A lot has been said about diamonds. Marilyn Monroe said they are a girl’s best friend, everyone knows you cannot make them, and it’s a geological fact that they are created under immense pressure.
They symbolise strength, love, and health. And diamonds are used to mark the 60th anniversary of a marriage, symbolising the unique shining beauty of a union forged out of challenges, trials and difficulties.
Jack and Elaine Hill celebrated their diamond anniversary at the Uprising Beach Resort in Pacific Harbour last year.
In front of close and extended family and friends, the couple renewed the marriage vows they took at the Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral in Suva some 60 years ago.
“I was only a young fella,” Jack said of the day he tied the knot with Elaine.
“I was 19 and Elaine was 16, I had one drink too many the previous night and Elaine had to hold me up at the altar.
“The best man forgot the wedding ring and my girlfriend was crying outside the church.”
This rocky start to what could best be described as a “kailoma” wedding, was one of the reasons they wanted to renew their rows.
“What’s done is done, let bygones be bygones,” he said.
Jack was born to Ned Hill and Victoria Shepherd, and grew up in the misty gold mines of Vatukoula. Elaine was born and raised in Savusavu to Cecil Lepper and Margret MacDonald.
As was the practice in those days, Elaine was shipped off to Levuka, and then Suva, to get an education.
As a 10-year-old girl, she moved to Suva to live with her grandmother and met Vitu Hutana.
The two instantly became the best of friends, a relationship that has lasted 68 years. Vitu would also become Elaine’s bridesmaid alongside her sister Carol.
“We went through Suva Grammar School together and basically spent our whole lives together,” Vitu said.
As the youngest in her family, Vitu said she was always up to something mischievous, but Elaine was there to make sure she never got into any trouble alone.
Vitu’s family took Elaine in as one of their own and their bond was evident in the close-knit friendship the two women share.
Elaine remembers being on the school bus in the ‘60s and noticing a young salesman in a Burns Philp uniform who would wait for the school bus to go past Terry Walk, beside Nabukalou Creek in Suva.
Jack had dropped out of school because it was just too expensive at the time.
At 16, Elaine dropped out of school to support her other siblings, but ended up moving to Lomaivuna for five years when she and Jack were married and raised their children there.
The Lomaivuna Settlement Scheme was established by the Land Development Authority in the early 1960s, divided into eight sectors. One sector comprised 25 four hectare farms.
It was a tough life in those early Lomaivuna days, out in the bush and wedged between the Waidina and Wainimala Rivers.
When Jack and Elaine made the move from Suva to Lomaivuna, they did so out of necessity. Jack did not have a job at the time and needed to support his growing family. So they packed up their belongings and drove up into the hills of Naitasiri.
Jack was taken on as an agriculture officer in Lomaivuna where he wore a number of different hats.
“I drove bulldozers, I was a store man, a clerk, and a sector officer looking after farmers where we planted about 800 acres of bananas,” he said.
Elaine said their house was like a log cabin – rough walls, two rooms, a separate kitchen and a pit toilet.
There was no water supply, let alone electricity, and all washing and bathing had to be done in the creek, which the pioneer residents called Tobu.
It was the community’s laundry and Elaine says while she would be washing the clothes and dishes, the children would be having a good time enjoying the cool water, and playing with the other children whose mothers were also doing their washing.
When they moved there, Jack was working under the scheme’s then development manager Robert Burness, and assistant development manager Joe Kingdon.
Later on, the family moved into one of the quarters up the hill, which was a little more comfortable than their original dwelling.
Their children attended the local school and they still have fond memories of their time in Lomaivuna. There was only one shop for miles and a health centre in Naqali.
One of the defining memories of the place for Elaine were the prawns that were once plentiful, but were killed by pesticides used on the banana plantations. Jack was also part of the special constabulary for seven years where he worked to supplement his income with Agriculture Department.
“It was hard, but you didn’t need much then to succeed.”
They later moved to New Zealand and continued to work and raise their hildren, where after some years out of touch, Elaine and Vitu were reunited.
The couple worked hard and returned to Fiji to retire, building a villa in Pacific Harbour, and again after some time out of touch, Elaine and Vitu linked up again – as Vitu had also left New Zealand to retire in Fiji a little earlier than Elaine did.
They built a house in Pacific Harbour where they hoped to kick back and enjoy a more leisurely life after putting in the hard yards for so many decades.
According to Elaine, the secret to a long successful marriage is hard work, never giving up and having God in your life.
But no cause in life is complete without a purpose and Elaine said their purpose was their children.
“There’s always something good at the end and you see it in your children.”
It was a lovely afternoon on the lawn at the Uprising, made even better by the presence of family and friends.
One of those friends, Shirley Hazelman, insisted on baking a two tier wedding cake for the renewal ceremony.
Although she initially protested, Elaine gave in to the idea after recalling that she probably didn’t have a wedding cake all those years ago.
The renewal of vows was a rare opportunity to restate and reaffirm their love for each other as well as their children and grandchildren.
