IT is seldom that one man, however wide the range of his interests, fills so many responsible and often complex posts so capably as Ronald Albert Derrick did in his years in the country of his adoption.
Most will remember him first as the author of ‘A History of Fiji’ and ‘The Fiji Islands’, but those books, at once scholarly and popular (an unusual combination) are only part of his astonishingly varied career.
To those who’ve read his work, they would know him by his initials – R.A Derrick.
His books continue to fascinate most of us of his deep understanding of Fiji’s political and interesting history.
On November 14, 1960, The Fiji Times reported the demise of this great historian.
“Mr Derrick was a man with a great fund of patience and tolerance in his dealings with people of many races,” describe the news article.
“Together with a kindly sympathy went a solid fund of shrewd common-sense and a quiet, observant sense of humour that made him eminently approachable to people who might otherwise have been unduly overawed by his brilliant attainments and his achievements.
He was an exponent of the virtues summed up in the old term ‘Christian Charity” – in its true meaning.
He was one of the limited numbers of whom it can be said that his principles were constantly supported by his practice.”
“As a key figure for many years in technical education in Fiji, Mr Derrick, was one of the handfuls of Europeans who, in the years before World War II, realised the stupid superficiality of a widely-held “theory” that for some obscure psychological reason, Fijians were temperamentally unfitted to deal with mechanical devices or even to drive motor vehicles.
“The war effectively knocked this nonsense on the head, but it had been disproved long before by Mr Derrick and his Fijian students at Davuilevu and Suva.
When the Fiji Museum moved from makeshift premises in the Carnegie Library building to the handsome new building, in the Botanical Gardens, the public at large regarded the appointment of Mr Derrick as curator as almost automatic development.
The present status of the museum in the Colony and overseas is largely the result of his wide knowledge, his energy and his sustained enthusiasm.
Behind the wide range of his interests and activities was a character which won the respect and affection of all kinds of people,” read the 1960 Fiji Times article.