“Personality” Of Dr. Lawes

Papua Honours Great L.M.S. Missionary Who Landed 60 Years Ago

From Our Own Correspondent.

Pt. Moresby, Nov. 26.

THE memory of a great man and a great missionary, was honoured on November 24, when Sir Hubert Murray, K.C.M.G., Lieutenant Governor of Papua, unveiled a memorial in honour of Rev. Dr. Lawes at Metoreia, the L.M.S. station at Port Moresby, before a large gathering of Europeans and natives.

The memorial stands high on a rise, off the harbour beach, on the site of the first Mission house occupied by Dr. Lawes and his wife when they first landed, 60 years ago, and commenced their courage ous work among the savage tribes. They were the only white residents on the whole of the island.

The simple inscription on the plinth of the monument, which is a dignified obelisk in grey granite mounted on a concrete foundation, stands out clearly for all to see, and to those who know what were the dangers and deprivations of life in Papua in the old days, there is food for deep thought in the rugged sim plicity of its wording: “On this site stood the house of the Rev. W. G. Lawes, of the L.M.S., the first white Missionary to settle in Papua. He landed on November 21, 1874.”

The Lieutenant Governor was escorted on his arrival at the Mission by Rev. C.

F. Rich, chairman of the London Mis sionary Society’s Papua Committee, through ranks of native boy scouts and girl guides, past a guard of honour of native armed constabulary, to an open space round the memorial, made gay with flags and bunting. His Excellency was accompanied by the Government Se cretary (Hon. H. W. Champion, C.B.E.), and the Official Secretary, (Hon. H. L.

Murray).

After a hymn had been sung by the native students of the Mission, Mr. Rich in an eloquent speech paid tributes to the work and sterling qualities of Dr. Lawes, to his courageous and wonderfully able wife and to the important part she played in the early years of the Mission.

“It was a great day,” he said, “in the history of the L.M.S., and a great day in the history of the Government, when on this spot 60 years ago, George Lawes and his wife landed as the first white missionaries to live in Papua. For it brought a man, greatly and honourably used in the annexation of the country and in its subsequent administration.

That the Government realised this was made clear by an Executive Council

minutes passed later and signed by the present Governor—Sir Hubert Murray— which read: That so distinguished and so successful a Christian pioneer should have laboured so long in this country and for the best part of his life we regard as

a distinct honour to be recorded in the earliest annals of this Territory.

“The name of Mrs. Lawes,” concluded Mr. Rich, “is not on the Memorial stone, but it was deeply graven in the minds and hearts of those who knew her. Ever ready to help both white and brown alike, she was as greatly loved by the natives as was ‘Misi’ himself (Dr. Lawes). Such were the pioneers whose memory we are honouring to-day, to whom this memorial has been erected.” Mr. Rich then called upon Sir Hubert Murray to unveil the memorial.

His Excellency replied that it gave him much personal satisfaction to be present

on this occasion. He considered it a great privilege to be asked to unveil the memorial to this great missionary, for like Mr, Rich, he had had the honour of knowing him personally.

“I had the good fortune,” said His Ex cellency, “a good fortune which I think was denied to most of those to whom I am speaking, of a personal acquaintance with the great man whose memory we are celebrating. When I first came to Papua—or British New Guinea, as it was called in those far off days—Dr. Dawes was still officiating; and I remember that I stayed a night with him at Vatorata in the company of another old and valued friend of mine who has recently left us, Rev. Mr. Saville.

“Dr. Dawes was a man whose presence and appearance would impress anyone.

He was one of those very exceptional men whom one meets occasionally who carry with them an air of natural dig nity which no one could fail to recognise.

It is comparatively easy to appear dig nified and impressive when surrounded with the paraphernalia of pomp and cir cumstance, but Dr. Dawes required no adventitious aid, his dignity was insepar able from his personality; and when I met him at Vatorata I should have real ised that I was in the presence of a great man even if I had known nothing of his history. And, as in the case with all really great men, his kindness and Sim

plicity were equal to his dignity.”

Sir Hubert then spoke of Lawes' great work; how he, with his devoted wife and his famous companion, Chalmers, suc ceeded in spreading Christianity in what was then a heathen land, among a race of men who were looked upon—very un justly as it turned out—as impatient of civilisation and incapable of assimilating the truths of religion. ‘‘Some of the earlier missionaries,” Sir Hubert continued, “have been criticised on the ground that they tried to turn their converts into inferior imitations of white men. Whether or not that criti cism was justified I cannot say. But I can say that it certainly did not apply to Dr. Dawes. He never tried to turn the Papuan into a poor white; he realised that the Papuan must remain a Papuan, but that he must be made into a Chris tian Papuan, a civilised Papuan, and a better man than he could ever be if he were left alone. How completely he suc ceeded is obvious to us all in Papua to-day.”

After the unveiling the Poreporena mission choir sang “Send Out Thy Light,” and the secretary of the Mission, Rev. H. J. Short, read congratu latory radios from abroad.

Remarkable in the proceedings was a speech made by Vagi Daure, an old native of Hanua bada, who was present at the landing of Lawes, 60 years ago. He remembered well as a small boy, he said, standing on the sea shore, one of a crowd of excited natives, who watched the mis sionary arrive. And he also remembered hearing suggestions by some that the white man should be killed. But the older men said “No; let us wait and see what he will do.”

Councils of caution prevailed, and Lawes was allowed to land unharmed, though excitement ran high, for there were those who would have killed him for the goods he brought—knives, axes and calico, which filled them with astonishment. But little by little the force of the white man’s per sonality made itself felt, and before long all talk of killing him ceased.

Vagi Daure remarked how grateful the natives were in his village for the benefits received from both the Government and the Mission; bene fits which they traced back to Dr. Lawes —their first missionary.

At the close of the ceremony, the visitors witnessed a dramatised re-enactment of the land ing of Dr. Lawes, carried out by natives. On the foreshore, looking across the harbour they watched a dingy, manned by Papuans dressed to resemble Dr. Lawes and sailors of the Mission Schooner “John Williams,” put off from a vessel anchored in the harbour. Decorated canoes, manned by large numbers of excited natives, pushed off from the beach and paddled swiftly to meet the dinghy as it drew nearer to the shore. As they reached it, they circled around, yelling wildly, and splashing the water loudly with their paddles.

Eventually, after calming the natives, “Dr.

Lawes and his crew” landed on the beach. They were surrounded, but pushed their way manfully through the fierce-looking crowd up the rise, until in triumph they reached the spot where stood the newly-erected monument.

The pageant was carried out remarkably well, and the realistic effect was not lost on those who knew the early history of Papua.