Photograph taken from 'Gun Rock' looking down onto the town of Levuka on the Fijian island of Ovalua. Buildings occupy space on a narrow strip between beach and hills. In the foreground are a group of thatched huts situated amongst palm trees. On the sea are a squadron of sailing ships, possibly including HMS Bacchante. Mission Hill can be seen rising diagonally from the shore in the right of the background.

This view of Levuka was probably taken by the Dufty Brothers firm of photographers. Francis Herbert Dufty and Edward were born in England and emigrated to Australia in 1865 and together they established a photographic studio in Victoria. In 1871, the brothers established a photographic studio in Levuka, Fiji, but many of the Fijian photographs taken by the firm are accredited to Francis.    

This is a photograph from one of the nine albums compiled following Prince Albert Victor (1864-92) and Prince George of Wales' (1865-1936) world tour aboard HMS Bacchante from 1879 to 1882. The photographs were collected by their chaperon and tutor, John Neale Dalton.

The majority of the images in these albums are topographical views and architectural studies, loosely arranged according to the group’s itinerary. They include photographs of artefacts, local people and public figures, as well as portraits of the princes taken during the tour. The attempt to recreate the experience of a journey through such an assortment of images is common to many amateur travelling albums of this period. In 1886, some of the photographs in the albums were reproduced as engravings in the published accounts of the voyage, The Cruise of Her Majesty's Ship Bacchante, 1879-1882.