James Gibson WARD

WARD, JAMES GIBSON (b. Fairfield, Jamaica, 14 May 1857; d. Mapoon, Qld, 3 Jan 1895). Moravian missionary to the Aborigines.

Born to Moravian (q.v. Hagenauer) missionaries, James and Anna Ward, he spent his first eight years in Jamaica before attending Fulneck School in England for seven years and Niesky College in Germany. He taught at Neuwied College in Germany for three years and at Ockbrook School in England. He was ordained deacon in the Moravian church on 20 May 1885 and ministered in Brookweir and Ballinderry in Ireland. He m. Matilda Hall Barnes on 15 Jan 1889.

While at Ballinderry he received a call to serve in a new mission station which the Moravians had been asked by the Presbyterian Church to establish in north Qld. His diary entry on receiving the call reflected his Moravian training and personal commitment: 'May the Lord make us that blessed aim attain of willingness to do His will, no task or trial to refuse; only to do what He shall choose'. The Wards and the Rev J N Hey (q.v.) left London on 5 June 1891 and arrived in Melbourne on 15 July. Following preaching and lecturing tours in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, they arrived at Thursday Island, where the government resident, John Douglas, supported the mission, hoping it would counter the breakdown in relationships between Aborigines and the multiracial population engaged in fishing, pearling and trading. Ward and Hey left Thursday Island on 27 Nov 1891 and arrived at Port Musgrave the following day. Ward returned to Thursday Island for his wife who had been ill and arrived back on the 20 Dec.

Ward and Hey built their houses, and encouraged Aboriginal people to settle at the new Mapoon Mission. Ward supervised fishing operations and Mrs Ward opened a school. Gardens and cattle work were developed to provide employment for the Aboriginal men. A church building was opened on the 24 Nov 1892. Ward and Hey were ill with fever in 1893 and financial recession in the southern colonies limited support for the mission. Ward travelled south to seek continuing support. In Sept and Dec 1894 Ward travelled on the Batavia River to search for a better site for the mission and on the latter trip developed a fever, from which he died at Mapoon. Although his period of service at Mapoon was short, his name lived on in the Ward Memorial Church, dedicated in 1896, and a lugger, the J G Ward, launched in 1901 to serve the needs of the Gulf of Carpentaria missions. His widow returned to Mapoon in July 1895 to join her sister who had married Hey, and to continue her work as a teacher until 1917.

A Ward, The Miracle of Mapoon (London, 1908)

BILL EDWARDS