William Earnest Donnelly was a New Zealander, who became a teacher and General Secretary of the Students’ Christian Movement in New Zealand, in the early 1930s and early 40s. He volunteered for service in Fiji and he served as principal of the Methodist Church's Toorak Boys' High School in Suva, Fiji.
Towards the end of 1942, at the height of the Pacific Campaign of the Second World War, the Colonial Authority was issued a command to close all urban schools and surrender their compounds to the military, to be used as military camps for the war campaign against the Japanese threat.
Whilst other overseas teachers immediately left Fiji to await the end of the war, the determined missionary principal, Mr Donnelly sent a circular to all members of the senior classes of Classes Six, Seven, and Eight of Toorak Boys School, inviting volunteers to come away with him, to continue their education. After consultation with the heads of the Methodist Church, he was given permission to use the Principal’s residence at the Davuilevu Technical School, in Nausori. As a result, he and 50 volunteers from Toorak Boys School in Suva, met at the Principal’s residence on the 3rd of March, 1943. Their first classrooms were the two master bedrooms in the house and the long verandah on the eastern side as their library. There were only two classes and two teachers; the late Mssrs W.E Donnelly and Semesa Sikivou. In the 1943 Methodist Church Annual Conference, Mr Donnelly was given permission to expand his classes along the same ridge and as a result, the boys themselves, with his guidance, built three large bures, where the teachers staff quarters presently stand.
He remained principal of Lelean Memorial School from 1943 to 1945 when he returned to New Zealand. Mr Donnelly returned to Fiji to establish Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna Memorial School in Suva, where he served for three years.
He then served at Levuka Public School, on Ovalau, for a few years before returning to Lelean in 1971 after the Ms Furnival tragedy. Under Mr Donnelly’s guidance, the Lelean school motto, “Seek wisdom and spiritual understanding” was formulated.