Donald Morrison (5 July 1828 – 23 October 1869) was a Presbyterian missionary from

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

to the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

(now known as

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

). He was born and grew up in Cape Breton, and went to the New Hebrides in 1864, serving on the island of Efate. He translated the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to h ...

into the Erakor dialect of Efate. This was printed in Sydney in 1866, making it the first book printed in any dialect of Efate. In 1869, Morrison left the New Hebrides due to ill health, and died in Auckland. His daughter was headmistress Annie Christina Morrison. His son Alexander Samuel Morrison was a minister in Rakaia, New Zealand and died in 1939.

J. Graham Miller John Graham Miller (8 October 1913 – 6 September 2008) was a New Zealand-Australian pastor and missionary. Miller was born in Rangiora, New Zealand and studied at the University of Otago and Knox College, Otago. He served as a missionary in th ...

suggests that Morrison was "fearless among the heathen, gentle among the Christians, and at all times a humble servant of the Master." Miller notes that the Efatese people honour him as the first

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an missionary to their island, and that Morrison is a popular name for boys among Efatese-speaking people.

, ''Live, Volume 2'', pp. 78-79.

References

1820s births 1869 deaths Canadian Presbyterian missionaries Presbyterian missionaries in Vanuatu Translators of the Bible into Oceanic languages People from Cape Breton Island 19th-century translators Canadian expatriates in Vanuatu Missionary linguists {{Vanuatu-bio-stub