William SHELLEY? (SHELLY)

SHELLEY (SHELLY), WILLIAM (b. Hanley, England, 29 May 1774; d. Parramatta, NSW, 6 July 1815). Missionary and trader.

A cabinet-maker, Shelley joined the Congregational church in 1794, volunteering to LMS as an artisan-missionary. A member of the original mission to Tonga in 1796, he escaped to Sydney when three missionaries were killed in 1799. Working as a carpenter, he took up residence with Rowland Hassall (q.v.) and became a prominent lay worker in Sydney churches. Convinced that the Pacific missions could only survive if they supported themselves by trading, Shelley led a controversial but adventurous life from 1801 to 1814 as an independent trader and missionary. Shelley believed that the important pork trade between the Pacific islands and Sydney could be conducted by missionaries to support their work. He also engaged in the lucrative liquor importing trade, keeping his involvement secret to avoid criticism. Despite constructing a ship, maintaining a profitable business, and enjoying the support of Samuel Marsden (q.v.), he was unable to convince the LMS to obtain their own ship and use the trade profits to reopen the Tongan mission. Shelley made his final voyage to Sydney in 1814 with 'as large a quantity of pearls as has ever yet been procured by a single vessel'.

Settling at Parramatta, Shelley conducted Congregational services in his house. He developed a strong interest in Aboriginal people, attempted to learn an Aboriginal language and took several Aboriginal children into his own home. It was as a result of a plan which Shelley put to Governor Macquarie that the Native Institution was opened at Parramatta in 1814. One of Shelley's principles was to educate an equal number of boys and girls to ensure 'civilised' marriage partners. He became the first superintendent of the Native Institution but died the following year. The Institution was initially successful and thrived for some years under Governor Macquarie's patronage. After his departure the project petered out, closing in 1826 through lack of interest by Macquarie's successors. After Shelley's death, his wife convinced LMS to fulfil his dream of reopening the Tongan mission.

The Congregational minister, William Crook, thought Shelley an over busy man 'with his heart set on the world', but others saw him differently. Samuel Marsden considered him a person 'of very comprehensive mind', while to Governor Macquarie he was a 'moral, well-meaning man'.

ADR 2; G L Lockley, 'An estimate of the contribution made in NSW by missionaries of the LMS ... between 1798 and 1825'(MA, University of Sydney, 1949)

JOHN HARRIS