On the famous Mission Hill, facing the picturesque Levuka Harbour, sits one of Fiji’s oldest residences called Lomaloma House.
Built in the bungalow style of the 1800s, the property has been a formidable structure along the port town’s montane skyline since it was officially registered in 1876.
Today, like its glory days, it remains an important component of Levuka’s colonial heritage and character.
Boasting superb Oregon craftmanship, Lomaloma House has survived the fiercest barrage of tropical cyclones, the ravages of changing climate and Fiji’s volatile political environment.
Its only resident is 71-year-old Suliana Sandys, who flaunts an interesting blend of German, Tongan and iTaukei bloodline.
The Vollmer family
Suliana is a surviving descendant of Frederick Vollmer, a Germany trader who like other European settlers of his time, was lured to the South Pacific by the prospect of starting a new life, fame and fortune.
He came to Fiji possibly enticed by stories of the lucrative sandalwood and beche-de-mer trade.
The Sunday Times team visited Levuka early this month to learn about the beautiful love story that ushered Lomaloma House into existence during the embryonic days of British colonial rule in Fiji.
“I’m a fourth generation family member in the house now,” Suliana said.
Her great-grandfather, Frederick Vollmer (1852-1918), who later became the mayor of Levuka in 1912, came to Levuka from Germany and built a house, styled like a British bungalow.
The property was officially registered in 1876.
Frederick married Adi Pasemaca Yalikiwai, a lady from Lomaloma, Vanuabalavu in Lau. During colonial days, when sail boats came in to Fiji waters, it was the south easterly winds that brought them here. On his way to Ovalau, Frederick first set eyes on Adi Pasemaca while he stopped over in Lomaloma.
However, he did not make any move until he went to Levuka and setup base. Then he went back Vanuabalavu to seek the Lomaloma maiden’s hands in marriage.
Frederick and Adi Pasemaca had one son, Suliana’s grandfather, Rudolph, who in 1915 married a Tongan lady by the name of Suliana Latu.
They had nine children, of whom Suliana’s mother, Melaia Vollmer, was the second youngest.
Frederick was one of the local partners for Hedemann & Co., a German based company that traded in early Levuka. He later became a mayor of the Old Capital in 1912, just before WWI erupted and got him repatriated to Australia, where he later died.
When Hedemann & Co. owner, Conrad Machens left Fiji for Germany, Frederick, a coworker and British naturalized Hamburger , was invited as partner.
During WWI Frederick was declared ‘enemy aliens’ at the beginning of November 1917 and was extradited to Australia until the end of the war. He never returned.
Growing up in Levuka
Suliana is the 4th generation member of the Vollmer family and is the current owner of Lomaloma House.
She grew up in the Old Capital at a time when everyone respected each other and treated one another like family.
“In those days, Levuka kept people grounded and children were brought up to respect,” she said.
Etiquette was important. People dressed in a respectable way and acted and spoke in a certain way.
“I was born and brought up in this house. I’ve been in it for 70 years going on 71. In fact, the only time I ever left this house was when I had to attend university in Suva.
Suliana graduated in 1979 and soon after, her mum got sick, after being diagnosed with cancer. She died in 1980, just as she had started to teach.
“When I lost her, my two youngest siblings were still in school. I was the second eldest, between two boys, my brother who was a sea captain and my younger brother who was a bank officer. There were five of us,” Suliana explained.
After losing her mum Suliana decided she was going to live in Levuka for the rest of her life to look after her youngest siblings.
The family had a nanny but they couldn’t leave everything to her. So after her brothers left school, Suliana continued to live in Lomaloma House.
By then she was at Levuka Public School, where she attended school and spent 25 years teaching accounting, economics, English and social science to the lower forms, and geography and history among senior forms.
Suliana was asked to take up positions elsewhere. But she couldn’t see herself leaving the Old Capital for greener pastures.
“I just couldn’t see myself leaving home and I have no regrets of life here. Now, even when I go to Suva, I just do what I have to and get back to Levuka straight away,” she said.
“Money and fortune is not everything. I sometimes go to the US and my friends tell me ‘what you going back for? There’s life here’. But I always said ‘no that’s not true. Levuka is where life is!”
Changes in Levuka
Although life in the Old Capital seems virtually stagnant, Suliana notices the marked changes in people’s lifestyle and values.
“There’s a huge change coming, even in the churches, and it’s not like what it was before,’ she said.
“Sa sega na veidokai. (There’s no respect anymore). In the old days there was so much respect, for lives, for property and people’s spaces. Now that’s fading, which is sad.
“People can just walk into a compound and help themselves with the lemon or coconuts. Just the other day, someone took my container of soap powder from beside the washing machine.”
Suliana said people used to take pride in the state of their homes and surroundings, especially their gardens.
” I grew up seeing my grandmother in the garden as soon as I woke up. She was 85.”
Suliana agrees that children once knew their place in the community.
“When you are walking on a path, they would step aside or help you if you are with a heavy load. Nowadays, they don’t. They just peep from behind their windows and doors.”
“I’d expect this in the urban area because of the influence of drugs and social media but no, the fabric of culture is slowly breaking down too in the rural area. I didn’t expect it that fast here in Levuka but that change is already here.”
Living alone in an old house may seem spooky. Maintaining and keeping safe its century old heirlooms comes with great responsibility.
In fact, there’s a lot of effort put into maintaining old houses of Levuka and on top of that, there are not enough qualified people to carry out renovation and restoration works. One of Suliana’s biggest fears is becoming a victim of home fire or cyclone, and losing her heritage home with all its antiques and memories.
Amongst the oldest items in Lomaloma House are a convertible square hardwood table and high plant stand brought in from Germany in the 1800s by Frederick Vollmer .
Sometimes, thinking of the good old days spent within the beige colonial walls of Lomaloma House can be nostalgic. Suliana treasures these fond memories.
“At one stage there was my mum and dad, the five of us, then we had two old ladies, one from Vanuabalavu and from the Solomon Islands,” she said.
“Occasionally when the hostel students moved out because of unpaid fees, my mum who was on the school board would bring them up and billet them here. Then my brother brought in two friends from Viro Village who were originally from Ono-i-Lau.”
“So every now and then we had to accommodate extra people. That was the sense of community we had back then, we helped each other without expecting anything in return. You don’t have to be asked to help, you just have to offer it. To be continued next week.
History being the subject it is, a group’s version of events may not be the same as that held by another group. When publishing one account, it is not our intention to cause division or to disrespect other oral traditions. Those with a different version can contact us so we can publish your account of history too — Editor.
