PORT MORESBY & SOUTHERN NEW GUINEA MARTYRS OF 1942

PORT MORESBY & SOUTHERN NEW GUINEA MARTYRS


1. Leslie GARIADI (new Guinea national)

Leslie Gariadi, Papuan Evangelist (from Boianai), assisting the Revd. Henry Matthews at Port Moresby. He trained at St. Aidan's College



2. The Revd. Henry MATTHEWS from Moyston, Victoria Age 66



Henry Matthews was born in Moyston, also famous as the birthplace of Australian Rules Football. Henry Matthews was the eldest son, and third child of Cornishman, William Henry Matthews, originally of Sancreed, Penzance, Cornwall, and the wife he married in 1873 on the Goldfields of Victoria, Australia, Sarah Warren, born in Hertfordshire, England. Henry was one of a big family. He had four sisters and four brother born in Moyston or the Ararat goldfields of Victoria, Australia.

By 1908 Henry Matthews was the Superintendant of the Trubanaman Mission Station at Topsy Creek, on the Mitchell River, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia.

The Revd. Henry Matthews, Priest at Moresby. Although over 60 years of age, he refused to leave Papua when war came. When his military Chaplaincy was terminated because of his age he received the Bishop's permission to move to Dogura, but first wished to visit Darn and give ministrations to isolated Christians there, and was killed en route. He was born at Ararat, Victoria.



Born: 26 March 1876 in Moyston, nr Ararat, Victoria, Australia

Father: William Henry MATTHEWS (1845 – 1903) born Penzance, Cornwall; Died: Ararat
Mother: Sarah WARREN (1853 – 1937) born: Hertfordshore, Eng. Died: Ararat, Victoria
Cultural Influence: Cornish, Home Counties English, Goldfields Victoria
Christianity: Anglican
Early Occupation: Miner

Training:
Ordination:
First Mission: Trubanaman Mission Station


Last Mission Mission: Port Moresby to Daru, New Guinea




On the 14th September 1910 Henry Matthews was married to Mission Teacher, Martha Ann Pick, at the Trubanaman Mission Station, Topsy Creek, Mitchell River, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia - by the Rev. E.J. NASH, sub-dean of Quetta Memorial Cathedral, Thursday Island, Queensland. Martha Ann Matthews was sixteen years his senior, and unfortunately, did not provide companionship for him for very long, as she died in Sydney, NSW in 1913.

Marriage: 14 September 1910
Wife: Martha Ann PICK (1861 Sydney NSW – 1913 Sydney, NSW)


He served at Trubanaman Mission Station, on Cape York Peninsula until at least 1920.

In 1925 he was the Clergyman at the Rectory, in Cooktown, Queensland, Australia.

A.B.M. Review, September 1st, 1942.

It is with great sorrow that we have received the news that the Rev. H. Matthews has been reported "Missing, believed killed or drowned."

In all the Rev. H. Matthews gave 33 years of his life to active missionary service, 18 years at the Mitchell River Mission as Superintendent, and subsequently as Chaplain, and 15 years at Port Moresby as Vicar and, since 1939, as Garrison Chaplain.

A.B.M. Review, October 1st, 1942.

As the Japanese penetrate further into Papua our anxieties about our missionaries in the North of the Diocese of New Guinea increase. Towards the end of August rumours were reaching us that the Rev. Henry Matthews had lost his life, and this was confirmed later by the Bishop, who reported that he was missing and presumed killed or drowned. We are still not sure of the facts, but it looks as if Mr. Matthews [49/50] was on a boat on which half-castes were being removed to another locality, and that in an attack from a Japanese submarine his life was lost. From : - SOUTH SEA EPIC - by Ruth HENRICH

Death: 7 August 1942 between Port Moresby and Daru, Papua, New Guinea
Burial: At Sea, Papua, New Guinea

Legacy:

Memorial: