The Reverend John Smithies (1802–1872) was a

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

Methodist missionary who served in

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, and

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

Early days

Born in Yorkshire, Smithies was living in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

in 1827 when he was received into the Methodist ministry. In 1828 the Wesleyan Missionary Society appointed him as a missionary to Newfoundland where he spent nine years. In 1832 he was married to Hannah, his fiancée from England who assisted him in his work of "visiting the sick, leading classes and prayer meetings, as well as conducting the school".McNair, William and Rumney, Hillary. ''Pioneer Aboriginal Mission: The Work of Wesleyan Missionary John Smithies in the Swan River Colony 1840-1855'', University of Western Australia Press, 1981. . In 1837, following sectarian tensions on the island, he returned to England for two years, including 12 months in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

Western Australia

He was assigned to Western Australia in 1839 and, aboard the ''Prima Donna'', landed near

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

on 22 June 1840 with his wife and four children, one of whom had been born at sea two weeks earlier. He was immediately introduced to an established fellow missionary,

Francis Armstrong Francis Fraser Armstrong (1813–1897) was a Scottish Methodist pioneer of the Swan River Colony who befriended and recorded the language of the Nyungar people in Western Australia. His father Adam Armstrong, was a well known early settler of We ...

. Smithies' double mandate was "the pastoral care of colonists and the Christianization of the Aborigines". Smithies established a mission near what is now

Wanneroo Wanneroo is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Wanneroo. Geography As it is on the Swan Coastal Plain, the Wanneroo wetlands stretch parallel to the coastline and to the north and south of the suburb. Education W ...

in July 1840. The "Perth Native School" was announced with an advertisement in the Inquirer on 18 August 1841, including the Board of Management and the Rules and Regulations. By 1847, Smithies decided that

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

would be a better site for a Native Mission than Wanneroo. In 1851, an application was made to Governor Fitzgerald for of good wheat land at York (some kilometres to the north on east side of the Avon River) “to be held for the improvement of the Natives for ever”. There was a proviso that if there were no Aboriginals present, the land was to revert to the government. Smithies wrote on 26 September 1851 that eight Aboriginals and one white man had travelled to York from Wanneroo with a bullock team, a journey which had taken three days. The party set up tents and cleared of ground at the selected farm location ready for planting the next year. The mission was to be called Gerald Mission in honour of the Governor. The purpose of the mission was to train Aboriginal children in farm work.Collins, Doris, The Establishment of Methodism in York, Balaardong, No 3, 2002, The York Society. On 13 November 1850, Smithies and his wife visited Eliza Brown, wife of Thomas Brown, at Grass Dale near York, and in one of her letters to her father, she said of Smithies: "S sat fast asleep in his chair nearly all the time of this polite visit." In 1853, the Government granted the Mission land for the Mission, and a salary of £100 a year for Smithies. A further were granted in the York townsite on which to build a schoolroom, a chapel and a Manse and provide Glebe lands. The Mission was even given a right of commonage, a right to graze sheep, in the township, over an area of on which to run “thirty horned cattle”. This was opposed by engineer Solomon Cook who was in the process of constructing his mill in the town. So much time and labour was spent on clearing of land and the construction of buildings, and with Rev Smithies often unavoidably away and with few others helping him, the Aboriginal children drifted away from the mission school and the mission failed. The Protector of Natives in York,

Walkinshaw Cowan Walkinshaw Cowan (25 December 180822 January 1888) was private secretary to Western Australian Governors John Hutt, Andrew Clarke and Frederick Irwin, then in 1848 he became Guardian of Aborigines and a justice of the peace, and then resident m ...

blamed the loss of students from the mission school to "yearning" or "strong particularity" to their own districts but also due to high death rates from influenza at the institution.CSR 230, Cowan to Colonial Secretary 3 March 1852. In all, the Wesleyan church spent £12,000 on the missions to Aboriginals.

Van Diemen's Land

Smithies was transferred to

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...

(

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

) in 1855 and remained there until his death in 1872.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smithies, John 1802 births 1872 deaths Clergy from Yorkshire English Methodist missionaries English emigrants to colonial Australia Methodist missionaries in Canada Methodist missionaries in Australia Newfoundland Colony people Van Diemen's Land people