MISSIONARIES IN TONGA

The most successful European explorer to undertake a scientific expedition to the South Pacific was Captain Cook.

He visited Tonga in 1773,1774 and 1777. The Tongans treated him and his men very well. Accordingly he called Tonga the "Friendly Islands" not knowing that the Tongans of Ha'apai planned to attack and kill him. They could not decide if they should attack during the day or night and abandoned the plot.

Sunset in Ha'apai 

After his return to England the London Missionary Society studied Captain Cook's diaries and decided to send missionaries to the Pacific. An amount of 10,000 Pounds was set aside for the purpose. A ship called the "DUFF" was purchased. In it they sent out 30 missionaries who were to commence working in the Marquesas, Tahiti, and the Friendly Islands. The ship had a crew of 22 seamen, mostly religious people. Captain Wilson was in charge.

The DUFF left Portsmouth in England on 23. September 1797 and surviving a very rough trip around the Cape of Good Hope arrived in Tahiti on 6. March 1797. After dropping a number of missionaries and their families Captain Wilson continued the voyage to Tonga and arrived at Tongatapu on 9. April 1797. The ship anchored near the island of Pangaimotu off the shore of Nuku'alofa.

Soon after two Englishmen by the name of Benjamin Ambler and John Conelly visited the Duff. They had jumped an American ship and lived with the Tongans. They were both young men in their twenties, had several wives and lived as idle beachcombers. Ambler spoke Tongan quite well. He served as interpreter. Later on, due to the very different attitude of the missionaries, the convicts became bitter enemies.

The High Chief of Tongatapu permitted the missionaries to stay in Tonga and allocated them a plot of land in Hihifo, the western district of Tongatapu. Ten missionaries were landed by the Duff. The ship departed on 15. April 1797 and sailed to the Marquesas.

Quote from: "The life of the late George Vason of Nottingham":

"The circumstances were very inauspicious when the missionaries took up their residence at Tongatapu; for it was a time of scarcity, and fearing one chief might not be able to supply the necessary provisions, if the missionaries continued to dwell together, this and also that they might more extensively mix with the natives - the sooner acquire their language and make their friendship, induced them to agree that they would distribute themselves among the different clans that inhabited the island under the protection of their respective chiefs. For three years they lived among them without receiving any particular injury except unhappy VASON, but they all endured great privations. But Messrs. BOWEL, GAULTON and HOOPER, pious and devoted missionaries, were barbarously murdered by the natives on 10. May 1799, in the breaking out of a general war. To the Christian World they became the first martyrs of Polynesia and their worthiness and piety have been dutifully recorded. The other missionaries were plundered of all they had and saved their lives by flight. The ship BETSY arrived soon after and conveyed them free of charge to New South Wales except for VASON who preferred to stay behind. Having been the grave of three missionaries this Mission was abandoned for a time."

Tongan family life

A few notes about George VASON. Soon after his arrival in Tonga he took up residence with the family of MULIKIHA'AMEA who was the last Tu'i Ha'atakalaua and a former Tu'i Kanokupolu. Vason started doing things "faka Tonga." In his own words: "The temptation of my situation, uniting with my natural depravity, now no longer restrained by the presence of others, but fostered by all around, gradually corrupted my soul and overcame me." 

With other words - the Tongans converted him to "Heathenism." He was a young man and probably not unattractive. He married the 18 years old daughter of Mulikiha'amea, took a second wife, and contracted a ceremonial marriage with a third chiefly woman in Ha'apai. Although succumbing completely to Tongan ways deplored by the other missionaries, he worked hard and established a model plantation of plantains, taro and sugarcane.

But Vason's idyllic rural existence and the missionaries' temporary security under Tuku'aho were rudely shaken by the murder of the Tu'i Kanokupolu on 21 April 1799, and Mulikiha'amea was assassinated in Ha'ateiho on 29 May.

Life among the Tongans became very precarious now. In August 1801 Vason happened to be in Vava'u when an English ship arrived. It was an East-Indiaman called the ROYAL ADMIRAL. He barely managed to escape the Tongans and safely returned to England. There he wrote the book about his "sinful" life in Tonga, regretting it all of course.

From "Friendly Islands: A History of Tonga":

The missionaries were an unusual category of men. In class background they had much in common with their beachcombing rivals. For the most part they were lower class aspiring to the next rung up on the social ladder; they were provincial, and enthusiastic in a religious sense. Followers of Whitefield's disciples, they ranged from the hyper-Calvinist James Cooper to the more broadly Methodist Independent William Shelley. That they saw themselves as saved sinners and as apart from worldly men was no great advantage in their dealings with others, weather indigenous or expatriate.

All were artisan missionaries, but one, SETH KELSO, was much older than the rest and had been ordained in Tahiti in order to administer the sacraments.

The other missionaries were all young men in their twenties. Their dedication, piety and studious character are revealed in the journals of their remarkable ministry."

It is doubtful that this first group of missionaries managed to convert many or any Tongans to Christianity. But their European property like iron tools and firearms became more and more desirable to the Tongans.

The missionary experiment had also largely failed due to the lack of contact with the outside world. Due to the fighting and instability foreign ships kept away from Tonga for some years. But there were some beachcombers and other Europeans living in Tonga who explained the Christian religion. One beachcomber, Samuel Blackmore, who arrived in Vava'u in 1824, had the distinction of being "the first runaway sailor to teach the people about God."

One of the trading vessels which most frequently visited Tonga was the ST. MICHAEL, commanded by Captain Beveridge. On its voyage in June-August 1822 the St. Michael took Wesleyan missionary WALTER LAWRY and his party of artisans and servants to Tongatapu. Lawry purchased a site at MU'A naming it "Cokevernal" in honour of the Reverend Thomas Coke, father of the Wesleyan missions. Lawry had learned from the mistakes of the London missionaries. The St. Michael was to make regular visits, and Tongan chiefs were to be taken to Sydney as virtual hostages. But there was still considerable opposition to the mission. The old belief that the missionaries killed people with their prayers was widespread. There was also a belief that the missionaries were political agents. When religion was discussed the Tongans had a standard reply: "Your religion is very good for you, and ours is very good for us." 

Probably Hikule'o, goddess of Pulotu

The Tongans after all had their own religion for a very long time with a multitude of Gods and numerous temples where priests communicated with the Gods. At a later stage especially the Catholic brand of Christianity supplanted the old Gods with a large number of Saints. Christianity finally succeeded probably because before God all people are equal, and a forgiving God loves all human beings. Tongans had to be scared of their Gods, constantly had to make gifts and ask for favours. Love was not known to those Gods.

Traditional priest prays in healing ceremony for a sick child

Soon more beachcombers and whaling ships arrived. There were also some missionaries from Tahiti. In the period 1796-1826 Tonga met the outside challenge of European ideas and skills, made its adjustments and, on the basis of the experience of thirty years, opted for Christianity. Island missionaries and thoughtful beachcombers, perhaps more than European missionaries, had helped towards this outcome. Intelligent chiefs, familiar with the European world, also saw fit to abandon a system of religious and social ways that was falling apart and adopt new values as their own.

On 28 June 1826 Lawry's successor, the Reverend John Thomas and the Reverend John Hutchinson, arrived in Tonga. The chief of Hihifo, ATA, made a piece of land available, but refused to join the new religion and forbade his people to do so. The mission met more difficulties and in 1829 abandoned the teaching once more. Thomas was transferred to Ha'apai in 1830.

Tongans, especially the traditional priests, not only resented anything new, but also wanted to safeguard the traditional standards and values and their deep loyalty and respect for their ancestors and their beliefs. However, the property of the Europeans was most desirable.

The missionaries were also despised by expariates living in Tonga or arriving on trading ships. Due to the influence of the missionaries it became very hard to buy for instance a large pig for a rusty nail or some glass pearls. ATA died unconverted in 1833. The mission in Hihifo was reopened in 1837.

First Tongan built church at Lifuka in Ha'apai