Michael Moran - Beyond the Coral Sea - Travels in the Old Empires of the South-West Pacific

The first LMS station had been established in 1871 on islands in the Torres Strait by the Reverend Samuel MacFarlane. By 1877 two local missionaries from the Loyalty Islands had established a presence on Logea Island in China Strait close to Samarai. Here the vividly-painted inhabitants impaled skulls on spears at the prows of their outrigger canoes. This was a region of enthusiastic cannibals, and the missionaries commanded respect often by force of character alone. They were also respected for their powerful possessions, superior technology and items they wished to trade. The evolution of what could be called ‘Oceanic Christianity’ was a slow process.

The following year Samarai was ‘purchased’ by MacFarlane from the local people as the LMS head station for 3s 6d. Parts of the island were cleared, houses and vegetable gardens established. The LMS flag of the dove and olive branch now flew alongside the Union Jack. Mission stations inevitably became part of the colonial structure. Through education of the mind and spirit, missionaries innocently prepared local people to accept European values, oiling the wheels of understanding during the imposition of European colonial bureaucracies. But there was a terrible price to be paid in loss of life.

Cultural observations taxed the Victorian mind and weird snobberies were noted with horror by the missionaries. The cannibals in the Milne Bay region considered themselves above their neighbours in the nearby D’Entrecasteaux Group, deploring that on those islands they ate every part

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