Ronald TRUDINGER

TRUDINGER, RONALD (b. Norwood, SA, 16 Aug 1886; d. Adelaide, SA, 21 Dec 1968). Missionary.

Born of godly Moravian parents, who had first migrated to England and later to Australia, he was the youngest in a family of thirteen children. He was educated at Prince Alfred College and at Adelaide University (BSc 1905, MB, BS 1909). He became a house surgeon at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and in 1913, prior to going out as a medical missionary, completed his Dip Tropical Medicine (London University).

Ronald Trudinger received Christ as his Lord and Saviour in his early childhood. In 1911, when Dr Karl Kumm, founder of the Sudan United Mission (SUM) visited Adelaide, Ronald responded to the call to work with this mission. In 1913, he and his brother Martin, together with two missionaries from New Zealand formed the first party from these countries to work in the Sudan. They worked at a village called Melut on the White Nile. Dr Trudinger's work was mainly among the Dinka and Shilluk tribes. He was an excellent linguist and concentrated on the Dinka dialect spoken in the Upper Nile. After thirty three years he completed the translation of the New Testament into that tongue. He also compiled a comprehensive dictionary of the Dinka language and contributed to other literacy work. The war prevented the BFBS printing the finished NT immediately. In an article written after the manuscripts were completed and finally handed to the BFBS in 195O, he said: 'I pray that more and more of the Dinkas, girls and women, men and boys, will learn to read the New Testament for themselves. I pray they will learn to love it, and use it as a guide, that they will be able to say with David, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path".' (Light Magazine, Sept 1964, 12) The NT in the Dinka dialect was finally published by the BFBS in 1952.

Dr Trudinger was excellent at medical diagnosis and his work among the people on the Nile was untiring, trekking sometimes for days through the flat grass plains of Dinkaland to visit outlying villages, treating patients, learning the language, customs and folklore of the people and preaching the gospel. At one time his station developed into an extensive medical work among the neighbouring Shilluk tribes who came from far and wide for treatment. Dr Trudinger then set about learning their language also, in order to present them with the Gospel and many professed faith in Christ. On his first furlough he married Lina Hoopmann. When the SUM transferred the work on the Nile to other missions, Dr Trudinger joined the American Presbyterian Mission to continue his work amongst the Nilotic people where he completed his translation work and its revision.

After his retirement in 1954 he worked at a mental hospital among alcoholics and migrants and was instrumental in bringing many to the Lord. During the last year of his life he took charge of a Christian bookstore in Alice Springs. He was survived by four children, three of whom have served on mission fields.

R Becker, Geschichte der Familie Schammer (Herrnhut, 1922); The Pathfinder, Jan/Feb 1969 (Australian Missionary Society); P J Spartalis, To the Nile and Beyond (Anzea Publishers, 1981)

C D TRUDINGER