"HERO OF ERROMANGA."

Press, Volume L, Issue 14975, 23 May 1914, Page 16

"HERO OF ERROMANGA."

News of the death of the Rev. Dr. Robertson, a veteran missionary of the . New Hebrides, was published in our columns a few days ago. The event took place in England, where ihe doctor was, or. his way home to Canada on a holiday trip. He spent a couplo of months in Sydney at tho beginning of this year, and resumed his journey, accompanied by Mrs Robertson and one daughter, 'it the end of February. Three daughters are living in Sydney, and there is a son in New Guinea. Tho story of Mr Robertson's life is amongst the most romantic and thrilling in the annals of mission work. His whole missionary career was spent in the island,of Erromanga, sometimes called the "Martyr Isle," because of tho lives that were given there in the effort to epread i Christianity amongst a pebplo as treacherous and bloodthirsty as any in ! the Pacific. One of the most beautiful spots is the sandy beach at the entrance to Dillon's Bay, the place where John Williams's life was taken by the natives in 1839. After an interval of 18 yeare, the Rev. G. N. Gordon and Mrs Gordon went to take up the work Williams had tried to do. They, too, were murdered. Mr Gordon's younger brother followed them, only to pprisb in the same way. Mr and Mrs McNair | stopped into the breach, and Mr Me-' Xair fell a victim to fever. Undeterred by these calamities, Dr. and Mrs- Robertson offered themselves to the Canadian Presbyterian Church as . missionaries to the island, and in 1872 they landed at Dillon's Bay, on the banks ot tho Williams river. For over 30 years they laboured; for many years in the midst of peril and disheartening conditions; but it was given to them" to see the whole of the people of the island won for Christ. "The Hero of Erromanga" was the name given to the veteran missionary, and his bravehearted wife shared the- honour in which he was held.