The George Brown Collection: Pacific, second half 19th century

Brief description

A collection of Pacific island artefacts and photographs including 142 spears and over 900 glass plates negatives collected by the Rev Dr George Brown primarily during his missionary service from 1888 to 1905.

Full description

In 1883 Rev Dr George Brown sold the Australian Museum 142 spears from New Ireland. Between 1895 and 1904 he donated a further 17 Pacific island artefacts to the museum, mostly from Tonga, Samoa and the Solomon Islands.

In 1931 the Australian Museum acquired the George Brown photographic collection of over 900 glass plate negatives taken by Brown during his work for the Methodist Mission in the Pacific between 1875 and 1905. Most of the photographs date from George Brown’s visits to Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea from 1888 to 1905, with the exception of an earlier set of New Britain images taken between 1876 and 1880.

George Brown (1835-1917) was born in England and migrated to New Zealand in 1855 where he joined the Methodist Society. In 1860 he was ordained in Sydney and for the next 14 years worked for the Methodist Mission in Samoa. He helped establish 29 mission stations and churches in New Britain and New Ireland. In 1888 he was appointed General Secretary of the Australian Methodist Mission, an office he held until 1908. His duties included seeking new locations for missions and visiting the established Methodist groups across the Pacific.