THE OLD CAPITAL | Levuka's Stirling Castle becomes The Lookout

STIRLING Castle is one of Levuka Town’s most exquisite homes.

It occupies a prominent place on the famous Mission Hill and towers over the scenic Levuka Passage.

In the 19th century, this elevated luxury mansion was a wonder to behold.

Today, it is home to Alice Tamani, who runs the leased property as a bed and breakfast that goes by the name – The Lookout.

The home is believed to have been built in 1880 by the Schneiders, a prominent German family that resided in Levuka in the late 1800s.

Alice is originally from Brisbane, Australia, but has been staying in Fiji for the last 12 years, after meeting her Fijian husband in Australia and moving to Fiji back in 2012.

“I visited Levuka when we first came to Fiji for a little holiday. I discovered that we were related to people here through my husband who is from Gau,” Alice told The Sunday Times.

“As a spouse, I was not able to seek employment so I engaged in volunteer work, during which I met Suliana Sandys who was then the CEO of the Levuka Town Council.

“Every time I came to Levuka, it got into my heart a little more and I made friends a little bit more. Now I’m finally here.”

The Lookout

Alice manages The Lookout with the help of her son, Dominic.

“The longer you stay, the more you realize how connected you are and why Levuka is special. Apart from the charm of this place, there is also the allure of nature to contend with, everyone says bula and I feel really accepted in the community. ”

Alice moved to the property in November 2023, at a time when the house was in a sad state. It was called Stirling Castle, which enjoyed the breathtaking view of the South Seas on one side and the misty mountains of Lovoni on the other side.

The previous owner of the property was Scottish Duncan Creighton who lived in Levuka for more than 30 years.

An amateur travel writer and photographer, Duncan had traveled all around the South Pacific in the 50s and 60s.

A lot of the photographs that can still be seen in the house capture the sights and sounds of a South Pacific that Duncan experienced but no longer exists today.

Duncan gifted Stirling Castle to the historical society of Levuka so that it could be preserved for future generations. Being a philanthropist Duncan felt strongly that the history of his home should be preserved.

Before Duncan, there were only two previous owners of Stirling Castle, the Schneiders, who built the house in 1880 and departed during the First World War.

Then the property was sold to a Scottish man called John (Jock) Sword in 1915.

Mr John Sword was an engineer and a shipwright, so it was no wonder that he bought the property. Among other reasons, it enjoyed a spectacular view of the harbour.

A few generations of the Swords family lived in Stirling Castle from 1915 to 1990.

“When I leased this place, I undertook to preserve the history of the home and the previous owners including the Schneiders, the Swords, and of course Duncan, who gifted this house,” Alice said.

“You will see a lot of mementos of Duncan in the house. I undertook to preserve not only the house, but the garden, because the garden is set up in a historical manner – where you have the formal flower garden, the forest, the fruit trees and the vegetable garden.

“We have to keep things as they were so that people can come and experience life exactly as it would have been in those times long gone.

Old mementos

Most of the old photographs in the house were taken by Duncan in the 50s and 60s. When Alice took over, most of the items in the house had been removed.

“The house had almost been emptied out, but there’s the old telephone, which I presume was from the 1920s or 1930s, the round table and the tiny bits and pieces of furniture.”

There’s an old kitchen table and in some of the rooms, chandeliers and light bulbs, and there’s old-fashioned linoleum carpets that were imported from England in the late 1800s or up to 1920s.

When cleaning up the garden, Alice found an old pocket watch that had engravings on the back. It was produced in 1920 so it could possibly belong to Mr Sword.

Alice claims she often feels nostalgic about the past when inside the wooden hill mansion

“As I move around in the house and the garden, especially the garden, I sometimes get the feeling of how the former owners used to live.

“They created the home in the style where the inside could blend seamlessly with outside, and as you walk around you feel free and feel like you are part of nature.”

While Alice gives The Lookout a modern touch to make life easier for visitors, she makes sure this is kept to a minimal. The property now has aircon in some of the bedrooms, electric fans, power points everywhere, Wi-Fi and washing machine.

“We try and keep an unobtrusive atmosphere. However, no matter what we improve, when people come here, the main feedback we get is that they just love it.”

“Whether they sit here on the veranda, they go for walks up and down the 199 steps, and the kids go playing in the forest, and climb the uto trees, people tend to be more engaged with each other than with their modern devices.”

Duncan Creighton

During Stirling Castle days, when Duncan was the owner, the house played host to one of the world’s best known actors — Sir Peter Ustinov.

The late Sir Peter was a Russian-English actor whose career spanned many areas of the British media in the 1930s through to the 1990s. He was a fixture on television talk shows, a filmmaker, writer, dramatist, magazine columnist, and television presenter.

He also commanded respect as a diplomat and held various posts including the president of the World Federalist Movement and the Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.

His bevy of acting awards includes the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor, the Emmy Awards, Golden Globes and a Grammy Award.

Mr Creighton was featured in Sir Ustinov’s television show called Planet Ustinov in 1998.

“Sir Peter was carried up right to the house here,” Duncan said during his last interview with The Sunday Times in October 2017.

Sir Peter was on an adventure around the world at the close of the millennium to see the many cultures around the world.

He was following the footsteps of the famous writer Mark Twain who had journeyed to the same places more than 100 years ago during the close of the Victorian age.

His journey was produced in the classic Following the Equator with stories from Hawaii to Fiji, Australia to New Zealand, and India to South Africa.

In Planet Ustinov, Sir Peter, reported on cultures in Fiji, Hawaii, Kiribati, New Zealand and South Africa.

“This house was built with the proceeds of Germans who worked on cotton plantations in Fiji,” Duncan said.

“I get the sea breeze from the Koro Sea and I get the hill breeze from the hills of Lovoni. It’s lovely.”

“It’s almost as if you step through a kind of time warp to the 19th century and once you’re living here you become part of it.”

Among other things, during his days in Levuka the mountains often reminded him of the Scottish highlands.

For the adventurer who loves peace and quiet and the blessings of nature, The Lookout, is the perfect place to seek rejuvenation of body, mind and soul!