Gentlemen missionaries

Press, 29 July 1978, Page 17

Gentlemen missionaries

God's Gentlemen: A History of the Melanesian Mission 1894-1942. By David Hilliard. University of Queensland. 342 pp. $14.95. (Reviewed by Phyllis Guthardt) Taking pot shots at past heroes is a favourite sport of our time and nineteenth-century missionaries are easy game. Their work is often described as a form of Western imperialism in clerical diguise. The history of the Melanesian Mission would provide much fuel for such tactics. George Augustus Selwyn was given a diocese that included not only New Zealand, but also the islands of Melanesia by an error in definition of the boundary. But his large soul and passion for the church meant a genuine concern for the whole South Pacific. Every possible mistake in strategy could be illustrated from this volume. The early missionaries, only EtonOxbridge, of course, as the “crack regiment” of the Anglican Communion, were confident that they brought civilisation as well as salvation. They suspected trade, indulged in internecine struggles with the missions of other churches, and showed little ethnographical interest in the communities they touched. As “God’s gentlemen” they "were not always wise nor even impeccably moral. In today’s changed climate we find them strangely myopic. Yet their fortitude and devotion with huge parishes, constant travel and small result can only be admired. They were not encouraged to share their problems. “The Bishop hates a dismal report and tells us so . . .” Fortunately for us some of them wrote more frankly in diaries and letters. David Hilliard has had access to many of these and provides an

intimate understanding of nearly a century’s work. A New Zealander specialising in church history, he now teaches at Flinders University in South Australia and his work here merits the warmest commendation. Behind it lies detailed, careful research. A multitude of sources must have been studied. Often his analysis gives rise to justifiable criticism, but underlying it is an honest, scholarly spirit and some charity withal. Many photographs and maps complement the text which is remarkably readable for such a work. It is thoroughly documented with notes, bibliography, biographical outlines and index.