Catholic and Methodist missionaries in the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea, 1930-80
Date
1999
Authors
Mackay, Ross
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This thesis is divided into four sections. The first focuses on the missionaries:
who they were, the leaders under whom they worked, and how their labours succeeded.
All white missionaries (except for a relative few in the Methodist Mission after 1968)
were Australian, the Methodists predominantly middle class, the Catholics mostly from
working class backgrounds. They brought with them aspects of the sectarian divide of
their homeland. The period up to the mid-sixties was a time ofpo1arised and acrimonious
sectarian division in Australia. Doctrines of papal infallibility and the sinlessness of Mary
horrified many Protestants, and the foundational debate ofthe primacy of Scripture over
that of the Church ensured a high level of argument and debate. While these debates did
not take place among the missionaries in Papua, relations between the competing
missionaries reflected the fact there was little fratemisation and dialogue, though there
was no outright hostility or physical confrontation. When there was a problem it was
usually a personality clash between individuals. The nature and details of the sectarian
divide are dealt with in chapter one, as is the major political issue of separate spheres of
influence.
The second section examines the Catholic and Methodist Missions irom 1930 up
to, and including what was the most serious issue they faced, the evacuation of the white
missionaries in January 1942. This decade was the period of establishment of the
Catholic Mission, and of growing conservatism, reflected in the leadership, in the
Methodist work. A chapter is devoted to the events that created the evacuation
controversy and what happened among the Papuan people when the missionaries
departed, including why the Methodists left behind their Pacific Island colleagues.
The third section takes up the story from when the missionaries returned in 1945
up until 1980. For the Catholics these were years of expansion into new areas as the
hindrance of' spheres of influence' broke down. The progress from a small, struggling
church to one that, by the mid-fifties, had spread across the whole province are
examined as is the important organisational changes that took place until this mission
became part of a national church. As well, it was a period in which the directions they
had spent so long in setting were sorely tested, especially their emphasis on school education. In the Methodist Mission the post-war period began with entrenched
conservatism but, in the space of a couple of years in the mid-sixties, underwent such
a powerful period of change that, by 1970, they were a truly national church with
independence in an absolute sense. Rapid strides to an autonomous, independent
church are analysed as are the factors that had held the process back for so long.
The fourth section deals with Papuan responses to the missionaries' efforts.
Cultural effects, both in the area of traditional beliefs in marriage and magic as well as
millenarian movements, are examined in two different chapters. The other two chapters
look at the responses through the 'outward' contributions of education, medical and
technical services with the final chapter looking at the 'inward' responses as seen in
'ownership' of the missions and their messages as measured by attendances at worship
and the development oflocalleaders. The conclusion claims the self-evidence of certain
facts: that Christianity is a deep and permanent factor in the lives of these people and
that the Methodist/United Church is the preferred church by the great majority for one
main reason: it was the first to be there and the experience of the people was sufficiently
positive for there to be no reason to change allegiance when the Catholics arrived. At
the same time, it is acknowledged the Catholic Church is also a permanent and welcome
institution in the lives of the Massim people.
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