John Francis Goldie (1870 – 1955) founded the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

Mission in

New Georgia Islands The New Georgia Islands are part of the Western Province of Solomon Islands. They are located to the northwest of Guadalcanal. The larger islands are mountainous and covered in rain forest. The main islands are New Georgia, Vella Lavella, Kolom ...

, which are part of the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

. He was chairman of the Solomon Island District of the Methodist Mission from 1902 until his retirement in 1951. In 1897, he entered the Methodist ministry in Queensland, where he served as a pastor for five years. On 13 April 1901, he married Helena Teague in Queensland. In 1901 the Australian Government enacted the

Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 The Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 was an Act of the Parliament of Australia which was designed to facilitate the mass deportation of nearly all the Pacific Islanders (called "Kanakas") working in Australia, especially in the Queensland sugar ...

, the effect of which included the deportation of

Melanesian Melanesian is the adjectival form of Melanesia. It may refer to: * Melanesians * Melanesian mythology * Melanesian languages In linguistics, Melanesian is an obsolete term referring to the Austronesian languages of Melanesia: that is, the Oceani ...

labourers. In 1902 he travelled to

Roviana Roviana is a member of the North West Solomonic branch of Oceanic languages. It is spoken around Roviana and Vonavona lagoons at the north central New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. It has 10,000 first-language speakers and an additional 16,000 ...

in New Georgia, Solomon Islands with returning Solomon Islanders, including Sam Angarau. The Methodist Mission in New Georgia was established by the Rev. Goldie in 1902, along with S. R. Rooney and a lay missionary, J. R. Martin, who was a carpenter by trade. Goldie dominated the mission and gained the loyalty of Solomon Islander members of his church. Goldie was chairman of the Solomon Island District of the Australasian Methodist Missionary Society from 1902. He travelled through Western Solomon Islands in the two-masted mission

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

the ''Tandanya''. Goldie became a minister of the New Zealand Conference in 1922 when the

Methodist Church of New Zealand The Methodist Church of New Zealand ( mi, Te Hāhi Weteriana o Aotearoa) is a Methodist denomination headquartered in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is a member of the World Methodist Council. History The Methodist movement was started by John W ...

took over the Solomon Islands District and was the president of the New Zealand Conference in 1929. Dr. Edward Sayers worked at the Methodist mission from 1927 to 1934. He set up hospitals at Gizo, Munda and

Vella Lavella Vella Lavella is an island in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. It lies to the west of New Georgia, but is considered one of the New Georgia Group. To its west are the Treasury Islands. Environment The island of Vella Lavella is loc ...

in the Western Province. Goldie had a reputation for procrastination and an egocentric desire to be in control. His abrasive personality brought him into conflict with J. R. Metcalfe, another strong-willed missionary, who succeeded Goldie as chairman of the Methodist Mission in the Solomons in 1951. The relationship with the colonial administrators of the British Solomon Island Protectorate were also fraught with difficulty, at this time due to Goldie's effective control over the Western Solomon Islands. The witticism describing Goldie's fifty years in the Protectorate, was that in Western Solomon Islands, there were three 'Gs': in descending order of importance: Goldie, God and Government.

References

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldie, John Francis 1870 births 1955 deaths

Australian Methodist missionaries Methodist missionaries in the Solomon Islands Australian expatriates in the Solomon Islands