The Wesleyan Missionary Notices relating to the Missions under the Direction of the Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Conference

Publisher Australasian Wesleyan Missionary Society

Printer Joseph Cook & Co

Date1869

Object number00044258

NamePeriodical

MediumPaper

DimensionsOverall: 212 x 139 x 2 mm, 0.04 kg

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionThe Australasian Wesleyan Missionary Society released quarterly publications detailing the activities of missions under their direction. This periodical from the period of July to October 1869 is number 10 & 11 in Volume II. It records details of the mission ships, missionaries and letters communicated between missions in the Pacific region including Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and the Friendly Islands.HistoryThe work of the European and American Missionary Societies in general and John Williams from the London Missionary Society in particular led to a greater understanding of the potential of trade and colonisation in the Pacific. The Missionaries believed that they had a duty to evangelise and civilise the Pacific Region which would not only save souls and make travel safer but would also lead to greater trade. One of the first tasks attempted by a missionary propagating the Christian faith in the Indian or Pacific Oceans was the translation of the King James Bible and other religious tracts such as hymnals and prayer books into the language of the islanders and the subsequent printing of these items, usually on small portable printing presses, by the missionaries and their helpers. Portable printing presses and missionary printers such as William Ellis were dispatched to the islands of the Pacific at an increasing rate with presses at Eimeo (1816); Mo'orea (1816); Tahiti (1818); Honolulu (1822); Tonga (1831; Rarotonga (1834; Fiji (1839) and Samoa (1839) The translation and printing of these items was an enormous task requiring almost anthropological training in languages and linguistics along with the ability to establish an educational system that would be able to teach reading and writing to a society where literacy was very much a foreign concept. The introduction of written language left the way open for mistranslations of the 'word of god', the Christianisation of the local languages and eventually the decline in local cultural believes. This collection of printed material from The London Missionary Society and the Wesleyan Missonary Society is significant in that is was predominantly printed on Pacific Island or Indian Ocean based printing presses established by the missionaries to spread Christianity and civilisation. The London Missionary Society was formally established in September 1795 and although broadly interdenominational in scope, the Society was very much Congregationalist in both outlook and membership. One of the first tasks attempted by the LMS propagating the Christian faith in the Indian or Pacific Oceans was the translation of the King James Bible and other religious tracts such as hymnals and prayer books into the language of the islanders and the subsequent printing of these items, usually on small portable printing presses, by the missionaries and their helpers. Portable printing presses and missionary printers such as William Ellis were dispatched to the islands of the Pacific at an increasing rate with presses at Eimeo (1816); Mo'orea (1816); Tahiti (1818); Honolulu (1822); Tonga (1831; Rarotonga (1834; Fiji (1839) and Samoa (1839) The translation and printing of these items was an enormous task requiring almost anthropological training in languages and linguistics along with the ability to establish an educational system that would be able to teach reading and writing to a society where literacy was very much a foreign concept. The introduction of written language left the way open for mistranslations of the 'word of god', the Christianisation of the local languages and eventually the decline in local cultural believes.SignificanceThis periodical represents the work of the Wesleyan Methodist Church and other missions in the Pacific and Indian Oceans during the 19th century.