Daniel MACDONALD

MACDONALD, DANIEL (b. Alloa, Scotland 4 Mar 1846, d. St Kilda, Vic, 18 Apr 1927). First Australian-trained Presbyterian missionary to the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), translator, linguist, writer.

Daniel Macdonald migrated to Ballarat and later studied at the Presbyterian Theological Hall, Melbourne. He was licensed in Nov 1871 and ordained Melbourne 15 Mar 1872. He proceeded as a missionary to the New Hebrides by the Dayspring in April that year and m. Elizabeth Keir Geddie (b. Aneityum, 1849, d. St Kilda, Vic, 8 Feb 1945) on Aneityum on 4 May. The Macdonald's were the first European missionaries at Havannah Harbour, W Efate from June 1872. Macdonald was 193cm tall, and had a hearty laugh.

Teachers of LMS had worked at Havannah Harbour off and on since 1846. It was then the centre of the trading and labour traffic in Vanuatu and Macdonald had a ministry to the people involved. In 1877 he published in Melbourne The Labour Traffic versus Christianity in the South Seas. A church was formed from first converts on 22 Aug 1875, but there were many set-backs. The chief of nearby Lelepa Island boasted that he would kill Macdonald as he killed the Samoans in 1853: he later became a Christian leader. In 1887 adult baptisms reached 140 and new communicants 110. By 1889 worshippers numbered 650 and communicants 347. Shrinking inland tribes moved to the coast for survival and came under Macdonald's influence. Conflict with P Milne of Nguna over the use of Supe for 'God' in his translations led to rivalry in opening up nearby islands to the gospel. Macdonald was guided by Geddie's indigenous principles and trained his own teachers from the first converts. They were sent out as evangelists as far as Santo and assisted newly settled missionaries. Political conflict erupted with the French military occupation of Havannah Harbour in 1886. The Mission believed that Macdonald's swift response saved the islands from French annexation. He translated, with J W Mackenzie of S Efate the NT in two dialects in 1889; and the OT in 1908 in three dialects, in conjunction with Mackenzie and Milne.

Linguistic studies absorbed him. He espoused the theory of the Semitic origin of the Oceanic languages. He received a DD (1895) from McGill University. He was moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Vic in 1896. He retired after thirty-four years to Melbourne in 1905 where he continued his philological writings and took up the cause of Scripture against Higher Criticism. He served as an AIF chaplain in 1916 on troop transports. 'He was a fearless defender of the natives against wrong and spoliation'. (Mem Min Vic Gen Assembly, 1927.)

J G Miller, Live. A History of Church Planting in Vanuatu, 11, V (1981, 1987); Unpublished Diary, 1875-1882, Mitchell Library, Sydney

SELECT WRITINGS: The Labour Traffic versus Christianity in the South Seas (Melbourne, 1877); Oceania, Linguistic and Anthropological (Melbourne, and London 1889); The Asiatic Origin of the Oceanic Languages (Melbourne, 1894); The Oceanic Languages (London, 1907); Truth versus Myths or Our Bible Vindicated (Melbourne, 1926)

J GRAHAM MILLER