Malaitans about to be hanged for the murder of a European at Bundaberg. Maraskima had been ..... Gencle Acrivisr. Crows Nest, NSW: Alien and Unwin, 2002.
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Anglican Missions to South ea Islanders in Queensland, 1880s-1900st Clive Moore* ':>o
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Tod ay, many Pacific Islanders are fervent church-going Christians. They first encountered Christianity four hundred years ago through forced baptisms imposed by Catholic Spanish explorers like Luigi Baez de Torres, who kidnapped young southern New Guineans and took them away on his ships in 1606. They were never to return. 1 However, the real spread of the faith dates back to the Spanish Catholics in the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, beginning in 1668. Protestant Christianity followed from l 796, when the Interdenominational British Missionary Society, later known as the London Missionary Society (LMS) entered Tahi~i. The initial method of operation was to establish European missionaries in the islands. Mission work was always slow and it often took ten years before any real progress was made. Initial missionary work was in Micronesia and Polynesia, with more populous Melanesia- the islands closest to Australia- not approached until the second half of the nineteenth century. Several methods were psed, including resident European missionaries who eventually train ed Pacific Island pastors and clergy to work in and away from their home areas. The first missions to use indigenous Pacific Island mi ssionari es were the LMS and the Methodists . The first groups were Tahitians who went to Hawai ' i, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. And in turn , these new converts became missionary pastors on their own islands and in Melanesia , as Christian missions were planted throughout the islands. All of these methods were slow and expensive, as they relied on single missionari es or families moving to new areas, learning new languages and over many years gaining the trust of the local people.2
The Diocese of Melanesia The Anglican C hurch was the first to try a different method . George Augustus Selwyn was appointed as bishop of New Zealand in 1841 , with the Pacific Islands included in his diocese . To spread Christianity into the Pacific fslands, Selwyn created what he called a black net (the Islander teachers) supported by white corks (White mission workers) . From 1849 to 1859 a school operated from St. John 's College, Auckland, then in "!Thi s articl e ha s bee n pee r reviewed. * Dr C li ve Moo re is Pro fesso r of Pacific and Au strali an Hi story at The Univestity of Queensla nd . He ha s publi shed wid ely in bo th areas; hi s c urre nt research projects include the his to ry o f th e Solomon Islands.
297
1859 moved to nearby St. Andrew's College at Kohimarama, and to St. Barnabas' College on Norfolk Island in 1867, where it remained until 1920. The Anglican's Melanesian Mission persuaded adolescent boys (and a few girls) to leave their islands to be trained at these mission schools where teaching combined religious instruction, literacy, and industrial skills. After their first two years away, the students were taken home for six months, and on the return trip were allowed to bring with them a young female partner, and to undergo baptism. If all went well, students and their wives remained at the schools for eight years before finally going home to establish a Melanesian Mission base on their own island, assisted by visiting or (after the 1890s) resident European clergy. An adaption of this 'away from home' training forms the basis of the main Anglican missions discussed in this article: those established between the 1880s and the 1900s in Queensland's sugar-cane districts.
The Labour Trade and Christian Missions Another part of the European colonising process (and one not so different from the Anglican recruitment for Melanesian Mission schools) was also under way at around the same time that the first missions were established in Melanesia. This was the labour trade which took away Islanders from eighty islands now part of New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati and Tuvalu. 3 Pacific Islander indentured labour migrants first arrived in Queensland in 1863, and although there were Christians amongst the early labourers, particularly those from the Loyalty Islands and the New Hebrides (Vanuatu), where missions already existed, there was no attempt to conduct organised missions until the 1880s. 4 The mission areas under discussion in this paper stretch from northern New South Wales to Torres Strait, but the major focus is on the sugar-cane growing areas along the Queensland east coast. Mission work in Torres Strait is almost a separate topic, and only the development of St Pauls's mission on Mua Island is outlined in this article. Pacific Islander indentured labourers began working in Torres Strait in the 1860s and 1870s, and Pacific Islander LMS staff was also based there onwards from 1871,5 The LMS was the dominant mission in the Strait until the early twentieth century when there was a gradual transition to Anglican involvement. Many descendants of the Pacific Islander immigrants remain in Torres Strait today, now firmly part of the Torres Strait community. When missions developed in Queensland, the motivations of the mainstream churches which participated were all quite different. For most, the important thing was Christian outreach in the colony, without thought of the eventual consequences in the Pacific. Only the Anglicans immediately saw the connection between the cost-effective process of bringing God to
298
299
indentured labourers in Queens land and their existing missionary network in the islands. Once the Queensland missions to Pacific Islanders began, the most active were run by the Anglicans and the Queensland Kanaka Mission (QKM), with lesser operations mounted by the Presbyterians, Churches of Christ, Lutherans, the Salvation Army and the Brisbane City Mission. Interestingly, despite its early and continuous Pacific presence, the Catholi c Church never competed for Melanesian sou ls in Queensland. The Queensland labour trade also created two major indigenous churches that began in the colony and subsequently flourished in the islands: the South Sea Evangelical Mission/Church6 and the Churches of Christ. Although there is a substantial literature on the history of Christianity in Melanesia, almost no research has been done on the foundation missions that dealt with Melanesians on the plantations and farms of Queensland. 7 This is strange, considering that use of the Islander labourers on Queensland's sugar plantations and farms as the base for Christian Pacific networks was quite extensive and very successful. Although the missionary effort was slow to begin, estimates from the early 1890s suggest that around seventy-five per cent of the Islanders in Queensland had some degree of contact with Christian missions. In the early 1900s the level of contact was even higher. x These male (and some fema le) labourers were transported to Queensland at their emp loyers' expense, which provided a cheap way of accessing potential Christian converts. They were separated from their . extended kin , usually for the first time, in a strict work environment and often bewildered by the experience, which left them open to ministrations and friendship from the missionaries. The missions provided an educational venue at night and on weekends that reduced the chance of Islander involvement in less wholesome activities . Beginning in the 1880s, Queensland-based missions began to teach literacy through the medium of the bible, provided a path to Christian conversion and encouraged abstinence from alcohol.
Table 1: Estimate of Major Pacific Islander Populations in Queensland, 1891 and 1901
There were also a significant number oflslander individuals and fan1ilies living in pastoral districts, such as the Kulijeris at Charters Towers, but they were isolated and usually blended into Aboriginal communities. Census statistics for 1891 and 190 I show small numbers of Islanders living in at least fifty pastoral and mining census districts throughout Queensland, but little is known of their religious affiliation. 10
l
·•
Torres Strait Cairns & Mossman Johnstone River (Innisfail) Herbert River (Ingham) Burdekin (Ayr & Home Hill) Bowen & Proserpine Mackay Rockhampton Bundaberg Is is Maryborough Brisbane and Logan Other TOTAL
2 19? lOO 800 800 400 624 2,277 200 2,000 700 170? 335 266? 8,691
672 500 530 1,233 500 298 1,475 150? 1,912 500 900 500 367? 9,537
Source: Based on Census of Queensland, 1891 , p. 459, Queensla11d V!des & Proceedings (QVP), 1892, Vol. liT, p. 1391; 1901 , p. 16, QVP 1901 , Vol. 11 ,
p. 956, and accumulated personal knowledge. It is difficult to estimate from the Census Districts, which changed between the two census years. 9
Table 2: Anglican Missions to Pacific Islanders in Queensland, indicating the approximate year in which they commenced Se1wyn Mission (Mackay) 1882:
Te Kowai Palms Marion Nindaroo Meadow lands Mandurana The Leap Pioneer North Rockhampton & Yeppoon 1889 Bundaberg & Isis 1892 Brisbane 1892 Herbert River (Ingham & Halifax) 1895 Johnston River (Innisfail or Geraldton) 1890s Cudgen 1890s Mua (St. Paul's Island), Torres Strait, 1900s
301
300
Anglicanism in Queensland
Thursd:y
~ti'nd
0 \) CHURCH OF ENGLAND DIOCESES IN QUEENSLAND
1950
tN
~Towns v ille
DIOCESE OF NORTH QUEENSLAND
•
• Mt
Charters Towers
Is~
DIOCESE OF ROCKHAMPl ON
B~rdsvllle
•
Ouilp1e
•
Charlev1ile
•
DIOCESE OF BR ISBANE
•
Cunnamulla
Roma
•
Toowoo~ba Wa!'.~Ck
.-I nglican Dioceses in Queensland
Source: Jonathan Holl and, The Past is a Foreign Co untry: A Hi story of the Chu rch o r England in the Di ocese of Brisbane, 1950- \970, PhD thes is, The Unive rsity of Queensland, 2006, xi.
There was always interest in Queensland in the work of the Anglican diocese of Melanesia and its mission organisation (the Me lanes ian Mission), although various circumstances precluded close connections until the 1890s. For most of the period under discuss ion there were three Anglican dioceses in Queensland, each of which controlled its own mission activities, until 1895 when the diocese of M elanesia began to work co-operatively with all three to develop missions along the sa me line as their Melanesian Mission sc hool on Norfolk [sland. Queensland 's Anglican dioceses evolved in a quite convoluted way as the colony grew. The Brisbane area was included in the diocese of Newcastle after 1847, while more northerly areas of what became Queensland in 1859 still remained within the diocese of Sydney. Once the new colony wa s formed, Brisbane became a separate diocese reaching north to the 21st parallel (which included the area that from 1860 became Port Mackay, later to become the major northern sugar-cane di strict). 11 In 1878, a diocese of North Queensland was formed, cut loose from Sydney, with its southern boundary at the 22nd parallel (roughly at Broadsound), which placed Mackay into the northern diocese. The nex t change came in 1892 when the diocese ofRockhampton was excised from the north of the diocese of Brisbane, creating a new boundary just north of Bundaberg. In the same year, the Australian Board of Missions took responsibility for British New Guinea. The last of the colonial changes came in 1900 when the diocese of Carpentaria was formed, cutting through Quee nsiand 's east coast just above Cairns (placing Moss man 's sugar fi elds in the new diocese) and including Ca pe York and Ton·es Strait, the Gulf of Carpentaria and all of the Northern Territory. These divisions are important because the Anglican missions to the Islanders were usually diocesan initiatives . The number of dioceses involved may explain why the diocese of Melanesia was slow to establish substantial links with Queensland. Brisbane was an early major Pacific port, and the Melanes ian Mi ssion mu st always have had some contact with the diocese of Brisbane, even though most links with the Melanesian Mission school of Norfolk fsland would have been through Auckland and Sydney. Right from the 1860s th ere are indications that the Melanesian Mission was interested in establishing links with Queensland, and as the sugar industry g rew in size (along with its Melanesian labour force), the plantations were seen as an ex tension of the net that had been cast first from New Zealand and then Norfolk Island . Queensland, however, had its own Anglican ecclesiastical organisations quite separate from the diocese ofMelanesia, which maintained its strong
302
New Zea land co nnections . Severa l heads of the diocese of Melanesia visited Queensland. Bishop John Coleridge Patteson preached in Brisbane as early as 1864 and returned the next year to consider Curt is Island (off the Queensland coast, near Gladstone) as a possible replacement mission headquarters for St. Andrew's at Kohimarama, Auckland. 12 In 1872, Rev. Robert Codrington from the mission 's Norfolk Island school (and temporary head of the mission after Bishop Patteson 's death) felt discouraged by the lack of support he received from Bishop Edward Tufnell in Brisbane. While in Queensland, Codrington visited Islanders in Maryborough, and after the visit Tufnellmade plans to interest the clergyman at Mackay in beginning a mi ssio n to the Islanders, but the challenge was not taken up for six years, by which time Mackay was in a different diocese. Tuffnell's successor, Bishop Mathew Hale, said that he felt frustrated by the colon ists' prejudice against any attempts to spread Christianity to non-Europeans, whether Aborigines, As ians or Pacific lslanders.u The next substantial Melanesian Mission link seems not to have occurred for another two decades, when Bishop Cecil Wilson toured coastal Queensland in 1895, trying to foster connections between the Queensland d ioceses and his diocese of Me lanesia. While Wilson was in the co lony several Islanders sought his permission to join the Norfo lk Island sc hool , an indication of th e indigenous agency that existed alongside the diocese-sponsored p l ans. 1 ~
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In some places it was lamentable to see how Church people th emse lves hindered the work. They turn a co ld shoulder on boys coming to the Holy Communion, and grudge the use of Sunday Schools for c lasses. The battle 17 that S. Paul had to fight against race-prejudice is not even fu ll y won.
However, Maclaren was able to interest two prominent parishioners in beginning mission schoo ls. Mary Robinson , the wife of a plantation manager, began the Selwyn Mission at Te Kowai plantation in 1882, followed soon after by a small er venture by E lizabeth Watt Martin, the wife of a pastoralist at Mandurama o n the other side of the Pioneer River. Initially, Robinson conducted the classes in her home, then shifted to land nearby on the western boundary of Meadowlands plantation, before moving the base to Marion further down th e Pioneer Valley when her husband became mill manager there in the early 1890s. One 1896 report describes the unusual degree of access that she a ll owed the Is landers to her home: Before schoo l begins they wander into her private house, of which they have the run, and sit about in her parlour as if it was their own. She has always a ll owed this, and says they have never abused the privilege on any occasion. Few ladies would have the power and influence necessary for the all ow ing of such liberties. She is not on ly pastor and instructor, but doctor and sick nurse
Diocese of North Queensland The diocese of North Queensland was the first to establ ish missions for th e Islande rs, not surprisingly, at Mackay, the major sugar district. Even so, the first Is landers to work at Mackay arrived in 1867, and the Anglican mission to the Islanders in the district was not begun until 1882. This may have been an initiative from the newly installed Bishop George Stanton in Townsvi ll e, or perhaps it was an independent move by Rev. Albert Maclaren, clergyman at Mackay from 1878 unti I 189 I (the same years that Stanton was bishop), after wh ich he left to found the Anglican mission in so uth-ea stern New Guinea. 15 When he a rrived in the sugar town, Maclaren faced opposition from some of hi s parishioners, which was probably typical of attitudes found in other cane-growing districts: The white peop le are against me doin g anything in the way of teaching them [the Islanders], their argument be ing that they pay me not to look after the so uls of black but of white people. 16
Given the raci st nature of Queens land co lonia l society, this attitude changed very little over decades. Decades later, in late 1906, one of the ea rliest Ang li can missionaries on Malaita Island, in the Solomon Is lands, Arthur Hopkins , found much the same attitude when he visited Queens land:
Mary Goodwin Robinson ofSelwyn Mission, Mackay Source: C li ve Moore, Private Col lection
304
of her to th e boys, and her hou se is th eir hospi tal. While there, we saw one 18 house. her g adjoinin room patients , a sick boy about 18, lying in a little sian When Rev. Arthur Brittain visited Mat·ion on behalf of the Melane d 'worke : follows as n Missio lwyn Se the Missio n in 1894, he describ ed and d' evolve lly gradua and own, on's] on a system of her [Mary Robins 19 on gave 'undou btedly the best sc hool in Queens land.' Mrs Robins Engli sh, than medium better a found she instructi on in Pijin English , which even rule a as ission interm any t withou and wo rked 'sin g le-hand ed, and to which from fund any t withou and for an eveni ng from year to year, 20 and writing , reading taught She supp ly the ord inary sc hool materia ls.' walked arithm etic and prepare d men for baptism and confirm ation. Men ing forego cases me so in , school to nine or ten kilome tres every evenin g 21 d. attende 80 to 70 July of th e ir evenin g meal, and even in the cold Missio n When labour trade capta in William Wawn visited the Selwyn a 'fine ed describ and pupils eighty over in the early 1890s, he found ted decora prettily , fittings ent ll exce commo dious sc hoo l-house . .. with Mary ed describ 1896, in visitor, r wa ll s, and a harmon i um .' Anothe and men Robins on hard at work, teachin g childre n in the mornin gs, conver ts, for quest her ln night. and women after they finishe d work at
M my Robinson 5· Pupils, 1890
Source: William T Wawn , Th e South Sea islanders and the Queens land Labour Trade, Londo n: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1893, p. 437
305
hospital Robins on also visited the hospita ls on plantat ions, the govern ment I 1.30 and 9.30 n Betwee at Macka y, the jail, and sick Islande rs on farms. the for ls materia d arrange then n, am she held a school for Islande r childre into took she whom of some adult evenin g school before visiting the sick, focal point her home to nurse. On Saturd ay and Sunday the school was a to attend. tres kilome thirty as for Islande rs, who came from as far away ation Confirm for class a by d Sunday service began at 10.00 am, followe were ates candid Baptism candid ates, and lunch for those from far away. gs evenin Sunday pm. 3.00 taught at 2.00 pm followe d by Sunday School at and , rs] Islande ta [Malai a were reserve d 'for going after the wild Malayt 22 recruit ing them for School .' es on Over many years, the Selwyn Missio n also establi shed branch , Mm-ion Palms, Kowai, Te at plantat ions and farms throug hout the valley: ns Malaita Y Leap The and rama Nindar oo, Meado wlands , Pionee r, Mandu the were the domina nt recruit s late in the labour trade and hence became n Missio Selwyn the Both s. main focus in the final years of all mission d manage n Missio a Kanak at Macka y and Floren ce Young 's Queens land nism to interes t large numbe rs of Malait ans, but there was always antago Rev. by d baptise ans from traditio nal believe rs . For instanc e, three Malait other from sm WA Turner at Macka y in Septem ber 1896 faced ostraci Many Malait ans; one found himsel f locked out of the house he shared. in hopes high others were und~r instruc tion and Mary Robins on had 24 was pupil trainin g teacher s to go back in the islands . Her star Ma laitan the first Jack Taloifu ila from Su ' ufou Is land in Lau Lagoon , who became 25 indigen ous Anglic an priest on Malaita . After her husban d died in the mid-(8 90s, the Selwyn Missio n s hifted back to Meadowland s, where Mary continu ed Robins on reunder to operate . stances duced circum by on, In 1903, Robins then sick and elderly, finally left the district to retire to Englan d, replaced by Charle s Sage, who had previou sly worked in the Anglic an New Guinea Missio n.
~ --- -
•
Male Congregation at the Selwyn Mission, Mackay, 1905 Source: Southern Cross Log [SCL], September 1905, p. 10.
306
307
Robinson 's Me lanesian ass istants were ab le to carry on the mission's work after she left, based at Meadowlands and Te Kowai, and then at St. Mary's church at Pioneer on the north side of the river, on land donated by the Coakley family, supervised by Sage. In 1905, the main Wo111 en and Children in th e Congregat ion at th e Selwyn Mission school Seht ~\ '11 Mission. Mackay, 1905 was furnished with Source: SCL, September 1905, p. I 0. desks, and every night between 7.30 and 9.30 pm Islander men could be seen bent over their 'copy books, reading a loud, or lea rning Scripture' .
r"~ district at Ingham from 1895 to 1898, termed 'missionary to alien races', operating what predominantly was an Islander mission. 29 Pritt's successor, Rev. Drake, showed little interest and lngham district Islanders were left to organise their own services. They built a grass church at Cordelia Mount, where an Newingham Grass Church, Cordelia Mount, Islander taught every Jngham, 1905 Sunday, and at nearSource: SCL, September 1905, p. 8. by Halifax there was a church on Anderson 's fa rm where Islanders he ld regular serv ices . At lnnisfail on the Johnson River there was a gra ss churc h run by Motlav Islanders (from lhe northern New Hebrides) and visited every Sunday by Rev. C harles Tomkins. There were abo ut 600 Islanders in the Ca irns district, but no Anglican presence, although the Presbyterians had a teacher and a church for Islanders at Mulgrave, and the Queensland Kanaka Mission also established a mission at Cairns .10
The ch ildren of the District have their teaching in the mornings. Each Sunday there is a gran d assembly from all parts of the District: some arrive on horseback, so me on bicycles, some driving the wife and chi ldren in a sulky. Long before the time of the service the brown faces may be seen everywhere, and the serv ice itse lf is hearty and reverent. Once a month those who are co mmuni ca nts tramp into Mackay for the 8 a. m. Ce lebration, a few of them going in the night before: there are about 60 on the communica nts' ro ll. Besides the main school there are small branch schoo ls at plantations too far out for the "boys" to reac h the Selwyn Mission, and these are co nducted by Islanders under Mr. Sage's superv ision 26 Detai ls ofthe Islander baptismal records rema in. The first Selwyn Mission baptisms in 1885 included one Solomon Islander, and Joseph Baramula, later a teacher at Fiu, Malaita from 1905, was another of Robinson's ear ly students. Remaining records do not show enough details of island origins to be certain about the extent of baptisms from individual isla nd s; however, just as had occurred with the Queensland Kanaka Mission, we can presume that Malaitans dominated the 1900s Y The author's 1970s computer sorting on Mackay Islander records, which includes adults and children, recorded 512 Malaitan baptisms at Mackay between 1890 and 1906, among a tota l of 572 bapti s ms . ~ 8 The other cane growing areas in the diocese of North Queens land were on the Burdekin River at the twin towns of Ayr and Home Hill, at lngham and lnni sfa il (Geraldton), around Cairns, and at Proserpine and Mossman. Rev. Francis Drinkall Pritt ministered to the Islanders in the Herbert River
Diocese of Carpentaria Mossman mi 11, a farmers ' cooperative begun in August 1897, was the most northerly mainland mission in the diocese ofNorth Queensland until 1900, when the area became part of the new diocese of Carpentaria. 31 A large group of 'Old Chum' Angli can Islanders transferred from Bundaberg to Mossman in the mid-1890s, spread ing the denomination fu rther north. The diocese of Carpentaria also included Torres Stra it, w ith Gi lbert White as the first bishop. A s ignificant number of immigrant Pacific Is land ers had lived in the Strait since being taken there as divers and maritime labourers in the 1860s and 1870s; included were Loyalty Islanders and Rotumans , as well as New Hebrideans and Solomon Islanders. Some of them had inter-married with Torres Strait Islanders and significant numbers lived on Mabuiag (Jervis) Island. Because of constant friction between Mabuiag people and the immigrant Islanders, Mr Cow ley, who held the shell ing lease on Mabuiag, arranged in the early 1900s for their transfer to Mua (Banks) Island. In 1907 the Government Resident for Torres Stra it proclaimed a South Sea Island Reserve on Mua at a site known as Wag.
308
309
O nce the reserve beca me kn own, some So uth Sea Islanders fro m th e ma inl and, who had fu lfi ll ed requ irements to reside in Queens land after the Com monwea lth-orde red deportati on, transfe rred to M ua. So uth Sea Islande rs from Erub (Darnl ey) also tra nsferred as did those from Mer (M urray) Is land w ho found the Londo n Missionary Society (LMS) regime preva iling e lsewhere in the Strait to be too severe. After a di ffic ult start whil e food ga rd ens were establi shed, the M ua A ng lican settlement, known as St. Pa ul 's M iss io n Vill age, fl ouri shed and beca me the ea rly focus for A ng li ca n ism in the Strait and a lso fo r To n·es Stra it res idents of South Sea Is land s desce ntY T he other areas ofTo rres Strait rema ined und er the aegis of the LMS fro m 187 1 until 19 I 4, after which the islands we re tran sferred to th e Ang li ca ns, and St Paul 's M iss ion was re incorporated into the fo ld.
Hill. Good responses were a lso received fro m the bi shops of Bri sbane and Rockhampton. A t the time, the plan was fo r Britta in to begin Me lanes ian M iss ion work at Bundaberg, but thi s never eve ntuated.35 Wil son, awa re that the Co lonial Suga r Refi ning Company and some pl anters had promised financial support, kept faith with them by vis iting Q ueensland in mid-1 895. In Brisbane in A pril he held di scuss ions w ith Premi er Ne lson, Co loni al Sec retary Tozer and other government offic ia ls before proceed ing north to B undaberg, R ockhampton, Mackay and Townsv ill e. T he bishop coun se lled the government aga inst c los ing Mala ita to rec ruiting, whi ch was a poss ible so lution to deal with ferocity aga inst recruiters over many years. W ilson told his Bri sbane audience that Chri sti anity was the only good thing that ,t he labour trade had brought to Ma laita and to cut access would be a retrograde step.36 Wil son had been told that only 2000 of the 8700 Is landers in Queensland were rece ivin g relig ious instructi o n.37 He advocated establi shment of special tra ining colleges which could act as feeders to St Barn abas' Co ll ege on N orfolk Is land . Wilson's trip was also part-motiva ted by rum ours that 200 Q ueens land M a laitans we re a bout to acco mpany a lay mi ss ionary back to M ala ita to form a Christian co lony.3H ln Bri sbane, he v isited two M a laitans about to be hanged for the murd er of a European at Bundaberg. M araskima had bee n in Queens land fo r six yea rs but d id not understand English. M iori had been in the co lony a s imilar length of tim e and had three months' schoo lin g, although hi s Eng li sh was poo r. Six had been charged and four pardoned. The exec uti o ns we re di ffi cult to ex pla in to the other Islanders, particularly as Wil so n fe lt that the clemency given to fo ur was incomprehensibl e to Melanes ia n ideas of guilt and justi ce .3 '1 The bishop proposed to establi sh sma ll training sc hoo ls- co ll eges a long th e lines of N orfo lk 's St Barnabas ' Co ll ege- in severa l di stri cts, the g raduates of w hi ch would then be ava ilabl e to staff mi ss io n sc hoo ls in Queensland . One co ll ege s ite was identifi ed on Mon Repos plantati on and a mission church s ite was suggested at The G range, both nea r Bundaberg. Wil son a lso announced plans for co ll eges at the Burdek in and Mackay, although none of these ever eventuated. The ex pense wo uld have been g reat. The Presbyteri ans pre-empted the Ang li cans when th ey establi shed th eir mi ss ion at Walkerston (nea r Mackay) in 1888; th e Q ueensland Kanaka Mi ss ion was expanding fast, and the Quee ns land gove rnment eventu ally agreed to subs idize pay ment of staff at mi ss ion schoo ls in the colony, a ll of which took away som e of the urge ncy.40 Detai ls remaip of the bishop 's tim e in Bundaberg, w here he visited several plantatio ns, including Fa iry mead, owned by the Young fa mily, and the headquarters of the a lready we ll-establi shed Quee nsland Kanaka
Diocese of Brisbane The d iocese of Bri sbane stretched north to B undaberg, and in cluded three maj or ports thro ug h whi ch Is landers entered and left Queens land : Brisba ne, Marybo rough and Bundaberg. T here we re substa nti al numbers of Islanders around Bri sbane, most ly long-term res idents of the co lo ny. Bri sbane and neig hbo uring Loga n d istrict had had a Melanes ian population s ince the 1860s, and ot her ' Time-ex pired Is landers' (those who had served the ir firs t three-yea r co ntract) bega n to dri ft south from Bundaberg and Ma rybo rough, pa rtic ul arly durin g the eco nomi c recess ion in the earl y 1890s, gravitatin g to B ri sbane, and to Tweed Heads over the border in N ew So uth Wa les. In 1892, Ca non Montague Stone- Wigg began classes fo r them at St John 's Pro-Ca thedra l and a house (' R osly n') in South Brisbane was acq uired as a base for A ng li ca n Islanders in the city. About the same time, Archdeaco n A rthur Rive rs was g iven th e overs ight of all mi ss ionary act ivi ti es in th e di ocese of Bri sbane, and ea rly in 1897, JD Anderson, who wa s read ing fo r ho ly orders and was attac hed to the Ca thedra l pari sh, took ove r leadership of work with loca l l slanders.33 A bout twe nty Is landers attended the Pro-Ca th edral on Sund ays and had a club-room in a street close by w here th ey met eve ry ni ght, w ith formal c lasses on Tuesday, Saturday and Sund ay, run by M rs B irkbeck, M r Gard iner, A rchdeacon Arth ur Dav id and Rev. CA Hu tc hin so n . 3 ~ T he Melanes ian M iss ion se nt Rev. Arthur Britta in to Q ueensland in A ugust 1894 to reco nn oitre the sce ne, in expecta ti on that he would begin m issio nary work th ere. He was we ll rece ived by Bishop Christopher Ba rl ow of North Q uee ns land, who had served hi s curacy under Maclaren at Mackay in the early 1880s and wanted to bolster the work already un derway at Mac kay. Barl ow s uppo rted the afo rementioned Cec il Wil son, Bishop of Me lanes ia, advoca ting that more o utreac h should beg in at Ca irns, on the Johnson and Herbert Rivers, and around Ay r and Home
~ 3 10
Mission. Wilson was accompa nied by Rev. Percy Williams, who returned in November 1896 to take charge of the Bundaberg Mission as the first full-time 'orga nising priest in charge of Melanesians' in Queensland, und er the ausp ices of the bishop of Brisbane. His charge was renamed the 'Me lanes ian Mi ss ion in Queensland'. A Bundaberg Kanaka Mission to South Sea Islanders Committee already existed, although it was not responsible to the Diocesan Board of Missions.-1 1 Between I 892 and his death in December 1895, Rev. JE Clayton, a deacon, operated a small mission school for Islande rs at Bundaberg, his £200 stipend raised locally. After his death, hi s wife and daughter and Mr Thorn burn took over until Williams arri ved. 4 2 New Zealand-born and Cam bridge University-educated, Williams set to wo rk in the Bundaberg and lsis di stricts. His count of the Melanesian population differs slightl y from that of Bishop Wilson and is probably more acc urate as th e number of Islanders around Bundaberg never outnumbered those in th e Mackay di strict, although the combined total in Bundaberg and Isis was large r. Williams sa id there were slightly under 2000 Islanders aro und Bundabe rg and another I000 working in the lsis Scrub district. 43 The mi ss ions all ope rated on pledges of regular support from plantation ow ners, farmers and other individual s in the various di stricts. The planters were behind with their pledges, and Williams had to extract money to pay arrears owed to Mrs Clay ton . When he first preached, Williams' Islander co ngregatio n numbered 87. Reports from I 896- 1897 suggest that 20 Islander men were regular communi ca nts at Williams' Anglican church at Bundaberg and others attended Matins. About 90 men attended Christmas services in a church hall that year. Led by John Lamosi, who had been a pupil at Norfolk Island, they were predominantly from Gela (Florida) Island in the Solomon Islands. Between services they amused themselves with ga mes of cri cket and football, and at th e end of the day prayers we re sa id in the Mota and Gela languages . School classes were held in the Central Mission room every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday night to an average of 37 Islande rs, with another 24 attending evening classes on plantations ..J.J Williams was most unflattering about the Mission room: It is simply an old disused barn, attac hed to a stable and cowshed. It is low and narrow, with an iron root~ and abso lutely devoid of paint. There are no windows, merely holes cut in the wa ll s. lt is rotten in places, letting in wind, rain, and sun. There are planks for seats, and when there are, say 150 boys in there on a hot Sunday morning, one melts and needs something very good to smell 4 ' Aro und Bundaberg, Williams was assisted by Rev. William Morris and Miss Brands. l-le regularly visited plantations and far ms around Bundaberg
3 11
Islanders after attending an Anglican service, Bundabe1g / 905
Source: SCL, September 1905 , p. 13 to co nduct school classes and raised £ 100 to pay for a resident teacher at nearby Childers in the lsis district, £5 0 of the money provided by the Co lonial Sugar Refining Company. There was no church building available for the Isis Islanders to use and funds were harder to raise there beca use the sugar-cane came mainly from small -scale farmers rather than the large plantations that dominated around Bundaberg. Williams took the train to the Isis eve ry Monday and remain ed there until Wednesday, ministerin g to around 40 Islanders. When he was unabl e to make the trip, local clergyman Rev. Ashburner took the service. Around 30 Islanders attended the service and another 40 attended the school. 46 Williams left in 1897 and reappeared in the diocese of Melanes ia in 1900, from 1902 to 1905 based on Guadalcanallsland, Solomon lslands. 4 7 He was replaced in Bundaberg by the aforementioned J D Anderson, and by Mr GE Layton in the Isis. European missionaries took th e weekend serv ices and Islander teachers ran classes during the week on va ri ous plantations. In 1899, an observer on one Bundaberg pl antation noted that 75 Islanders attended the afternoon Sunday School. Moody and Sankey's hymns were sung perfectly to tune and lesso ns and preac hin g was in Pl)in English.48
3 12
3 13
The educa ti ona l, pasto ral and relig io us prog rams at Bundaberg continu ed. Durin g 1903, a tota l of 3075 Is landers and 89 1 Chinese attended mi ss ion c lasses. Mi ss Mcintyre, who had begun to teach th e Is landers in the mid - 1890s, he ld five c lasses eac h wee k, three for Is landers only, and two fo r Is landers and C hinese, ass isted by the rector, Rev. Robert Hay. A bout 80 Is lan ders regul arly attended church services, 26 had been bapti sed and 18 we re co nfi rmed by B ishop Nathanie l Dawes of R oc khampton. The Is landers attended the early se rvice at the pari sh church, and they also had their ow n chu rch on th e north s ide of the rive r, which operated in much th e sa me way as the Selwyn M iss ion.49 T he di ocese of Bri sbane seems to have made little prog ress at Ma ryborough, another maj or ca ne-g rowing area, although th ere were Ch ri st ian Is landers th ere (from Lifu, one of th e Loyalty Island s off N ew Ca ledoni a) as ea rly as 187 1. In 1876, attempts were m ade to establish an Ang li can Marybo rough mi ss ion, and severa l Islanders contributed to a fun d to build the pa ri sh churc h in the late 1870s. 50 Richard Eva, clergym an at Ma ry boro ug h fro m the ea rl y 1880s into the 1890s, is sa id to have made so me attempt to mini ster to th e Is landers, but nothing fu rth er is known . O ne report notes that th ese Is landers we re co lonists, not circular labour m ig rants. In 1890 the Lutheran Church bega n a Sund ay Sc hoo l, w ith good res ult s, and s ix yea rs later a simil ar A ng li ca n miss ion presence bega n when 1 ai li ng Mrs C layto n shifted from Bundaberg to Maryborough.s
Between 1894 and 1902 Juliu s prepared 18 Is land er men and women for co nfirmation .53
Diocese of Rockhampton T he next di ocese to the north was based o n Rockhampton , the only mainl and Q ueens land ce ntre th at has retained a substa ntial A ng lica n Is lan der popul ation. T he new d iocese was crea ted in 1892; in 1889 while it was still part of the di ocese of Bri sbane, Francis Drinka ll Pritt became th e new mini ster in North Roc khampton. Havin g previously vi s ited the is lands and observed Me lanes ian Mi ss ion ac ti vities, he was keen to begin work w ith the loca l Is land er popul ation, both in north Rockhampton and at Ye ppoon on the coas t. 52 When Pri tt arri ved, there were 200 Islanders in hi s pa ri sh, 78 at Yepp oon sugar planta ti on, another co nce ntrati on in north Rock hampton, and th e rema ind er sca ttered about. At Rockhampton the Is landers were ma inl y fro m th e New Hebrides and the Loya lty Islands, and had arri ved to work in the pastoral industry in the 1860s and 1870s. By 1889 many of them we re long-term immi g rants w ith certifi ca tes of exem ption fro m restri cti ons that cove red Is lander immigrants who arrived afte r 1884. Pritt prepa red seven m ale and fe m ale Is landers for co nfirmati o n in 1893 , then (as menti oned above) the next year he transferred to the Herbe rt Ri ver di stri ct (ln g ham). He was replaced by Canon Julius, who stayed until 1904 a nd also fos tered th e Is landers within hi s congregation.
Mission Finances Up until 1897, most of the cost for running the Quee nsland mi ss ions ca me from mainstream churches and th e Islanders themse lves, plus small subs idies from the Me lanes ian M iss ion . ln 1894 Mary Robinson at Mackay rece ived £50 a year, half from the M elanes ian Miss ion and hal f from th e di ocese of North Queensland Y Robinson rece ived £70 from Melan es ian M ission funds during 1895, supplemented by an other £5 0 ra ised loca lly, the sum intended to cover her keep and a ll expenses for the sc hoo l. By 1896 the bishop had defaulted due to a shortage of fund s and was 'a nxious to incur the respons ibility no longe r' _ss Mary Robinso n co uld not keep herself and her daughter on the money w hil e also pay ing a ll ex penses, and contempl ated closing th e Selwyn Mi ss ion . Thi s led to a ' Robinso n Fund ' be ing established with £ 109 co ll ected by Chri stm as 1897 to subsidi ze the Selwyn Mission. 56 Anglican and Presbyteri an pari shi oners were also invo lved in supporting th e vari ous miss ions, through subsidis in g mi ss ionary sa lari es. Plantati on owners and fa rmers apprec iated the qui eting effect of Christi anity on the ir often quite vo latile workforce, a lthoug h they were not keen on Is landers co nstantly attending night classes, which mea nt they were tired at wo rk the next day. T he Queensland government had £3 0 000 in its So uth Sea Is landers F und, m ade up of the compulsory return fare ca pitati on and un claim ed savings from Islanders w ho had de pos ited money in th e Sav ings Bank and subsequently died. The gove rnment ag reed to Wil son's proposa l that interest from this sum be used to subsidi ze sc hoo ls fo r Islande rs in Queensland . After hi s 1895 vis it, Bishop Wil son ann oun ced ambiti ous plans to take C layton at Bundaberg onto hi s staff (hi s £2 00 per annum salary guaranteed by the local cong rega tion), to pay Pritt (th en o n the Hebert River)£ 100 a year, along with another £ l 00 and a house guaranteed by local planters, to work w ith Mrs Robinso n at Mac kay. T he fin a l part of the dea l was to pay M rs Robinso n £ 150 per annum , and to replace Pritt w ith a part-time appointment paid £5 0 a yea r to wo rk w ith !slanders at the Herbert River. 57 AJ though Wil son 's g rand plan never eventu ated, in 1897 the Quee ns land government approved £600 per yea r in subsidi es from its So uth Sea Islanders Fund . That yea r the Bundaberg and Is is branches of the M e lanes ian Mission benefited to the extent o f £97 I Os, w hi ch enabled JD Anderson to be employed. S imilar sums were do led out to th e Selwyn Miss ion at Mac kay (whi ch, like Bundaberg, a lso rece ived £70 directly from the Me lanes ian Mission, subj ect to its re porting to th e No rth
3 14
3 15
Q ueens land Board of Mi ss ions), to the Q ueensland Kanaka Miss ion and the C hurches of Chri st ls is m issio n.58 T he Queens land Islanders also gave money to support th e Me lanes ian M iss ion: in 1900 Islanders at the Selwyn M iss io n at Mackay donated £2 1 17s to the New Ship F und (to rep lace th e Me lanes ian M iss ion's Southern Cross), th e equiva lent of one year 's pay for an expe ri ence dl abo urer. 5 ~
The fo rced ex it of thousands of So lomo n Is landers and New Hebri dea ns in the 1900s created di fferent circumstances back in th e is lands. The numbers were larger, and there was prov is ion made to drop them at mi ss ion stations if th ey requested. Others set out to for m Chri sti an co loni es on their own island s, thu s expanding the overall Chri sti an popul ati on. lt is not poss ible to make exact estimates of th e number of C hri sti an Melanes ians who left Q ueensland in the 1890s and 1900s. Eve n if we had defi niti ve information , it would be di ffic ult to calculate the ir effect as they returned to more than e ighty di ffe rent islands and were all at di fferent stages of conversion. And once the Fiji labour trade end ed in th e mid- 19 1Os, and other Islanders returned from there to bo lster the ex-Queens land Christi ans, it is hard to di sting ui sh one gro up fro m an other, parti cul arly as large numbers had wor ked in both co loni es. The auth or's ma in area of interest is Ma laita Island, the maj or source of labourers durin g the 1890s and 1900s, and it ca n be presumed that the substanti a I number of labourers returnin g from Q ueens land to that is land had a significa nt impac t. The only exact bapti smal statistics come from the Quee ns land Ka naka Miss ion, which claimed to have baptised 2484 Me lanes ians in Q ueens land between 1886 a rid 1906. 63
New South Wales An area o f Is lander settl ement that is often forgotten was in no rth ern New South Wa les. T here were aro und 200 Island ers th ere in 1897. Some had fl ed Q ueensland to li ve under a mo re benign regim e, and others drifted so uth to escape the 1890s depress ion yea rs. Th ey g rew cane whi ch th ey so ld to the Co loni a l S uga r Refi nin g Co mpany mill s and wo rked on the di stri ct's suga r and banana plan tati ons. Exe mpt from Queens land reg ulati ons (but not from the Co mm onwea lth 's 190 I depo rtati on order) most of th em were 60 fro m th e New Hebrides, and lived around C udgen and Tumbul gum. The ere wh Is lande rs built two sma ll A ng li ca n churches: St. Jo hn 's, at Cudgen, la Ge m .Jo nah Woqas fro m Mota Island in the New He brides and Ravu fro at Is land condu cted services fo r a few dozen Is landers; and St. Barn abas' Tumbl egum , where John Ta la from Mota and Jimmy from another N ew Hebridea n is land were th e preachers. Rev. Rey nolds, th e Anglican recto r at Murw illumbah and the loca l Presbyteri an m inister v is ited both groups regul arl y. T he Q uee nsland Kanaka M issio n also established a base at
Table 3: Queenslan d Kanaka Mission, 1886- 1906 Bundaberg :
C udgen 61
The Implicatio ns of the Queenslan d Missions for Christiani ty in Melanesia T he m iss ions to Is landers in Queensland were successful ventures but were cut short by th e 190 I leg islati on of th e new Co mm onwea lth of Austra li a th at stopped th e fl ow of new ind entured labour from Melanesia to Queens land after 1903. T his led to the deportation of the maj ority of the Isla nders between 1906 and 1908. The labour trade was a c irc ul ar mig rat ion , and there were a lways Is lande rs returnin g home, a proportion of th em afte r co nve rs ion to C hri stianity in Queensland . Some did j oin the sca ttered mi ss io n stations in the is lands and bo lstered the efforts of th e few Europea n and Is lander mi ss ionari es and the ir sma ll cong regations. As Bishop W ilso n w rote in the 1900s, enough of them becam e 'beaco ns all alo ng the shores' to prov ide a cons id era bl e boos t to the work of the Me lanes ian M iss ion."2 However, fo r most, Chri sti anity became just anothe r qu a int story to reco unt abou t li fe fa r away in Queensland . The soc ia l pressure o n them to retu rn to thei r customa ry ways was g reat and not many ever managed to establi sh schools o r mi ssions of th e ir ow n.
l s is:
Fairym ead 1882 (pre QKM) North Bundaberg Bingera Ka lkie Avond ale Hapsberg G in G in
Ayr ln gham Innisfa il (Ge ra ldton) Cairns Mossman Cudgen T he A ng lican mi ssions (as o utlined in Tabl e 2) were the next largest. From Mackay statistics it is known that there were 600 Is lander baptisms at the Selwy n Miss ion between 1885 and 1906. If the number and size of the other A ng li ca n mi ssion areas is taken into accoun t, a co nse rva ti ve estimate might be around 900 to 1000 A ng li ca n bapti sm s in Q uee nsland before 1906. T he next most important we re the Presbyteri an and Churches of C hrist mi ss ions, w hich mu st have add ed anoth er seve ra l hun dred
3 16
3 17
baptisms. Three other smaller mi ss ionary endeavours have been located: the Lutherans who began a mission at Maryborough in 1890, the Salvation Army which seems to have concentrated its efforts at Buderim, and the Brisbane City Miss ion wh ich made quick progress amongst the labourers gathered for deportation at the Immigration depot in Brisbane between 1906 and 1908.
C ha rl es A Price and Eli zabeth Baker, 'Origins of Pacific Island Labourers in Q ueensland, 1863- 1904: A Research Note' , Journal of Pacific HistOI )I, vo l. I I, no. 2, 1976, pp. 6-2 1; Jeff Siege!, ' Origins of Pacific Island Labourers in Fiji ', Journal ul Pa cific Hislorv, vo l. 20, no. 2, 1985, pp. 42-54; Dorothy Shin eberg, '"The New Hebridean Is Everywhe re": The Oceanian Labor Trad e to New Ca ledonia, 1865- 1930', Pacific Slllllies. vol. 18, no. 2, 1995, pp. l -22; Dorothy Shineberg, The People n~ade: Pacific Island Laborers and New Caledonia, 1865- / 930, Pacific Island Monograph Series 16 . Honolu lu: Univers ity of 1-lawai ' i Press, 1999; Doug Munro, 'G ilbert and Elli ce Isla nd ers on Queensland Canefields, 1894-1899', Journal of th e Royal Hislorical Sociely uf Queensland, vol. 14, no. ll , 1992, pp. 449-465. 4 KR Howe, Th e Loyalty Islands: A HisiOI)I (!/Cu lture Co lllacls 1840- 1900, Canberra, Austral ia n Nat ional University Press, 1977; John Garrett , Footsleps in !he Sea: Christianily in Oceania /o World Uitr 11, Geneva a nd Suva, Wor ld Co uncil of Churches in association w ith the Institute of Pacific Stud ies, University of th e Sout h Pacific, 1992, pp. 90- 12 1. 5 Steve Mu lli ns, Torres Strait: A History of Co lonial Occupa lion and Cullure Col/lac/ I 864-1897, Rockhampton, University of Central Queens land Press, 1995; Steve Mu lli ns, "'Heathen Po lynee" a nd "N igge r Teachers": Ton·es Stra it :md the Pacific Isla nder Asce nda ncy', Aboriginal History vol. 14, no. 2, 1990, pp. 152-67; John Singe, Th e Ton~es Strait: People and !-listorv, St. Lucia, Unive rsi ty of Queens land Press, 1979. 6 Florence Young co nun enced mi ssio n wo rk among indentured labo urers on her brothers' sugar plantati on and mill , Fairymead, nea r Bundaberg in Queens la nd, in 1882. Stee ped in th e beli efs of th e Plymouth Brethren and influe nced by the Eng lish Kesw ick Conve nti on, members of the Young, Deck and Grant fam ili es esta blished the Quee ns la nd Kanaka Mission in 1886. By 1904, the QKM had I 0 I Islander missionari es and 17 European mi ssionaries working in 11 different centres alo ng the coas t or Queensland and northern New South Wal es. Many converts ret urned to th e So lomo n Is lands and the New Hebrides at th e turn of the ce ntury. Flo re nce Yo un g began to visit Solomo n Isla nd s in 1904 and when th e numbe r of Is lander labourers dec lined in Queens land (alkr the deportation forced by th e Austra li an government), the QKM c losed at the end of 1906 and the South Sea Eva nge li ca l Mission began wo rk in So lomon Isla nds in 1907. The SSEM was loca li zed as the So uth Sea Eva nge li ca l Church (SSEC) in 1964. Flo rence S I-I Young, Pearls jinm the Pacific. London , Marshal! Brothers Ltd. , 1925; David 1-lilliard, 'The So uth Sea Eva nge li ca l M issio n in the So lo mo n Isla nd s: Th e Fo undati on Years' , Jouma l o_j"Pacific J-/isluiJ', vo l. 4, 1969, pp. 41-64. 7 John Barker, 'C hri sti anity in Western Melanesian Ethn ograp hy', in !-liston · l/1/(l Tradition in Melan esia, James Carried (ed.), Berkely, Un ivers ity of Ca lifornia Press, 1992, pp. 144- 173 . 8 Peter Co n·is, Passage, Port wtd Plantation : A His/or\' of" Solo111on lsla11ds Lahour Migra tion, 1870- 19 14, Me lbourne: Me lbou rn e Uni ve rsi ty Press, 1973, p. 96. 9 Bishop Ceci l Wilson gave the fo ll ow ing estimate in 1895, presumably based o n ligures provided by Chu rch so urces, which differs from my ca lc ul ation: Bri sbane ( I 000); Bundaberg (2500); lsis (800); Rockhampton (70); Mackay (2240); Burdek in (500); Herbert River (800); Jo hn sto ne Ri ver (800). Occasional Papers o/ the Mela 11esian Mission (OPMM), Novembe r 1895, p. 155. 10 'Notes', SCL, July 1897, pp. 4-5.
Table 4: Other Missions to Islanders on the Queensland Mainland C hm·ches of Christ Missions
Presbyterian
Lutheran Sa lvation Army Bdsbane C ity Mission
Is is 1892 Knockroe 1895 Grego ry I 895 Maryborough, 1890s Mackay: Walkerston 1888 Sandiford Oaken den Mic! ere Mu lgrave (Gordonvale) I 890s Tweed Maryborough 1890 Bud erim I 893 Bri sbane I 906-08
Officia l estimates suggest that around 1500 Pacific Islander adults and ch ildren rema ined in Queensland after 1908, although unofficia l estimates suggest a number closer to 2500. There may have been as many as 4000 Christian Pacific Islanders in Queensland during the 1890s and 1900s, which suggests that aro und 2000 went back to the islands. 64 These returns had a di sproportionate effect in the islands, as the majority of the 1890s and 1900s labourers came from Ma laita Island in the Solomon Islands, but it is reasonab le to suggest that Queensland Pacific Islander Christians had far more effect on the spread of Christianity in Melanesia than previously has been rea lised.
Endnotes
2
Brell Hi lde r, Th e Voyage oj"Torres: The Discovety of the Southern Coastlin e of New Gu i11 ea and Torres Strait by Captain Luis Baez de Ton·es in 1606, St Lucia (Qld), Uni vers ity of Queensland Press, 1980, pp. 48-51 . John Garrett, To Li1•e A111ong the Stars: C!trislian Origins in Oceania, Geneva and Suva, World Co un ci l of Churches in association with the Institute of Pac ific Studies, Uni versity of th e Sou th Pacific, 1982.
3
3 18
3 19
I I Clive Moore, 1\anaka: A HistOI)' of Melanesian Mackay, Port Moresby, Institute of Papua New Gui nea Studies and the Uni versity of Papua and New Guinea Press, 1985, p. 26. 12 Alureton Bay Courier, 9 April 1864; RM Ross, Melanesians at Mission Bay: A Hist01:v o{ the J\4elanesiwL tv/is:;iun in Auddwul. Wellington, Hi storic Places Trust, 1983, p. 41. 13 In formation provided by Dr Allan Davidson at St. John 's Theological Co llege, Auck land/ University of Auck land from letters held in the Rhodes House Library, Oxford, 11 May 2006. 14 David Wetherell , Reluctant Mission: The Anglican Church in Papua New Guinea , 189 1- 1942, St Lucia (Q id), University of Quee nsland Press, 1977, p. l 0 l ; David Hilliard, Cud~· Ge1111e111en: A Hist01y u/the Melanesian Mission , 1849-1942, St Lucia, University of Queensland Press, 19 78, pp. I05- 106 . 15 Report of!he Church 1J{England Synod, Brisbane, 1872, p. I0. 16 Moore, 1\wwka , p. I0. 17 AI Hopkins, 'A Letter from Queensland' , The Southern Cross Lug (SC L) (Journal of the Melancsian Miss ion), March 1907, p. I 14 . 18 VA Buxton , ' Impressions of Plantation Life ', OPJ\1/M, March 1897, p. 276. 19 Report of Rev. A Brittain, OPt\lM, Christmas 1894, pp. 98-99. 20 Brittain , OPMA'I, Christmas 1894, p. 99. Also see Mary G Robinson to A Brittain, 16 August 1894, OPAl !vi, Chri stmas 1894, pp. I 00- 10 I. 2 1 Report of Rev. A Brittain, OPMM, Ch ri stmas 1894, p. 99. 22 Ma ry G Robinson to Bishop JR Selwyn, 26 October 1896, OPMM, Chri stmas 1896, pp. 260-26 1. 23 ·Se lwyn Miss ion, Queensland ' , SCL, July 190 I, p. 72; 'Selwyn Mission (Mackay)', SCL , February 1905, p. 7; ·selwyn Mission, Mackay ', SCL, August 1905, p. 6; 'Selwyn Miss ion, Mackay ', SCL, December 1905 , p. 4. 24 Wi ll iam T Wawn, The South Sea Islanders and th e Queensland Labour Trade, Pacific Hi story Seri es No.S, Peter Corri s (ed.), Canberra : Austral ian National University Press, 1973. (Orig. 1893], p. 439; SCL, Apri l 1896, p. I0, November 1896, p. 3; 'The Me lanesian Mission in Queens land', SCL , March 1897, pp . 7-8. 25 A I Hopkins, folv111 Heath en Boy to Christian Priest, London: S.P.C.K., 1949.; Rt. Rev. Dr Terry Brown, Sermon, All Saints Church, Brisbane, 9 Jul y 2006. 26 R.M .F.D., 'S ugar Plantations in Queensland ', SCL, September 1905, p. 11. 27 Angli ca n Baptismal Registers, Holy Trinity Church, Mackay. 28 This quantitative research was carried out as part of my PhD thesis research, submitted in 1981 as Kanaka : A 1-/isron• r!/Melanesic/11 i\lackay, Hi story Department, James Cook Un iversi ty of North Queensland . The printouts are ava il able at James Cook Uni versity and the Mackay City Counci l Library. 29 The Blain Biographical Directory of Anglica n Clergy in the South Pacific, (accessecl 30 May 2008). 30 ' R.M.F.D ', ·s uga r Plantations of Queensland ', SCL, September 1905, p. 11 . 3 1 John Kerr, No nhem Owpost, Mossman, Mossman Central Mill Limited, 1979.
32 Anna Shnukal : ' Hi storica l Mua', in Gelam s Homeland: Cultural and Na tural Histor~v on the Island of Mua, Torres Strait, Bruno David, Louise Manas & Michael Quinnell , (eels), Memoirs of the Queensland Museum Cultural Heritage Series vo l. 4, no. 2, 2008 (in press); John Bayton , Cross Over Carpentaria: Being a History of the Church of England in Nort hern Australia.fi·om 1865 to 1965, Brisbane: WR Sm ith & Paterson, 1965, pp. I 06- 11 0; Gi lbert White, Round About the Torr·es Strait: A Record of Australian Church Missions, London and Sydney: Society for Promotin g Christian Knowledge, 1925, pp. 40-48 ; Gilbert White, Thirty Years in Tropical Australia, London and Sydney: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and Angus & Robertso n, 19 18, pp. 18 1-205 . 33 Wetherell, Reluctant Mission, p. I0 l. 34 PercyT Williams, 'Notes from Queens land ', SCL, September 1905 , p. 11. 35 He fe lt no parti cular ca ll to the ministry and he was already well-established in the New Hebrides. Report of Rev. A Brittain, OP!v!M, Chri stmas 1894, pp. 97- 100; Bishop Wilson, 6 Septe111ber 1894, OPMM, Chri stmas 1894, pp. 95-97; Bishop Wilson, 17 June 1895, OPMM, November 1895 , pp. 164-5. 36 Bishop Cec il Wil son, 20 May 1895, OPMM, August 1895, p. 123. 37 Census of Queensland, 189 1, p. 459, Queensland Votes & Proceedings (QVP) 1892 , vol. Ill, p. 139 1; Census ofQueensland. 190 1, p. 16, QVP 1901 , vol. 11 , p. 956. 38 Mr A Brittain, quoted in OPMM August 1894, p. 69; Bi shop Cec il Wil son, 6 June 1895, OPMM, November 1895, p. 153. 39 Bishop Cecil Wil son, 20 May 1895, OPMM, August 1895, pp . 122- 123; Bishop Ceci l Wilson, 6 June 1895, OPMM, p. 153. 40 Bishop Cecil Wilson to Bishop J.R. Selwyn, 5 February 1896, OPMM, August 1896, pp. 207-208; The. Church Chronicle (Brisbane), May 1895, p. 3, June 1895, pp. 11 - 13; Wetherell , Reluctant Mi ss ion, pp. 101 -102; Bi shop Cec il Wil son, OPMM, August 1895, p. 122 . 41 Report of Rev. A Brittain, OPMM, Chri stmas 1894, pp. 97- 100. 42 ' Notes ', SCL, July 1897, p. 4. 43 Charles A Price' with Eli za beth Baker. 'Origins of Pac ific Island Labourers in Queensland, 1863- 1904: A Research Note.' Joumal of Pacific History, vo l. I I, no. 2, 1976, pp. 106-2 1, 115. 44 Percy T Williams, 'The Melanesian Mi ssion in Queensland' , OPMM, March 1897, p. 269. 45 Percy T Williams, 'Notes from Queensland', OPMM, March 1897, pp. 270-272. 46 Williams, 'The Melanesian Mission in Queensland', OPMM, March 1897, pp. 269-270; and, 'Notes from Queensland ', OPM!vl, March 1897, pp. 270-272; ' With "Our Boys" in Bundaberg', OPMM, September 1897, pp. 289-290; ' Report of Queensland Branch of the Melanesian Mission', OPMM, Christmas 1897, pp. 323-324. 47 The Blain Biographica l Directory of Anglican Clergy in the South Pac ific. (See note 24) 48 'Melanesia in Queensland', SCL, 15 September 1899, p. 4. 49 ' Mi ss ion Notes', SCL, July 1904, p. 7. 50 John Kerr, Sugar at Mmyborough: 120 Years ofChallenge. Maryborough: Maryborough Sugar Factory Ltd, 1987, pp. 68-69.
'li~:
320
32 1
5 1 'The Mclanes ian Mi ss ion in Quee nsland ', SCL, April 1890, pp . 10- 11 ; 'A Melanesian Chri stmas at Bundaberg ', SCL, June 1897 , p. 4; R.P.W., ' With "Our Sons" at Bundaberg', SCL, July 1897, pp . 8-9 ; 'The Melanesian Mission in Queensland', SCL, I-I May 1898, p. 8. 52 He may have made a visit to Rev. Lonsdale Pritt who served with th e Melanesian Mission , 186 1-67 in New Zea land, although Franci s Drinkall Pritt does not seem to ha ve le ft England until 1889 . 53 Julius also had links to the Melanes ian Mi ssion as his cousi n Ethel Julius (herself the daughter of the Bishop of Chri stchurch in New Zea land) in 1899 married Cecil Wi lson, Bi shop of Melanesia. Ca rol Gistitin , Kanakas: Labour oj'Love. Rockhampton, Ca rol Gistitin , 1989 ; Carol Gistitin , Quire a Colony: So uth Sea Islanders in Cen tral Quel:'nsland /86 7 ro 1993. Bri sbane: Aeb is, 1995. Also see the records of th e Parish of North Rockhampton , Diocese of Rockhampton. 54 Bishop Cec il Wil son to Bi shop JR Selwyn, 6 September 1894, OPMM, Christmas 189-1, pp. 95-97. 55 Mary G Robinson to Bishop JR Selwyn, 26 October 1896, OPMM, December 1896, p. 28. 56 'Rob inson Fund' , OPMM, Chri stmas 1897, p. 326. 57 Bi shop Cec il Wilson, OPi\1/M, August 1895, p. 122. 58 'Notes', SCL, July 1897, p. 4. 59 SCL, October 1900, p. I. 60 The area was withi n th e Anglican diocese of Grafton and Armidale. Faith Bandler, ofTana Island and Ang lo- lndi an ancestry, is the best known of Islander descendants from thi s region. She has written several books based on her fath er's life at Mackay and Tumbulgum . Faith Band ler, Wa cl'ie. Adelaide : Ri gby, 1977 ; see also Marilyn Lake, Faith : Fairh Bandle1; Gencle Acrivisr. Crows Nest, NSW: Alien and Unwin, 2002. 6 1 'The Melanesians on the Tweed River', SCL, May 1897, pp. 2-3. 62 Cec il Wilson, Th e Wake of' th e South ern Cross: Work and Adventures in the South Seas, London , John M ur ray, 1932, p. 207. 63 I am indebted to Dr Ben Burt of th e British Museum for providing th ese QKM stat isti cs. 6-1 Clive Moore, '"Good-B ye, Queensland, Good-Bye, White Australia; Good-Bye Chri sti ans": Australi a's South Sea Islander Community and Deportation , 190 1- 1908' , The Ne u· Federalist, no. 4, 2000, pp. 22-29; Patricia Mary Mercer, Whit e Australia Defied: Pacific Islander Settlement in No rth Queensland, Studies in No rth Queensland f-list01 y No.2 1, Towns vi lie, Department of Hi story and Politics, James Cook University, 1995; Moore, Kanaka, pp. 274-33 1; Peter Con·is, '" White Australia" in Action : The Repatri ati on of Pac ific Islanders from Queensland.' Historical Swdies, vol. 15, no. 58, 1972, pp . 237-250.
Dean WP Baddeley in Brisbane 1958 - 1967 John Mackenzie-Smith* A mixf'Nre of the traditional and the decidedly unconventiona l, the Very Reverend William Pye Baddeley was arguab ly the most missionary of all the deans who occupied that position in · isbane's St John's Cathedral. He is sti ll talked about forty the annals of~ years after hi s eparture. He was a sk illed communicator and preacher, effected change ithin the cathedral community and built up a rec iprocal re lationship Brisbane's wider, ety and St John 's. was 'out there' , a selfconfessed, full-blooded C hristian, offering an attractive and releto a lternative vant stolid, colourless Puritanism. Brisbanites, the ultra-traditionali sts C hurch within the and the evange lica ls aside, loved the cut of his jib. Much to the envy of his renowned half-sisters, thespian Angela and Hermione, preaching to anything less his influence was widespread, never speaki and having the uncanny s hi of than a full house. Making the most Christ to the wider took abil ity to connect with most levels of society, 1 community and it listened. ishop Sir Reg in ald Archbishop Philip Strong, who replaced , summed up Dean l August in death his Halse, D.D. , K.B .E. following Baddeley's overall influence: The dean has been a prominent figure not only in the C life of the City and State, upon which he has made a real i out forcefully in hi s endeavours to interpret the Chri stian faith *Or John Mackenzie-Smith is a former ed ucator in the state and indepe CAE systems. In his retirement he is a profess ional hi stori an, researchin g and pre-separation Scots and Anglican institutions, both defunct and flouri shing.
ournal
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of the
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Roya l Hi stori cal Society of Queensland Vo lume 20 No. 7
August 2008
Bundaberg's Gethsemane: the tragedy of the inoc ul ated children HF Akers and SAT Porter
Queensland in Bronze: endurin g heritage in scu lptural and medall ic art 279 John ?earn Angli can Miss ions to South Sea Islanders in Queensland, 1880s- 1900s 296 Clive Moo re Dean WP Baddeley in Brisbane 1958- J967 John Mackenzie -Smith
Soc iety. The Society acknow ledges fin ancial ass istance from the Queensland Govern men t and Bri sba ne City Cou ncil.
LSSN 1447- 1345 Approved Prin t Post No . PP 424022/000 19 Printed by The Printing O ffi ce, Eagle Fa rm
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Ed itor: Va l Do novan Assistant Ed itors: Ruth Ke rr and Robert 1-l ogg T he Soc iety does no t acce pt responsibil ity fo r a ny o pini ons expressed in this co ll ec ti on o r papers.
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