Rosie Holidays matriarch Rosie Whitton was born in 1935.
Her mother was from Nadoi in Rewa, and her father Tim Gock Hoi from Guangzhou in China.
“My father came to Fiji to build a new life, as there was a war in China.”
“He married my mother from Rewa and had two children, my sister and I.”
“He opened a small café in Toorak called “The Boston Café,” where my sister and I also worked, he also had a real entrepreneurial spirit and was the first person I am told to make ice cream in Fiji,” she said.
Mrs Whitton attended Naililili Primary School and St Annes during her early education. According to her, Suva was always a place of hard work but she and her sister used to enjoy running away to the village to ‘sili-kai’ in the Rewa River.
As years passed, her sister than migrated to Australia – but she stayed back.
Throughout her journey she had dealt with challenges along the way, one of those were when she became a single mother in 1964.
“I found it extremely difficult to make ends meet in Suva. However, during this challenging time, a friend of mine introduced me to the concept of tourism and the potential it held for creating opportunities for both employment and economic growth in Fiji,” she said.
Intrigued by the idea, she decided to take a chance and journeyed to Nadi, a town known for its tourism industry, hoping that it would be a turning point in her life.
Mrs Whitton then left her son to be with her grandmother in the village as she looked for better opportunities in Nadi.
She then landed on a job as a waitress at the Nadi Airport Club, where she witnessed firsthand the arrival of the big flying ships, filled with tourists from all over the world.
These visitors brought with them invaluable US dollars, injecting much-needed foreign currency into the local economy. “Through hard work and determination, I eventually secured a job with Hunts of the Pacific, the largest tour company in Fiji at the time. This opened up a world of possibilities for me as I became involved in promoting and organising tours for the visitors coming to Fiji.”
“Of course, this journey was not without its challenges. Being a single mother meant that I had to navigate the demands of work while ensuring that my son was taken care of. It required sacrifices and juggling responsibilities, but I always had my eyes set on providing a better life for him and from my income I would send money back to the village to my grandmother and son.”
Mrs Whitton married Roy Whitton who was the general manager for Qantas and together they started Rosie Tours in 1974, now known as Rosie Holidays and Ahura Resorts.
She then had four more children.
She always believed that life was never a straight road.
“You will have bends, ups and downs, rain, sun, floods … good times and bad times. But I have always learnt that as a mother to never let the storms in life make you give up. These storms, trust me … will not last forever. I have had many storms, hurts and disappointments,” she said.
Mrs Whitton shared that their company has created over 600 jobs at Rosie Holidays, Rosie Outsourcing, Likuliku Lagoon Resort and Malolo Island Resort, employing an estimate of 300 women who are mostly mothers – who work hard to put food on the table.
“My greatest joy now are my children, grandchildren, and now I have four great grandchildren.
In a family, you must always protect even above your goals and life ambitions.”
“I have a favourite verse from the Bible in Matthew 16 where Jesus says what good is it to gain the whole world yet forfeit your soul. God and my family is what sustains my soul … and I never let that go!”
