Christina Smith (teacher and missionary)

Christina Smith (teacher and missionary)

Christina Smith (1809-1893) was a teacher and Christian missionary who documented the lives, customs, legends, and language of the Buandig Indigenous Australians from the Mount Gambier region in western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia.

Born in Glenyon, Perthshire, Scotland around 25 July 1809, she was raised a devout Presbyterian. She emigrated to Australia with her son Duncan Stewart (1833-1913) and two brothers after the death of her first husband, reaching Melbourne on 27 October 1839. Her second marriage was to James Smith, a Presbyterian teacher at the Collins Street Congregational Church. Christina had eight children in this marriage. The Smiths moved to Rivoli Bay south (Greytown) in 1845 where Christina acted with christian compassion for the Buandig people concerned at their treatment by other European settlers and engaged in education and christian missionary work with the aborigines.[1] For several years she was the only white woman in the southern end of the district.[2]

Christina and her son Duncan Stewart learnt the Bungandidj language with Duncan being appointed an interpreter for this language in 1853. The family moved to a small farm near Mount Gambier in 1854 where Christina opened a night school teaching aboriginal orphans and adults until James Smith's death in 1860. A day school was opened in 1864 in Mount Gambier teaching scripture and the rudiments of a basic education to aboriginal children. After an epidemic and loss of support for her school and with student numbers reduced to 4, the school closed in 1868, although it continued as a home for Buandig orphan children.

Her book on the Buandig people - The Booandik Tribe of South Australian Aborigines: A Sketch of Their Habits, Customs, Legends, and Language- was published in 1880 containing ethnographic observations, personal anecdotes, brief biographies of local natives who converted to Christianity, and a comprehensive vocabulary of the Bungandidj language and grammatical construction. She also contributed material in 1881 to the work of anthropologist Alfred William Howitt.[3][1]

Smith died on 28 April 1893 at Mount Gambier and is buried in Lake Terrace cemetery.[1][4]

The school in Mount Gambier where Christina Smith taught was added to the South Australian Heritage list in 1994.[1]

The Lady Nelson Discovery Centre in Mount Gambier uses a hologram image of Christina Smith to explain the story of the region's early contact between settlers and Aboriginal people.[5]

External links

References

  1. ^ a b c d MacGillivray, Leith G., Smith, Christina (1809–1893), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/smith-christina-13198/text23895, accessed 14 September 2011.
  2. ^ Obituary, Mrs Christina Smith Dead, The Advertiser (Adelaide), 29 April 1893. Accessed 14 September 2011.
  3. ^ Christina Smith, The Booandik Tribe of South Australian Aborigines: A Sketch of Their Habits, Customs, Legends, and Language, Spiller, 1880
  4. ^ Obituary, Mrs Christina Smith Dead, The Advertiser (Adelaide), 29 April 1893. Accessed 14 September 2011.
  5. ^ Amanda Nettelbeck , The Australian frontier in the museum, Journal of Social History / Summer, 2011. Accessed 14 September 2011

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Christina Smith — may refer to: Christina Smith (teacher and missionary) (1809 1893), Australian settler, teacher and lay missionary Christina Smith (model) (born 1957) American model and Playboy Playmate of the Month See also Christine Smith (disambiguation) This …   Wikipedia

  • List of people of Newfoundland and Labrador — List of people of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. This list includes all peoples of Newfoundland and Labrador who have influenced and or become a part of the Newfoundland and Labrador heritage. This is not a complete list of… …   Wikipedia

  • Europe, history of — Introduction       history of European peoples and cultures from prehistoric times to the present. Europe is a more ambiguous term than most geographic expressions. Its etymology is doubtful, as is the physical extent of the area it designates.… …   Universalium

  • religion — religionless, adj. /ri lij euhn/, n. 1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and… …   Universalium

  • performing arts — arts or skills that require public performance, as acting, singing, or dancing. [1945 50] * * * ▪ 2009 Introduction Music Classical.       The last vestiges of the Cold War seemed to thaw for a moment on Feb. 26, 2008, when the unfamiliar strains …   Universalium

  • painting, Western — ▪ art Introduction       history of Western painting from its beginnings in prehistoric times to the present.       Painting, the execution of forms and shapes on a surface by means of pigment (but see also drawing for discussion of depictions in …   Universalium

  • Chamber music — For other uses, see Chamber music (disambiguation). Frederick the Great plays a flute concert in his summer palace Sanssouci; painting by Adolph Menzel Chamber music is a form o …   Wikipedia

  • 1999 — Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar).The year 1999 was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. It was the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese… …   Wikipedia

  • List of people from New York City — This is a list of famous people from New York City. Native New Yorkers The following were born in New York City. Some became famous after they moved away.A*Aaliyah (1979 2001), R B singer, Dancer, Fashion Model and Actress *Kareem Abdul Jabbar… …   Wikipedia

  • Ordination of women — Main article: Ordination Ordination in general religious usage is the process by which a person is consecrated (set apart for the administration of various religious rites). The ordination of women is a regular practice among some major religious …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”