Pacific Manuscripts Bureau

AU PMB MS 1035
Collection
1888 - 1914

The Reverend D.T. Reddin was born in Stepney, Adelaide, in 1880. Orphaned at the age of eight, he and his brothers and sisters were fostered to different families after a short stay in the Livingstone Home - a Methodist Home for children. In 1888 he was fostered to the Nicholas family in Yundool, Victoria and joined the Royal Australian Artillery in 1900. In 1903 he bought is way out of the army and joined the Police. During this period he became involved in mission work and held evangelical meetings. He was invited to address a Home Mission demonstration in Melbourne in 1907 and in July of that year was chosen to assist the Rev. W. Vawdon at North Melbourne Central Mission. With financial assistance from a benefactor, James Morrissey, he became a theological student at Queen's College and was ordained in March of 1910. Appointed as a missionary to New Ireland, he left for Kavieng in April and subsequently spent two years at Omo village. He returned to Australia to complete his studies and married Miss Kelso in June 1914. He and his wife and three children returned to Omo in 1921 but by 1924 Mrs Reddin was in poor health due to malaria and they returned to Australia in 1925.

The typescript consists of eight chapters and covers the period 1888 to 1914. He describes his life as a farmer, a soldier a policeman and a missionary, his work with the Central Mission and his commitment as a Christian. Reddin briefly refers to the years 1914 to 1925 in the last two paragraphs of the final chapter.

Reddin, D. Thomas