Reluctant Mission

The Anglican Church in Papua New Guinea 1891-1942

by David Wetherell

University of Queensland Press, 1977, [First Edition], b/w photographic plates, hardcover, dustjacket, ISBN 0702214116

Very Good Condition, some rubbing to edges some edge and shelf wear to dustjacket

'The Anglican church had always been lukewarm about setting up missions and the Australian branch of the church in the 1890s was no exception.  The 186 Europeans and 46 Melanesians who worked as missionaries in north-eastern Papua were never to overcome the inertia of the home church; they were "maintained" rather than actively supported, with little encouragement or enthusiasm.  David Wetherell portrays the struggle of the Anglican men and women to set up the early mission stations.  He examines the hardships and deprivations they had to face, discusses their attitudes to traditional cultures, and examines the Papuan response to the social and political changes which began sweeping across the Pacific with the intrusion of the Western world.