John MATHEW

MATHEW, JOHN (b. Aberdeen, Scotland, 31 May, 1849, d. Coburg, Vic, 11 March 1929). Presbyterian minister and anthropologist.

Mathew grew up in a middle class family whose father lost money in an investment and then died young. For a time he lived with his maternal grandmother at Insch and continued his schooling there. He was a pupil-teacher for a time, then was sent to Queensland to live with his uncle, John Mortimer (q.v.) in 1865. He worked on the sheep property, continued his education informally and went gold-digging at Ravenswood and Imbil. Next, he became a teacher, at Dalby and at the Brisbane Normal School, taking the exams and rising up the teaching hierarchy.

In 1876 he moved to Melbourne, where he matriculated and attended university (BA 1884, MA 1885), interspersed with work on a property near Geelong and followed by his theological education at Ormond College. He later obtained a BD by examination from the University of St Andrews. He came to the Theological Hall with a very conservative evangelical faith; he came away with his faith strengthened, but having embraced the higher criticism and evolution. In 1887 he was ordained and inducted to Ballan and married Wilhelmina Scott. Two years later, he was translated to Coburg in Melbourne where he remained until retirement in 1923. He was goal chaplain 1889-1913, and served on several school and college councils, including Ormond College (chairman 1910-26), PLC, Scotch College and Coburg High School. He published three volumes of poetry, and was prominent in the Australian Literature Society. He loved music and was a keen singer. He invented a system of shorthand. He carried on voluminous correspondence with the press and all manner of persons on all manner of subjects.

From the 1860s he was fascinated by the Aborigines. As a youth he learned the Kabi language and was well acquainted with many Aboriginal people all his life. His university and biblical studies and wide reading helped him systematise his knowledge and he made a major contribution to Australian anthropology. He published Eaglehawk and Crow (1899) and Two Representative Tribes of Queensland (1910) and numerous articles. He is best remembered for his ethnographic description and his speculative tri-hybrid theory about Aboriginal racial origins. He also challenged notions that the Aborigines had no religion and attacked the 'group marriage' theory.

Mathew was one of the founders of the Melbourne College of Divinity and served it in various leadership roles. In 1924 he was awarded a DD by the College for his two books and a thesis, 'The Sinaitic Syriac Gospels (St Matthew and St Mark) translated into English'. He was active on Assembly committees, including Theological Hall and Home Mission and Church Extension. He was a home Chaplain in 1915-16. He was elected Moderator of the Victorian Assembly in 1911 and Moderator of the General Assembly of Australia in 1922-24.

In the parish of Coburg, he was particularly keen on promoting the spiritual and intellectual development of young men, through the Literary Guild and Bible Class. Several ministers found their calling through his influence. 'Liberal evangelical' was the dominant tone of Australian Presbyterianism in the early twentieth century, and Mathew was one of the pioneers and exemplars of that kind of churchmanship. He was ecumenical but uncompromising on certain Roman and Anglican claims. He supported Chinese missions and the Chapman and Alexander mission of 1909.

M D Prentis, 'From Aberdeen to Coburg: a lad o'pairts in Australia', Northern Scotland, 12 (1992), 105-116; R Y Mathew, John Mathew 1849-1929 (ts, NLA); Presbyterian Messenger, 22 March 1929

MALCOLM D PRENTIS