Thomas BAKER

BAKER, THOMAS (b. Playden, Sussex, England, 6 Feb 1832, d. Navoso, Fiji, 1867) Methodist missionary in Fiji.

Baker was 8 years old when he came to Australia. He was drawn to the Methodist church as a young man because of his love of singing. In April 1859 he was ordained and appointed to Fiji.

The people of Fiji in pre-Christian days were known and feared cannibals in certain areas. The gospel spread rapidly after the coming of the first Methodist missionaries William Cross and David Carghill in 1835. The Central Mountains of Viti Levu remained untouched by the gospel. Thomas Baker decided to take the gospel to these little known tribes. In 1867 he set out from Davuilevu with 9 Fijian helpers, but Baker and all bar two of his party were attacked, killed, dismembered and eaten. The killings, connected with local feuds and misunderstandings, left a deep mark of sorrow on the life of the whole church and stirred missionary interest among the Fijians themselves who have gone out on missionary service to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and even to the Aborigines of Arnhem Land. By 1874 when the great chief Cakombau ceded the Islands to Britain almost the whole group had accepted the Christian faith.

One of the most imposing buildings in Fiji is the Thomas Baker Memorial Hall. It is a large building with a tower standing on a great hall at Davuilevu, the Central Educational Headquarters of the Methodist Church in Fiji. It is a landmark for all to see on the drive from Suva the capital, twelve miles out to the airport at Nausori, and a noble memorial to a faithful missionary.

A H Wood, Overseas Missions of the Australian Methodist Church, Vol 11 (Melbourne, 1978)

CECIL GRIBBLE