Mista Wilkins: an ordinary man who made an extraordinary difference

Darvall Keppel Wilkins was born on April 19th, 1922 in Dubbo, Australia. He passed away peacefully on July 14th, 2018 in Port Vila, Vanuatu at the age of 96. He had returned to the islands and was living with his youngest daughter. Following his wartime service in the Navy, Darvall trained for and joined the British Colonial Service and was posted in 1952 to Tanganyika as a cadet District Officer where he served for five years. He was then posted to the New Hebrides where he worked for 20 years as a British District Agent, retiring to Australia in 1977. In his last year, in collaboration with particularly his youngest daughter, Sallie, and her husband, John, Darvall 'wrote' his memoirs, covering his war service and time in Africa, but mostly concentrating on his 20 years in the islands of the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), where he served in all four districts. The content of his memoirs derives mainly from a mountain of letters written over his adult life refreshed and fleshed out in reflective conversation with family members and close friends. The result is a fascinating read, written in a style which both reflects the character of the man and captures and brings to life his singular experience and distinctive perspectives on the times he lived and worked through. They reveal a man endowed with the self-confidence, single-mindedness, and resolve to achieve as much as he possibly could in support of the people he had been entrusted to serve. At the same time, there are regular moments of humour and self-deprecation which illustrate the humility and empathy that literally made him a legend in his own working lifetime.