Holy Trinity is the Cathedral church of the Diocese of Polynesia. The Diocese is one of the nine Dioceses which comprise the Anglican Church of the Province of New Zealand and has been associated with Polynesia since 1925.
The present Holy Trinity Cathedral is a relatively modern structure and was built over a period of 25 years in two distinct stages and two different architectural styles. It is not the original cathedral church of the diocese. In fact there was an Anglican church in Suva before there was a diocese, and nor was Suva the first centre established by the Church of England in Fiji.
In March 1882, James McEwen and Company donated to the Trustees of the Church of England a freehold block on the northern side of Gordon Street almost exactly opposite where the present St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church now stands, for the erection of a church. However, by April 1886, members of the Suva Anglican congregation were reconsidering the desirability of this site because of its proximity to the Presbyterian Church(erected in 1883).The site was “found to be unsuitable from the fact that the two churches would be too near; so near that the singing in each would disturb the other.”
Legal title for an alternative site, on the corner of Butt Street and MacArthur Street (where Pacific House now stands) was later obtained in June 1886 with the assistance of the Colony’s Administrator (the Acting Governor), John Dates Thurston.
Despite this, from as early as 1910, following the hurricane in March of that year, views had been expressed that: “a really substantial church in concrete, stone or brick” should be constructed in Suva. However, the First World War intervened, and it was not until 1919 that a Cathedral Committee was established and a fund launched by Bishop Twistchel (the first Bishop in Polynesia) to raise $10,000 for the erection of a permanent concrete cathedral.
Many alternative sites were considered for the location of the new cathedral and one 3 acre site was actually purchased, for $735, in July 1926, on the corner of Holland and Knollys streets, but a residence for the Bishop was built on part of the site in 1929 and the balance of the site sold in 1938.
On the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, on the 25th January, 1940, the then Governor, Sir Darry Luke, laid the first of the two foundation stones. However, another World War intervened and it was not until December 1948 that a formal resolution was passed by the Cathedral Chapter seeking the approval of the Diocesan Synod “to commence the building {of the cathedral} as soon as possible, erecting such part of the building as funds allow, at a cost not exceeding the funds in hand at the time of building.”
On the Feast of the Annunciation, the 25th March, 1950, the second foundation stone was laid by the Acting Governor, Mr. A. F. R Stoddart, in the East wall of what is now the Lady Chapel construction work on the first (eastern) stage of the cathedral (containing the Lady Chapel, the Quire and Ambulatory, the Chapter house, the Vestry, the Sacristy and the Saint George’s Chapel) having started on the 29th November 1949. The architect for this first stage was Mr. C. H. Nettleton, the Government Architect, and the firm of Whan’s Construction was engaged, at an estimated cost of $17,280, as the contractor.
This first stage of the Cathedral was completed in the latter part of 1952 and was consecrated on the Feast of St Mark, the 25th April, 1953. The consecration ceremony was performed by Bishop Stanley Kempthorne, Bishop in Polynesia, the Archbishop of New Zealand, the Right Reverend Reginald Owen, and the Archbishop of Sydney, the Right Reverend Howard Mowill.,
Approval was given for the building of the foundations for the second (western) stage of the Cathedral (which was to contain the Nave and the Bell Tower) in May 1954, and these foundations were completed in 1955.
But the “temporary” West wall was to remain a feature of the Cathedral for 20 years, until 17th October 1973, when the tender for $98,000 from the firm of Cork Builders was accepted to construct a western extension. The original designs for this extension had been substantially modified by the firm of Derrick, Dignan and Associates, partly in the interests of increase light and ventilation, but also to produce something more in keeping with tropical architecture. This portion of the building was completed in the following year and was dedicated by Bishop John Holland (Bishop in Polynesia) on the eve of the Feast of the Ascension, on 22nd May, 1974.
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