While administered by the Catholic Archdiocese, it also accepts non-Catholic students and apart from priests, nuns and brothers of religious orders, has government-paid staff.

Cawaci is a piece of land which the Fiji Catholic Mission bought from a European settler and cattle grazer, Thomas Perry King Wilson in 1890.

On April 26, 1890, the lands of Cawaci and Cicia were formally transferred to the trustees of the Catholic Mission by the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Fiji, Mr John Langford, in Suva.

On May 22, 1890, Mr Wilson, a grazer, planter, stockholder and former property owner of Cawaci and Cicia sold his cattle to the mission.

In the early 1990s the Fiji Archdiocese sold a small portion of the land in Cicia to the Government who needed to relocate their Public Works Department (PWD) section in Levuka as its present site was congested.

St John's College has a long history of producing Roman Catholic priests, nuns and brothers.

The former and current head of the Fiji Catholic Church are past students at the school, Petero Mataca and Peter Loy Chong.