Melanesian Mission

The Melanesian Mission is an Anglican missionary agency supporting the work of local Anglican churches in Melanesia.[1] It was founded in 1849 by George Selwyn, the first Bishop of New Zealand.[2]

History

Bishop Selwyn's see was focused on New Zealand. In December 1847 he began a series of voyages to the Pacific Islands, which were included in his diocese by a clerical error in his letters patent. His see should have been defined as lying between 34th and 50th degrees of south latitude.[3] The clerk drafted the boundaries as lying between 34th degrees of north latitude and 50th degrees of south latitude, which include islands to the north of New Zealand.[3] At the time of his appointment, Selwyn was aware of this clerical error, but he chose not to point out the error.[3]

His letters and journals of these journeys through Melanesia present the reader with a vivid picture of his versatility, courage, and energy. In 1849 he formed the Melanesian Mission to work in the Western Pacific.[4][5][6]

The Undine, a small 21-ton schooner, serviced the mission from 1849 to 1857. In 1854, Selwyn commissioned the construction of a 100-ton schooner, the Southern Cross[7][8][9] to service the mission and enlisted John Coleridge Patteson to lead the mission. His voyages and the administrative work resulted in 1861 in the consecration of Patteson as the first Bishop of Melanesia.

Bishop Patteson Memorial Church (St Barnabas), Norfolk Island in 1908

In 1867, the Mission established St Barnabas College on Norfolk Island, as a church and training centre for missionaries.[6] The Melanesian Mission established an administrative centre on Mota island in the Banks Islands (now part of Vanuatu) and the Mota language became the lingua franca of the mission.[6]

Members of the mission
See also: Archbishop of Melanesia

The missionaries included:

Current activities

Today it continues to provide financial and staffing support for the Anglican Church of Melanesia, an independent province of the Anglican Communion.[18] Its headquarters are in Feniton, Devon.[19]

References
  1. Official website
  2. Limbrick, Warren E. (1990). "Selwyn, George Augustus". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  3. Boreham, Frank W. (1911). George Augustus Selwyn: Pioneer Bishop of New Zealand. p. 44.
  4. Project Canterbury
  5. Correspondence and photographs of the Melanesian Mission dating from 1872 are held by SOAS Archives.
  6. Lawrence, David Russell (October 2014). "Chapter 5 Liberalism, Imperialism and colonial expansion" (PDF). The Naturalist and his "Beautiful Islands": Charles Morris Woodford in the Western Pacific. ANU Press. pp. 142–146. ISBN 9781925022032.
  7. Historical resources on Anglicanism in Oceania
  8. "The History of the Melanesian Mission" Armstrong,E.S. London Isbister & Co, 1900
  9. God's Gentlemen: A History of the Melanesian Mission 1849-1942 Hilliard D: Australia], University of Queensland Press, 1978 ISBN 0702210668
  10. Wikimedia commons
  11. Blain's Biographical Directory
  12. "Blain Biographical Directory of Anglican clergy in the South Pacific" (PDF). 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  13. God's Gentlemen: A History of the Melanesian Mission 1849-1942 Hilliard, D: Australia, University of Queensland Press, 1978
  14. London Gazette
  15. RUDGARD, Ven. Richard Cuthbert’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 accessed 7 Oct 2017
  16. Ecclesiastical News. The Times (London, England), Wednesday, Apr 30, 1958; pg. 12; Issue 54138 1971
  17. Church news The Times (London, England), Thursday, Mar 04, 1971; pg. 16; Issue 58113
  18. Melanesian Messenger Online
  19. bizd
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