Mary Reed of Australia and the China Inland Mission

Abstract

Mary Reed was the first Australian missionary of the China Inland Mission. She was a wealthy woman in her own right (See paper on Henry Reed of Tasmania). She was well-educated, and deeply committed evangelical Protestant Christian. She was a friend of Geraldine Guinness with whom she first travelled to China. Although she made two attempts at missionary service she found it impossible to remain in China, due to acute asthma, to live in China, Upon her return to Australia she became the Tasmanian organiser for the CIM. She made an unhappy marriage to Frederick Fysh. Her son, Hudson Fysh, a World War I military pilot, was one of the founders of Qantas Airways Ltd.