PACIFIC ISLAND CULTURE & SOCIETY
This project will be of great interest to all those interested in Pacific Studies, Polynesian Culture and the relationship between the West and the indigenous peoples of Oceania.
George Brown(1835-1917), Methodist missionary, friend of Robert Louis Stevenson and regular correspondent of the Zoological Society of London, was a privileged observer, writing clearly and in great detail concerning the many Polynesian islands that he visited.
From 1860 to 1873 he was resident in Samoa, learning the language and recording whatever he could of Samoan culture. As with his later mission stations, he showed realempathy toward the indigenous peoples, regarding them as friends, and spent much of his time exploring the interior of Savai'i and the surrounding islands.
From 1877 to 1881 he was a pioneer missionary in New Britain, New Ireland, and the AdmiraltyIslands - part of the Bismarck Archipelago, which now forms part of Papua New Guinea. He was present at the time of the murder of a Fijian missionary and three teachers in 1878 and agreed to the reprisals which caused a furore in the Australasian press (the Blanche Bay affair). His scientific work increased during this period and many critics claimed that he was more interested in naming insects than saving souls - but when he left, there were 29 missionstations in the territory.
From 1887 to1908 he was General Secretary of the Wesleyan Board of Missions and travelled extensively to Tonga (1888-1891, as Special Commissioner), Port Moresby, New Guinea (1890 and following), the Solomon Islands (1901-02), and many otherislands.
He left behinda magnificent record of his life and work and these papers are now held at the Mitchell Library at the State Library of New South Wales.
There are tensubstantial volumes of journals providing a first hand account of his missionary experiences, 1860-1871, 1874-1880, 1888-1890 and 1897. These start in November 1860 when he and his wife Lydia arrive in Samoa and Brown announces hisintentions:
"Having decided that I ought to do justice to myself and the Missionary Society by whom I am sent out [I decided] to keep some record of any events which maytake place during my stay. I think it best to commence by a short outline ofour proceedings since we said farewell to our kind friends in Auckland andstarted on our journey to this place."
The journals proceed with a detailed account of life on the Pacific Islands, revealing hisinterest in landscape, folk tales and local beliefs. The diaries are full of detailed observations. For instance, in 1864 he writes:
"There are many plants and trees inland that the Natives do not know at all. One which I found near the mountain but did not see anywhere else is very beautiful indeed - it has a large white flower and looks very pretty amongst all the black stones. I was very much struck with the evident marks of the goodness and wisdom of God manifested in the wise provision He makes for supplying the wants of people. On the Beach the Cocoa Nut supplies drink for all, but here there are none and butlittle water. However there is an abundance of a species of vine... and we had only to cut one with a knife then put the severed end to the mouth, make another division a little higher up to serve as a vent and then drink as fast aspossible. From a piece about 18 inches long about a tumbler full of fine clearwater can easily be obtained."
There are descriptions of the idyllic lifestyle on Savai'i, a fertile and mountainous island dominated by Mt Silisili and well provided with coconuts, bananas, breadfruit trees and pigs, where people fashioned clothing from bark-cloth and matting from the coconut trees. There is also an account of a brutal battle inthe town of Satupa'itea which forced the relocation of many survivors.
Supplementing the journals are seven letter books spanning 1865-1880, 1886-1890, and 1902-1909. These cover the whole range of his concerns from his interest inaboriginal rights to his involvement in the 18886 Indian and Colonial Exhibition. Correspondents include R H Codrington, Lorimer Fison, Sir James Frazer, Ferdinand von Mueller and Edward Tylor.
There are a further fifteen volumes of miscellaneous volumes of correspondence and papers including: Tongan Papers, 1842, 1881-1892; Letters from natives, 1870-1916; Scientific and ethnological papers, 1877-1917; Papers regarding Polynesian and Melanesian languages, 1882-1895; Penisimani - Samoan stories collected and partly translated by Brown, 1861-1870; and notebooks.
Brown was also a keen photographer and we include 1,287 photographs of the region and its inhabitants taken and collected by him when he returned to the islands in the 1880s to document life in Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Samoa.
We have also chosen to include both a final printed copy of his autobiography (1908) and the original manuscript of the same. In many cases, the manuscript copy provides a fuller account. Finally, we include an additional volume of letters, 1872-1916, a volume of anthropological notes and queries concerning the Pacific islands, 1879-1917, and an unattributed volume of South Seas reminiscences
Samoa is often called the Heart of Polynesia because, more than any other island, it has retained traditions and maintained its cultural heritage. The manuscript and photographic records of the Reverend George Brown enable us to see Pacific island culture as it was in the second half of the nineteenthcentury.
|
| 
| 
