School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemPresbyterian missionaries to the New Hebrides, 1848-1920: a study particularly of mission families( 1977-06)Between 1848 and 1920, sixty two ordained Presbyterian ministers drawn from Scotland, British North America, and the Australasian colonies were commissioned as missionaries to the New Hebrides. Though there was a considerable turnover, one half served less than ten years, a significant proportion, one third, served twenty years or more, and the average length of service was fourteen years. This thesis has as its subject the mission community established by these men, all but two of them married; a community in marginal contact with an alien culture, considered in comparison with their own culture to be degenerate. The mission community had as its fundamental purpose the regeneration of the heather through Christianisation. Attention will be given to the manner as well as the decisions of church government; to the family nature of the mission with particular emphasis on family concepts through a study of mission homes, wives and children; to the suffering endured and finally to quite obvious changes brought about in native life through the work of the mission community. As an introduction, this preface will outline the motivation of the missionaries, the geographical and cultural environment of the new Hebrides, as well as present a review of historical accounts and discussion of source materials available. Finally reasons for the time span chosen will be stated. It was argued by those Protestants, such as Moderate Calvinists, who believed in the doctrine of universal atonement, the South Seas had been discovered through the Providence of God. It could be argued that there was an obligation to take the Gospel to the perishing heathen.1 Scottish and British North American Presbyterian churches, divided even though they were, both Reformed and Free were persuaded by men such as John Geddie to support missions to the heathen, though there was still a significant opposition to such activity, often on the grounds of greater need at home than on specific doctrinal grounds. (For complete preface open document)
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ItemThe Aboriginal response to white settlement in the Port Phillip district, 1835-1850( 1979)The nature of the Aboriginal response to Europeans in the first years of the settlement in the Port Phillip District has not been sufficiently investigated by historians. We know very little of the ways Aborigines perceived whites. This is not merely because few European contemporaries were interested to record the attitudes of blacks towards whites, but also because this lack of interest has been continued, and has influenced historians to direct study to other fields. Recently, however, works relating to interracial relations in other states have guided the search for understanding the past from the Aboriginal point of view - the 'other side of the frontier'. There are many issues and interests that have sparked this search, and probably the one most important motivation for this has been the ascendancy of black leaders who have offered their version of the past. Perhaps because of this, historical study has concentrated on interracial tensions in the early years of European-Aboriginal contact. However, in Victoria, the Aboriginal response to whites entailed peaceful adaptation and cultural resistance. Aborigines did not instantly recognize Europeans as enemies, and traditional foes were still hated and feared, far more than the newcomers. These traditional foes were Aborigines of hostile or unknown tribes. In this study, I have also been concerned to explain the dramatic population decline among the Aborigines in the years to 1850, as this, also, resulted from Aboriginal responses to whites. White settlement caused disease, depression, increased intertribal warfare, as well as interracial violence. Conflict between blacks and whites was only a minor factor in this depopulation, and it was not recognized as a cause by the Aborigines. According to them, intertribal hostility was the most immediate cause of death; but the white occupation of Victoria must be seen as the cause of the despair that led Aborigines to dispose of their newly-born children rather than raise families. Death, disease and infant mortality worked together to halve the Aboriginal population in the fifteen years to 1850; death and despair later led to the destruction of much of the Aboriginal cultural heritage and social cohesion. I have attempted to reconstruct the nature of Aboriginal population, society and culture at the time of first white settlement, in order to review the extent of change introduced by whites. Although the population dramatically changed in size and distribution, many of the social rules and religious beliefs of the Aborigines were maintained and some were possibly strengthened. This was a magnificent achievement given the pressure and degree of white influence. Most Aborigines peacefully rejected white values, maintaining their own beliefs, and changing only those aspects of their culture which did not intimidate their conceptions of the world. Few Aborigines adopted white values in the period to 1850, although in later years the reduced and disintegrated population came to accept many European principles, having lost many of their own. Whites were recognized as cultural enemies, and for the most part, white ways of thinking were rejected; but the Port Phillip District Aborigines did not regard whites as mortal enemies, for they were only hostile towards few whites, and directed their hatred towards those Aborigines who were strangers to them. For this reason, the Aboriginal resistance offered to whites was predominantly peaceful, a battle of the mind and not of the body.