the best way to advertise. Such is the town of Levuka, where the entire township’s buildings can be classified as the only living museum, probably in the world, that have buildings and structures dating back to 1877 and earlier which now are under the protection of UNESCO as a World Heritage site.

One such building is the old Morris Hedstroms store that houses the Levuka Community centre together with a museum and the space is also shared by the library.

Morris Hedstroms started business in 1868 by two former entrepreneur students of Levuka Public School and proudly stands in its original state to this day.

For any first-time visitors the Levuka museum is a must to stop by for information and viewing of the old artefacts that gave birth to the nation. Being in the UNESCO World heritage listing elevates Levuka to another level with the other elite world heritage sites and the visitors flock to this sleepy township to enjoy the antiques.

However, this is met with a lot of disappointment when one enters the Levuka Museum to see the deteriorating place.

The interior of the museum is dusty, very humid and exposed to noise that emanates from the EFL power generator next door.

There is no automated firefighting equipment installed in the building and the portable fire extinguishers are all kept under the receptionist’s front desk and were last serviced in 2015.

The staff are inadequately trained in basic firefighting and should a blaze start the whole place will be destroyed in record time because of the high fire load status and the ever-blowing southeasterly winds. Is the museum building is not OHS compliant, including the spacious rear Bond House where the floor and the wall boards can collapse anytime and the hazards are very dangerous?

The so-called garden beside the museum has large open water chambers, broken beer bottles and the weeds are knee high in height. This garden houses the exhibits of the first electric power station of the nation and the manual-aided push carts that were used in the 18th century at the Queen’s Wharf, which gave birth to the automotive industry in Fiji.

I believe that this centre must be closed for public safety and probably could be the worst kept heritage site in the UNESCO listing. All the library paper repositories have faded because of extreme heat exposure and may not last very long unless immediate and drastic action is taken by the National Trust of Fiji, who are the custodians of the premise mandated under the Heritage Decree 2012.

The National Trust of Fiji is obliged under the decree and the World Heritage Convention to manage the significance of the place to the world heritage values and status and that is now long overdue.

The place needs a major renovation and the ministry concerned must without any delay act in order to preserve this for future generations and the world to enjoy.

The only positive for the Levuka museum is the friendly faces of the hard-working staff operating under extreme conditions and who never fail to inspire and equip the visitors with their excellent knowledge of history.