Genealogist releases book on Whippy’s life story

DESCENDANTS of David Whippy in Savusavu converged at the Daku Resort yesterday to pay homage to a man who contributed to Fiji’s colourful history with the launch of a book on his life story.

Speaking at the launch, author of the book titled ‘David of Nantucket: His extra influence in the history of the Fiji Islands’ Rondo Bae described Whippy as a family man who loved his children.

Paying tribute to the late Whippy, Bae who is a genealogist said his legacy was something that the Whippy family in Savusavu and around the world could learn from.

“David died three years before Fiji’s cession to Great Britain, and as former president Ratu Epeli Nailatikau remarked in 2012, David’s life is testimony to the fact that Fiji’s transition to become a crown colony was made without much wrangling and furore because the groundwork had been efficiently and thoroughly prepared by individuals like David Whippy,”