Painted white and blue stands a quaint wooden building nestled amongst high-raised buildings along Gordon Street in Suva. The St Andrews Presbyterian Church has been the spiritual home for many Fijians, including early businessmen and plantation owners. Considered one of the oldest Christian church buildings in the city, today it welcomes to its abode a multiracial congregation from across the Pacific. According to the book ‘The First Hundred Years,’ published by the church in 1983, Suva’s new Presbyterian church opened on September 29, 1883. An issue from the Suva Times stated that the interior of the building was neat, comfortably fitted, well lit and the colours of the walls gave it a pleasant appearance. The church was built to seat 150 people with great ease.
The first move to Fiji
The idea of setting up a Presbyterian church in Fiji occurred in 1876 following the commissioning of Reverand C. Stewart Ross by the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand to travel to the islands and make a full inquiry on the ‘spiritual needs’ of Presbyterian settlers. There were many urgent appeals by planters and traders who had settled in the islands and were keen on establishing a church.
“Ross’ visit to Fiji was financed by W. Thomson of James McEwan and Company, of Melbourne who had large interests in Fiji at the time and who offered passage on a small sailing ship from Melbourne to Levuka,” the book read. His first meeting in Fiji was at the home of Lieutenant Woods where some of the leading businessmen of Levuka were gathered. He had pleasant intercourse with the Hon J.B Thurston and his brother, Mr Harry Thurston, both of whom professed to be much interested in the object of my visit to the islands. The book noted a report by The Fiji Times of a public meeting on the church formation held on May 1, 1876. On a Monday night at the Good Templar’s Hall in Levuka, a committee was elected and an appeal for funds was launched. An account of Ross on his visit stated that the establishment of the church at the former capital waned as colonists changed Fiji’s capital to Suva in 1880. “Presbyterians in Suva attended the fortnightly Anglican services held at the Suva courthouse but in 1882 ‘made a vigorous effort to proceed with a church of their own order,” Ross reported.
Building of the church in Suva
First records maintained by the church report of a meeting on January 16, 1883 of a small group of committee members in the Suva schoolhouse. This meeting was to find a place of worship in the town and those present were Messrs MacGregor, Murchie, Paul, Robertson, Eyres, McHarg, Rattenbury, Dulfer, Wood and Duncan who agreed that a desirable spot for the church should be erected without delay on the property that was granted for that purpose by W.K Thomson. “The trustees named in the Certificate of Title of the property were Messrs Robertson (as president) MacGregor and Murchie. “From then on, apart from the ‘unavoidable’ postponement of the next (January 23, 1883) meeting through the arrival of a ship, fundraising began in earnest and the money rolled in from the settlers in Fiji and their host churches in Scotland, New Zealand and Australia.” Ross said 100 pounds was put towards the building fund by Messrs and Thomson. “That was an incentive to more strenuous endeavour on their part. It was proposed to erect a church capable of accommodating 230 persons at a cost of 650 pounds. “Of that amount, 200 pounds had been locally subscribed, though the Presbyterian element in the population at Suva was comparatively small.” Ross also credited the first movement of the establishment of the church to Sir William Macgregor, a medical practitioner who gave a grant of £200 a year towards the stipend of a minister in Fiji. The church’s building was completed at a cost of £1306 on September 23, 1883, eight months after the initial decision was made. The book noted that the first service at the church was conducted by Reverend J Lambie who was visiting the country from Melbourne. “With good sense of Scottish priorities, it was decided on September 24, 1883, that few rents should be set at one pound per year single or six pounds per year for families.” The first board management was appointed for 12 months and a Sunday school was opened in January, 1884 with 17 children in attendance. A Sunday school library was also started by 1888 which had around 700 books. “The new congregation was in evidence, although scattered through Suva, and the church committee asked the Suva Town Board for permission to use the school bell to call people to worship — a practice which continued until 1890 when a Mr Duncan presented the church with a new bell. “A choir was quickly formed and its leader granted a salary of fifty pounds a year, and a Manse was erected on the same site as the present one at a cost of 663 pounds 75 shillings — in retrospect considered excellent value as it weathered Fiji’s hurricanes and heat for the next eighty-one years.” The first established minister for the church was Reverand L.W Rennison in 1884 who the Church of Scotland appointed. After financial strife and internal disagreements in the church, Rennison left Fiji in 1887 and the Suva Church then used local ministers from other denominations until the arrival of Reverend William Gardner in 1888 from Melbourne. “While records for the period are scant, the church appears to have gone through a period of growth and prosperity under Reverend Gardner and the minutes of May 7, 1889 report that ‘in connection with the Sunday school a Polynesia Immigrants’ class is being held, with thirty people, mainly Solomon Islanders attending for instruction in reading, writing, religion and general knowledge. “Later reports indicate that the people in the classes were mainly from the Solomon Islands.”
The early days of the church saw a record high of white settlers and minutes of the committee meeting on August 9, 1983, stated that the natives were amply provided for and there was no need for the Presbyterian Minister to preach to them. Unfortunately, a fierce hurricane in 1895 struck Suva, completely destroying the new church that had just been paid off. Reverend Gardner wrote to the Presbytery in Melbourne: “St. Andrew’s Church was struck with such violence that, when the morning dawned, it was found to be broken and battered, lying a heap of ruins on the ground. “Last Sunday promised to be one of the happiest since my settlement here seven years ago. Eleven new members, mostly young people, were admitted to communion at the morning service. In the evening it was too stormy to hold service, but as the glass was not very low no one suspected.”
