Karl Wilhelm Edward SCHMIDT

SCHMIDT, KARL WILHELM EDWARD (b. Stargard, Pomerania; d. Apia, Upolo, Samoa, early 1864). Missionary.

Schmidt was educated at the Universities of Halle and Berlin before becoming the first theological student at J E Gossner's missionary seminary, Berlin. In 1837 Gossner directed him and a party of artisans and their wives to staff J D Lang's projected mission to the Moreton Bay Aborigines. He married and was ordained a minister of the Prussian Reformed Church.

In Sydney from Jan to June 1838 he conducted services in German. The mission at Nundah failed to make much impact and was abandoned late in 1843 after the natives persisted in pillage and violence. Schmidt continued his efforts until 1845. He bitterly criticised the 'most shameful, treacherous, backsliding work' of those in Berlin and Sydney who had undertaken to raise funds but left the missionaries destitute, and became the centre of controversy following publication of extracts from his journal expressing his belief that squatters were systematically poisoning Aborigines.

In 1846 he returned to England and became minister of a German congregation in London. He joined the LMS and was appointed Oct 1847 to Samoa. Following the death of his wife in 1855 he was 'unmanned' and found solace in the company of a converted Samoan woman, Salaneta. The LMS, considering this scandalous, forced his resignation in 1857. He remained on good terms with his former colleagues, married Salaneta (who bore him a son), and taught a free school for half-caste children. A dedicated missionary, he did much linguistic work both in Queensland and Samoa, particularly in Bible translation, but was sadly disappointed by the spiritual results of missionary work.

ADB 2; W N Gunson, 'Evangelical Missionaries in the South Seas 1797-1860' (ANU PhD thesis, 1959)

BARRY BRIDGES