A PIONEER OF THE PACIFIC

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3056, 18 April 1917, Page 8

A PIONEER OF THE PACIFIC

THE. LATE DR. BROWN —■*=— HIS MISSIONARY CAREER ' pThe following interesting sketch, of the career of the late Dr. George Brown, a pioneer missionary of the Pacific, appeared in the Sydney "Daily Telegraph."] "He is a good young man, but such a meek and mild, young, lady-like person that he has no spirit whatever that would make a missionary. He is utterly devoid of self-assertion, and we therefore do not think that he is fit for mission work." Those were the objections urged against Dr Brown being accepted as a missionary when'he'first offered himself for Fiji to the Auckland Methodist quarterly meeting in 1859. The quiet little town 'of Barnard Castle, in the County of Durham, where Dr. Brown, was born oi; December 7, 1835, was the scene of many stirring events in border history. The oldest member "of his family on the father's side whom Dr. Brown ever knew was his, grandmother. She'always declared that she could trace her ancestry in a direct line to Bishop Ridley, who wasburnt at Smithfteld. When visiting his home in 1886 the doctor made iiir quiries of the old parish clerk drop, near Barnard Castlcy and. was assured that the old lady was quite correct in her statement. Dr. Brown's first entrance into business life was as an assistant in the local doctor's surgery, and after following a number of callings he shipped on a large East Indiaman,, called the Santipore, char"tered as a troopship. For some time the Vessel was engaged carrying-troops between Queenstown, Corfu, Malta, 'Gibraltar, and .North America, at the outset of the Crimea War.

While at Quebec he fell dowrfthe hold* of the Santipore, -and--Iris leg was broken in two places. This 1 necessitated removal to the hospital, and the ' vessel sailed without him. On the next" voyage tho Santinore was lost with" all hands. Young Brown lay in the hospital for many weeks. Then he went to Montreal, where he was sheltered by the soldiers in the barracks, andsubsequently witnessed the famous Gayaraii riots. Thence he made, for the lake districts, roughing it badly on ,the way. Arrived at New London, then a very, small place, he engaged himself to a storekeeper,'' but soon decided to work his passage back to EnglandXqn board a barque called the Olivd and which had shipped a crew, which young Brown sized "up as the biggest set of ruffians he had ever sailed, with. After visiting his-home the desire came upon him again to go abroad,'and he decided to embark for New Zealiuid. This was in 1855. During the voyage he joined a Bible class conducted by Mr. Patterson (afterwards the Martyred Bishop of Melanesia). In Auckland George Browr. fell under religious influences. In 1859 he volunteered For foreign mission work, expressing the desire to go to Fiji.. He'was only accepted by his quarterly meeting bv a narrow majority, and after much opposition to the special pleading of Mr. Harding, on the grounds stated at' the beainnimr of this article. At the New Zealand' "Wcslevan Conference .of 1860 Mr. Brown wa.B appointed to Fiji, but subsequently his destination was changed to.Samoa. Fifteen Years in Samoa, Dr. Brown spent 15 years in Samoa, and repeatedly .visited the groups afterwards.. He proved a very fearless man, both ashore and afloat, but he needed all his "grit, grace; and gumption, for he found himself located in one of tho toughest circuits in the Pacific". He was the first man to cross the island of Savail at its widest part, but ho made himself extremely popular with the natives. Many thrilling adventures marked these early yearsof his missionary'career/ On one'* occasion the 1 town in which he lived was destroyed by war with the neighbouring tribes. The doctor did his best to make peace, and risked, his life' repeatedly; ■ The Doctor's knowledge of the Samoans, their- language and traditions, was ,recognised by all with whom he was ever associated. He was even appealed, to by Samoans themselves sometimes to settle the meaning of a native' word. Several. times he was sent for- by the Government to act as interpreter. He always looked back upon his Samoan experiences as among the happiest of his life. "There are no people I love more than the'Samoans," he once -observed to the writer, "and I don't'think'l'am likely soon to be forgotten by them." Dr. Brown left Samoa at the'latter end of 1874, and came to Sydney. had often urged on the authorities'of his Church to take up a mission in New Britain.- At length he succeeded in getting the consent, of the Board of Missions to advocate it in the other colonies, and they promised, if the proposal met with any success, to take up the work of the mission. He began this-work in Victoria,'and found the people most sympathetic. In 1875 Dr. Brown left Sydney for Fiji, where he arrived after a fearful epidemic of measles. He used to tell an affecting story of how he got the first volunteers from the Navalau institution to go to New Britain. There were no white residents in New Britain at that. time. The people were wild savages. Traders had done their best to settle there and failed, and considerable anxiety was felt, for a long time for the wfety_ of the pioneer mission party. The incidents . attending the initiation of the mission are fairly well known. The cannibalism of the people-was very evident, but gradually the missionaries got. settled about ./the district. Then came a serious, check in the murder of a native minister and three' teachers by the natives of the' hills at Blanche Bay. The lives of all the. their wives and children, were also threatened,, and no doubt, but ■ for the prompt action taken to defend those innocent people and protect the lives of all, a still more terrible tragedy would have taken place.' Unique Experiences. Dr. Brown left New Britajn in 1881. After, doing deputation work for some time he was appointed minister of the Bourke Street (Sydney) circuit from 1883-5, the only English-speaking circuit he ever had.

Dr. Brown was elected president of the.Now South "Wales Wesleyan Conference in 1891, and during his term of.office ho Tiad yet another unique experience, for he was.called upon to take charge of the establishment of another new mission, this time in British New Guinea. That mission, like the; others with which his name is identified, has been most successful, and the ;doctor received a good doal of praise in his lifetime for the suitability of the site which ho selected as the headquarters of tho mission. The site was chosen in 1890, -when he had the privilege of visiting a \great Dart of New .Guinea in company Vith Sir William M'Gregor in tho Mcrrie England. In 1901 Dr. Brown visited the Solomons, and urged the establishment of a new mission at Rubiana (New Georgia); making the third mission which ha pioneered. * For 25 years Dr. Brown was gen«fal secretary for foreign missions. He retired some years ago. He held the degree of Dootor of Divinity, secured at

tlie. Macgill University, Canada. Hei held also several scientific diplomas* and was a Fellow of the Royal Geo- V

graphical Society and a corresponding member of the Zoological Society. Fob 20 years he had lived at Gordon. Hei ■was made President of the Mutlipdisti General Conference of Australia in 1913, and in the ordinary course o£ events would have presided at the) General Conference to be held in Mel-i bourne next month, but Eev. Dr.. Youngman (Queensland) will fill hie place till a successor is appointed*.