Margaret Reeson (née Higman) (born 1938)Margaret Reeson

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

catalogue, accessed 29 January 2010 is an Australian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

, and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, and prominent leader of the

Uniting Church in Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Uni ...

History

Reeson trained as a teacher, and began this career in 1957. She moved to

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

in 1961, working in the

Highlands as a teacher and

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

. She married Reverend Ron Reeson in 1966, at the time a minister of the

Methodist Church of Australasia The Methodist Church of Australasia was a Methodist denomination based in Australia. On 1 January 1902, five Methodist denominations in Australia – the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Primitive Methodists, the Bible Christian Church, the Unite ...

, and they continued as missionaries in PNG's

Southern Highlands Province Southern Highlands is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its provincial capital is the town of Mendi. According to Papua New Guinea's national 2011 census, the total population of Southern Highlands (after the separation of Hela Province) is 515,511 ...

. From this time came a deep feeling for the history of PNG and Australia's involvement in that land and its people, notably during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. At this time, she began her research and literary life with ''Torn between two worlds'' (1972), a book about the effect of Christianity on the native peoples of the Southern Highlands. On return to Australia in 1979, for Ron to take up ministry with the Central Belconnen Uniting Church in the

Belconnen The District of Belconnen () is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), used in land administration. The district is subdivided into 27 divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. The district of Belconn ...

area of Canberra,

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...

, Reeson commenced studies as an historian, and used her interest in PNG to research the stories of missionaries there during WW2. This work on the lives of Christian women has resulted in various published

biographies A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

biographical novel The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fict ...

s, and Australian social history books, and the award of a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

by research from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

.Margaret Reeson
, Australia's Christian Heritage National Forum, accessed 29 January 2010

Church leadership

Reeson had a de facto leadership role in churches and ministries where her husband was the minister and, from 1987, senior minister for the Presbytery of Canberra Region. However, she also undertook training as a Lay Preacher, and achieved recognition through active involvement in a number of church councils, working groups, Boards and task groups within the Uniting Church in Australia, notably its New South Wales Synod, and was appointed as Moderator of the Synod for the term 2000–2002.

Family

The Reesons have three adult children. Their daughter, Ruth Powell, is Director of the National Church Life Survey and a professor at the Australian Catholic University. Reeson's brother is Emeritus Professor Barry Higman, an historian with interests in historical geography and historical demography, with particular reference to Australia and the West Indies.Emeritus Professor Barry Higman

Published works

Reeson's published work includes: * ''Torn between two worlds'' (1972) - examines the effect of Christianity on native PNG peoples of the

Mendi Mendi, Papua New Guinea, is the provincial capital of the Southern Highlands Province. The Lai River flows by the town. It is served by Mendi Airport. The town falls under Mendi Urban LLG. Geography The town is located in the Mendi River V ...

region * ''Currency Lass'' (1985) -

biographical fiction When studying literature, biography and its relationship to literature is often a subject of literary criticism, and is treated in several different forms. Two scholarly approaches use biography or biographical approaches to the past as a tool for ...

based on the life of Mary Cover Lawry née Hassall(1799–1825) * ''Overseas missions of the Australian Methodist Church. Volume 5. Papua New Guinea highlands : a bridge is built : a story of the United Church in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea'' (1987), with A. Harold Wood * ''Certain Lives: the compelling story of the hope, tragedy and triumph of three generations of women'' (1987) - biographical fiction, based on the lives of New South Wales pioneers, Anna Rootes (1804–1888), Mary Playford (1840–1918), and Grace Higman (1875–1935) * ''No fixed address : the story of Noreen Towers and her friendship with Sydney's homeless'' (1991) - biography of Rev. Noreen Towers and her work with the Wesley Central Mission (Sydney, N.S.W.) * ''Whereabouts unknown'' (1993) - examines the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), wh ...

Lark Force at Rabaul and the loss of over 800

POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

with the sinking of the Japanese ship, ''

Montevideo Maru ''Montevideo Maru'' ( ja, もんてびでお丸) was a merchant ship of the Empire of Japan. Launched in 1926, it was pressed into service as a military transport during World War II. It was sunk by the American submarine on 1 July 1942, drown ...

'' * "Rev. Dr. George Brown 1835-1917: ‘one of the toughest morsels" (also dealing with his wife, Sarah Lydia Brown née Wallis); (paper), 1996Rev. Dr. George Brown 1835-1917: ‘one of the toughest morsels
; (paper), 2nd ANU Missionary History Conference; Asia-Pacific Missionaries: At Home and Abroad, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies,

, 1996 * ''A Singular Woman'' (1999) - a biographical novel on Mary Elizabeth Brown * ''Certain lives : the compelling story of the hope, tragedy and triumph of three generations of women'' (1999) * ''A Very Long War: The Families Who Waited'' (2000) - about the experiences of the families of men missing in the New Guinea Islands during World War 2 (based on her 1996 thesis, "A very long war: the experiences of the families of the missing men of the New Guinea islands, 1942-1945") * (2004), chapter; edited by Steven Bullard and Tamura Keiko

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeson, Margaret 1938 births Living people Australian women historians Australian historians Australian maritime historians Australian military historians Australian biographers Australian National University alumni Uniting Church in Australia people Australian Protestant religious leaders People from Canberra Australian women biographers Women military writers