Snaps from a Missionary’s Camera – John Harold Margetts

by Roy · September 13, 2020

John Harold Margetts was born at Higham, near Chester, England, on 17 May 1884. He studied for the ministry of the Methodist Church at Queen’s College, and came to Australia as a minister in 1910. In 1913 he went to German New Guinea as a Methodist Missionary and was stationed on Neu Pommern (New Britain). In 1914 he was given the additional role of Chaplain to the ANMEF (Australian Naval & Military Expedionary Force). He served for twenty-two years in German New Guinea and then, following the mandate given to Australia by the League of Nations at the end of WW1, the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, at several centres on New Britain and in the Duke of York Islands. He became fluent in the language of the Tolai, Kuanua or Tinata Tuna, which served as the main language of the Methodist Mission, and wrote a number of hymns in that language.

He was a devoted pastor and a man of gentle nature. In the late 1920s he was appointed Chairman of the District, but this administrative position, in which hard decisions had sometimes to be made or persons disciplined, did not suit his nature, and he was glad to return to pastoral work when another Chairman was available. When Rabaul’s indigenous workers went on strike for higher wages in 1929, they gathered at Catholic and Methodist Mission centres on the outskirts of Rabaul. Margetts listened sympathetically to those who gathered at the Methodist centre, Malakuna, and visited the Administrator’s office to plead for them not to be punished. He then advised the strikers to return to work; when they said they were afraid they would be beaten, he personally shepherded them back to their places of work in the town, again pleading for them to be treated leniently. For this, he was verbally attacked by many Australian residents, and his pleas were generally disregarded. It was said that “He wasn’t a very effective Chairman, but he was so kindhearted he wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Margetts died at Kabakada on 14 July 1935, and was buried in the European Cemetery, Rabaul. He was survived by his wife Adelaide, who returned to Australia.

(Our thanks to Rev. Neville Threlfall for the above information)

This is the front cover of a fairly dilapidated album containing 50 photos that were taken in and around New Britain in the early 1900's.

Hospital at Namanalu

Giant Fig tree in Rabaul Gardens

A very interesting photograph taken in July 1913. The ships at anchor represent part of the German East Asia Squadron under the command of Admiral Maximilian von Spee. In view of Rev Margetts caption 'Victims of Falkland Fight', the 4 funnelled Battle Cruisers could be the SMS Scharnhorst amd the SMS Gneisenau (victorious in the battle of Coronel near Chile [November 1914] but later lost in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December 1914). The 3 funnelled Light Cruiser could be the SMS Emden later sunk by HMAS Sydney at the Cocos/Keeling Islands in November 1914.

Another interesting photograph - the 3 masted Barque at anchor off the coal wharf could well be the James Craig (prior to 1905 known as the Clan MacLeod). This vessel was a 'storage hulk' with the British New Guinea Development Company (1911-18). She was later restored and is now berthed at the Sydney Maritime Museum

Mioko Island is in the Duke of York group of islands

The de Rays Expedition, was the third New Guinea expedition of Marquis de Rays, a French nobleman who attempted to start a colony in the South Pacific. The expedition attempted to establish a colony in a place the marquis called La Nouvelle France, or New France, which was the island now referred to as New Ireland in the Bismarck Archipelago of present day Papua New Guinea.[Wikipedia]