Collection PHOTO 83 - New Hebrides Mission photograph album, 1898-1914

Synod group photo on Tangoa Unknown gathering of local people Preparations for a feast Unknown gathering Taloa church, Nguna Unknown village scene Group of men at Taloa Local people on Paama Synod group photo, 1905 Mealtime at Erromanga synod
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AU PMB PHOTO 83

Title

New Hebrides Mission photograph album, 1898-1914

Date(s)

  • 1898-1914 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

83 images

Context area

Name of creator

(28th July 1857 - 12th April 1902 (Rev T Smaill))

Biographical history

Reverend Thomas Smaill was born in Edinburgh, Scotland prior to his family emigrating to New Zealand in 1858. He was ordained as a missionary at Knox college in 1889 and travelled to Nikaura on Epi the same year where he was to be based. He returned to New Zealand in 1890 for a short period of time to marry Helen Grant. The couple lost their first two children born on the islands but a third, Nellie, survived. Thomas Smaill died aged 44. He became ill after making a medical visit to a woman on Epi during a hurricane.

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Scope and content

86 black and white photographs taken by Reverend T Smaill in the New Hebrides. Subjects are varied, with photographs captured on Epi, Erromanga, Nguna, Paama, Santo, Tangoa,and Tanna. The majority of these images feature missionaries or their family members. Named missionary families include the Smaill, Milne, Paton and Frater families) and there is an image of the Smaill family on furlough in New Zealand. Some photographs were captured at mission synods between 1900 and 1914.

Photographs are mounted on to separated album pages although there is no album cover. Captions were directly written onto the mount and subsequent white labels with captions handwritten in ink have been added.

The New Hebrides Mission from the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand:
The Presbyterian Church began sending missionaries to the New Hebrides (today known as Vanuatu) in the mid-19th Century. The first missionary was Rev. John Geddie of the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia who arrived on the island of Aneityum in 1848. Subsequent missionaries came from the Presbyterian Churches of New Zealand, Canada, Scotland and Australia (Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and New South Wales).

In New Zealand an interest in supporting a Christian mission to the New Hebrides was fostered when Rev. John Inglis of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland toured the country in 1852 following a three month tour of the New Hebrides and Solomon Islands. In that same year, Inglis and his wife joined Geddie on Aneityum. Rev. John Inglis continued to send regular reports of his work to New Zealand, leading to increasing interest from the Church there in sending their own missionaries to the islands.

The Presbyterian Church of New Zealand was at that time divided up into the “Northern Church” and the “Southern Church” (consisting of the Provinces of Otago and Southland). The Southern Church was based on the ideals of the Free Church of Scotland and these principles influenced its mission work for many years. For over 40 years the two Churches worked separately, with mission activities during this time operating independently of each other.

Over several decades the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand sent a number of missionaries to the New Hebrides including the following people. The information below includes the missionaries' date of arrival in the New Hebrides, the name of the missionary and the name of the main island on which they worked:

1866, Rev. William Watt, Tanna
1870, Rev. Peter Milne, Nguna
1879, Rev. Oscar Michelsen, Tongoa
1885, Rev. Charles Murray, Ambrym
1889, Rev. Thomas Smaill, Epi
1892, Rev. Dr. Lamb, Ambrym
1899, Dr. John Bowie, Ambrym
1903, Rev. Thomas Riddle, Epi
1905, Rev. William V. Milne, Nguna (born on Nguna in 1877)
1932, Rev. Basil Nottage, Tongoa
1938, Rev. Ken Crump, Nguna
1941, Rev. J.G. Miller, Tongoa
1944, Rev. Ian Muir, Emae and Epi
1948, Rev. A.G. Horwell, Epi

In the early years there was no organised or reliable shipping service to the individual islands of the New Hebrides so it was important for the Church to have their own vessel to bring regular supplies from Australia and New Zealand. A boat was also necessary for transport to other mission stations. Although the New Hebrides missionaries were responsible for their home churches and allotted areas and islands, they worked closely together on common issues and met annually for a mission Synod meeting. New Zealand Presbyterian Church worked in conjunction with the Australian Presbyterian Church to raise money and purchased a mission supply vessel, the “Dayspring I”. This 115 ton brigantine was launched in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1863. It was lost in a hurricane ten years later and replaced by a second hand schooner, the “Dayspring II” in 1876. The Dayspring II was sold prior to 1890 as she was too small and slow and uncomfortable to sail in. The Australian missionary Dr. John G. Paton raised £6000 during a visit to Britain in 1884-1885 and later increased the donations to £7000. The “Dayspring III” was built on the Clyde in Scotland to the order of the Victorian Presbyterian Church Foreign Missions Committee. She was 157 feet long and arrived in Australia in 1895. On only her fourth voyage to the islands, she sank on the 16th October 1896 after striking an uncharted coral reef near New Caledonia. The decision was made not to replace the vessel.

The New Hebrides Mission shared a practical concern for the everyday needs of island people. In addition to converting local people to Christianity, the missionaries worked to improve education, through the introduction of schools where the training of local mission teachers was initiated. The Tangoa Teachers’ Training Institute opened at Tangoa, South Santo, in 1895. The purpose of the Institute was to train local teachers and it was supported by all the Protestant missions working throughout the New Hebrides. Missionaries also worked to improve health education and services and encouraged the production of arrowroot and island trading as a means to generate revenue. Arrowroot powder was shipped to New Zealand and other countries, where it was initially distributed by women’s missionary groups and later by commercial organisations. The funds from the sale of arrowroot were used to build additional churches in the islands and, in some cases, as a donation towards New Zealand mission funds to be used elsewhere. From 1880 to 1918 on Nguna alone, over 26 tons of arrowroot was produced.

By 1910, the work of the New Hebrides Mission was declining. This was partly due to a rapidly decreasing population on the islands and a feeling that little room existed for further expansion of mission work, as by then most areas were adequately covered. The reduction in population was primarily caused by introduced European illnesses and epidemics which decimated the local population. The Queensland labour trade had also had an impact on the local population, with many locals having decided to remain in Queensland.

In 1947 there was a general consensus held among the Island missionaries that the local church was ready to assume control of its own affairs. A constitution was drawn up, and after amendments submitted by the New Zealand and Australian Mission Committees and the New Hebrides Mission Synod, it was adopted. At a Centennial Synod meeting in 1948, the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the Rev. John Geddie, the local church was placed fully in charge of its own affairs. The island mission councils for Australia and New Zealand were then limited to the affairs of their immediate mission staff. The New Zealand Church continued to provide a large financial grant to the New Hebrides Presbyterian Church. A continued focus remained on training church leaders and education more generally. The Tangoa Training Institute later introduced a curriculum of advanced theological studies.

In the early 1950s, the New Zealand Missions Committee responded to the request for assistance to establish a High School at Onesua on Efate, along with funds and personnel to set up and run a small hospital on Tongoa. The Committee viewed this project as a practical means by which the New Zealand Church could provide for a social need rather than a means for furthering evangelistic opportunities. This policy shift in Mission funding opened up other opportunities for aid from the New Zealand Church including developing Navota Farm and opening the Maropa religious bookshop in Port Vila, training local islanders to be trades people and undertake the building work. The New Zealand Bible Class volunteer scheme sent out young people during the 1960s to assist with building, administration and nursing. The Mission, at the request of the Presbyterian Church of the New Hebrides, divested itself of all remaining authority in the Islands so that the New Zealand missionaries effectively worked for the New Hebrides Church. In 1965 a memorandum was prepared which defined the terms of “responsible partnership” and sought to define the responsibilities of each partner. The Church continues today as the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu.

For more information about New Hebrides Mission collections at the Archives of the Presbyterian Research Centre, Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa, and New Zealand, see: http://www.archives.presbyterian.org.nz/missions/newhebrideshistory.htm

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

As found in album

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Available for reference

Conditions governing reproduction

http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/pambu/copyright.php
High resolution digital copies can be ordered from the Presbyterian Research Centre, the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau and the Vanuatu National Archives. If a person wishes to publish any photographs from this collection, the researcher must contact the Presbyterian Research Centre to gain permission. Email: pcanzarchives@prcknox.ac.nz

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

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See individual items.

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Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Institution: Presbyterian Research Centre, Knox College
Address: Arden Street, Opoho, Dunedin, 9010
Country: New Zealand.

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Access this title at PMB Member Libraries or by contacting the Bureau directly: http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/pambu/accessing.php

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Note

General note: The titles of these photographs were copied from the original titles assigned by the Presbyterian Research Centre, Knox College. Information in the title enclosed by square brackets has been added by the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau as new information has become available. The Bureau edited some title words including “native” and “heathen” as these may be seen as offensive. The notes field of each individual item includes information about the image, including the original description. The individual notes field for each item have not been edited by the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau. These are the original descriptions assigned by the Presbyterian Research Centre, Knox College. Presbyterian Research Centre Accession Number 42000/33 Reference Number A-S17-78. The full pages of the albums were digitized and then the individual photographs were digitally cropped from the full album scans. Some of the photographs may be found in duplicate form in other New Hebrides mission photographic collections held at the Presbyterian Research Centre. Related material: Related material held in the Presbyterian Research Centre includes archives and manuscripts of Presbyterian missionaries who served in the New Hebrides. See: http://www.archives.presbyterian.org.nz/missions/newhebridesseries.htm

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