The Life of Agnes Murdoch

By R. W. Robson

nOR years, I had sought the full story V of the interesting life of George Murdoch: and I am very glad that lommander Burrows has supplied it. It 5 fitting now that' it shoud be ounded off with the story of Murdoch’s aughter, Agnes.

When I was in the Gilberts, doing an ntelligence job, in September, 1941, I r as ashore for a little while on Abemama; nd there ;i met (and photographed) .gnes Murdoch, her two sons and Cap

tain “Jimmie” Smith, last of the old tiaders of the Bully Hayes era. The lad on the left of the photograph, and who married the daughter of Captain Smith, became the “king” of Abemama, and probably still holds that office. I think that Agnes Murdoch is still alive. Here is her story, exactly as I wrote it in 1941: For long years, Mr. G. M. Murdoch, an educated Englishman, was an adminis trative officer m the service of the Gil bert and Ellice Islands Colony. He was stationed mostly at Tarawa. He married a Gilbertese girl, and had several child ren.

Through his wife, he acquired substan tial land interests in Kuria, as a trader and planter. He lived strictly according to European standards, and insisted that his children be properly educated.

Of one daughter, Agnes, he was es pecially fond —she was good-looking, vivacious and intelligent. So he sent her to San Francisco, to be educated.

When she returned, she was a slim and attractive young girl, with plenty of poise, and a full-bodied American accent. She should have married a European, but European men were not plentiful in the equatorial islands in those days. She married, instead, a son of the king of Abemama. .Readers of Islands romances will find plenty about Abemama and its “royal family” in Stevenson’s book. The Abe mama kings were ferocious warriors, and, when Britain took over the group, they held all Abemama, and the neighbouring islands of Kuria and Aranuka, in sub jection.

Agnes Murdoch now is an elderly woman. Briefly, while a boat waited to take me back to the ship through a menacing surf, I interviewed her at her

home in Abemama, not one hundred yards from the spot where Stevenson lived, during his sojourn there. She still is slim, and straight and distinctive, with a charming voice and an American accent; and, in spite of her isolation, she can talk interestingly of people and affairs.

She has two handsome sons;—and, in this picture (see page 60 of this issue) she is seen between the two of them. When the old king died, Agnes Murdoch’s brother-in-law became king; and now he is dead, and Agnes Murdoch’s elder son

(seen in the photograph) has taken his place, as paramount chief. These boys have been educated. The elder has married the daughter of Captain “Jimmie”

Smith, a well-known Abemama resident, who married a Gilbertese woman.

The Rev. James Edwards, of the Melan esian Mission was in New Zealand on furlough in June. He has served in the Solomon Islands mission field for 19 years.