Rev. H. Matthews

Well-loved Port Moresby Rector Missing Through Enemy Action

RESIDENTS of Papua will learn with deep regret of the death of the Rev.

H. Matthews, well-known and highly-esteemed Rector of St. John’s, Port Moresby, during the past 14 years.

Prior to his appointment to Port Moresby in 1928, Mr. Matthews was superintendent of the Mitchell River Mission. He was . ordained there in 1919, and in 1924 he was appointed Rec tor at Cooktown, Queensland, where he remained until he and his family were sent to Papua. Here he endeared him self to every section of the community and (to quote an ex-Port Moresby resi dent) “he lived up to the best traditions of bush missionaries—a great chap.”

He did much for the Australian sol diers stationed in the town in recent years; and, after the Japanese invasion of New Guinea and the evacuation of all civilians from the Territories, he became senior chaplain to the Forces.

Mr. Matthews was acting in this capa city when he met his death. The head quarters of the Anglican Mission in Syd ney were informed by the military authorities, on August 13, that he was “missing, presumed drowned,”

He was transferring a party of half castes from Port Moresby to another station down the coast when the small trading vessel on which they were travelling was sunk by enemy action, and, of the whole party, only a half-caste reached land.

He leaves one son, who is serving in the Forces in Papua, and three daugh ters. One daughter married Mr. Jack Frame, son of the manager of the BNG Trading Company, just before the Pacific war.

It will be remembered that the late Mrs. Matthews met a tragic death from electrocution some 18 months ago, when, due to some fault in the wiring of the Port Moresby Rectory, a clothes line became electrified.