All stories have a beginning, a middle and an end, and the story of David Whippy is no exception. Nor is the story of my interest in his life, albeit it has yet to end.
Thinking back, I realise that the first time I heard of this man was in 1980 when I was teaching at a school near Sydney, Australia. A new member of staff joined us that year and during the course of a conversation with her, Isobel told me how she had taught in Fiji a few years earlier and had married a Fijian man, whose ancestor was a white man who had come to Fiji in the early days and had fathered a lot of children.
She then told me that her married name was Whippy, but she used her maiden name because she didn’t want the children running after her in the playground singing ‘Greensleeves’!
Years passed and I forgot about this Whippy story until, in 2002, I found a brief account of David Whippy’s life in several Fijian history books. I was intrigued, and, as an historian, felt his story should be more fully told, but left it at that as I pursued other interests.
Unknown to me, in 2010 the descendants of David Whippy erected a memorial to him at the family cemetery in Wainunu, Fiji. The President of Fiji, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, was the chief guest on this occasion and in his speech, stated that,”There isn’t enough done to fully commemorate and give this great man the credit that he deserves.” And so the wheels were set in motion.
Imagine my delight when, in September 2013, I received an email asking if I would be willing to undertake this project of researching and writing a book about David Whippy? Would I what??!!
On 4 February 2014, the journey began in earnest as I sat at Brisbane International Airport and watched with mixed emotions as the Fiji Airways plane, in its distinctive livery of brown and white ‘masikesa’ designs, taxied into place, ready to whisk me away to commence my journey, following in David Whippy’s footsteps and researching the book I know I was born to write.
That day in February when I set out on this adventure was possibly even the same date that, 212 years previously, in 1802, a baby boy was born on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, to David Whippy and his wife Kezia, nee Bunker. Their third child, he was named David. Little could this deeply religious couple, themselves descendants of pioneers, know that destiny had marked this child for a very important role in the history of a group of islands in the remote South Pacific; islands whose peoples were only beginning to have any significant contact with the outside world. Captain James Cook had named the archipelago Feejee and today we know it as Fiji.
To be continued …..
Comments
Hi,
I Have quite a substantive amount of information including will’s and titles of the descendants of David whippy in Fiji.
contact me if you’re after more material.
Author
Hi Jacob,
Thank you very much for your kind offer. I will email you to discuss this further.
Vinaka!
Bula, I’m really interested in more info on the Whippy family. Please. Contact me. Vinaka. Tui Benau.
Hello!
I am searching for Isobel! She was a family friend over 20 years ago. We still hold her photo albums from this time and it would be wonderful to reconnect if possible, given that time is marching on…
Would you recall her maiden name, by any chance?
Author
Hello Sera,
I heard from Isobel a few weeks ago. She is still very much with us and enjoying her life at the grand age of 82!!
Her maiden name was Weir.
Please email me at davidwhippybook@yahoo.com and I will pass your email on to her.
Kind regards,
Rondo
Are you sure about your dates for the erection of a memorial for David Whippy at Wainunu is right? I was at a the unveiling ceremony where Mr Nailatikau, Fiji statesman unveiled a whale statute in 2012. Got the photos to prove it. Also the graveyard at Wainunu is a long way away. I don’t think your info’ is right. David Whippy mark of statesmanship really started in Levuka. Yola ,great daughter , five times removed from the Levuka line of David Whippy and Dorcas.
Author
Hello Yola,
There were in fact two monuments to David Whippy, both unveiled by Ratu Epeli.
The first was at Wainunu in 2010, and the second was the one you attended in 2012 at Levuka. I have been to both Wainunu and Levuka and seen both.
Hope that helps clear up any confusion.
Kind regards,
Rondo
Rondo,
Small world, had a chat with Isobel last week, we both grew up in the goldfields and actually lived across the road when small. all the best for 2021. Eric
Dear Rondo Blue,
I had my 85th birthday
on 25th July.
I still seem to be in good health.
Some of my husband’s Whippy relatives will meet in
Sydney in October.
I have decided not to go.
Getting to and through the air ports
is just too hard.
My phone number is 08 96460358
Best wishes from Isobel