St John's Cathedral, Brisbane and the Anzac Legend

In 1942, during the Second World War, Japanese forces invaded the Australian- administered territories of Papua and New Guinea. At that time, Imperial Japanese military culture was steeped in brutality. Japanese soldiers inflicted many atrocities on the population and captured Allied defenders in Papua and New Guinea, as they did in other parts of Asia and the South West Pacific that they invaded. In the South Transept of the Cathedral is a stained-glass window, another designed by artist William Bustard, that recalls a series of barbarities committed by elements of the invasion force upon unarmed Australian civilians working with the local New Guinea and Papuan communities. In the Anzac tradition, and in the tradition of their faith, these civilians showed extraordinary courage, remaining in Papua and New Guinea as the Japanese attacked and refusing to give up their mission. Their brave decision was to seal their fate, but also to leave a lasting legacy. The civilians were a group of Australian Anglican missionaries working as priests, medical workers, nurses and teachers. When the Japanese advanced towards the mainland of New Guinea in the north, and Papua in the south (where most of the missionaries were based), the Anglican Bishop of New Guinea and later Archbishop of Brisbane, the Right Reverend Philip Strong, broadcast a message to the missionaries urging them to remain in their posts. He told them: “…we must endeavour to carry on our work in all circumstances, no matter what the cost may ultimately be to any of us individually...Our people need us now more than ever before in the whole history of the Mission…we cannot leave. We shall not leave. We shall stay by our trust. We shall stand by our vocation” The missionaries remained, only to meet their death at the hands of the invaders. 6 The first to die was the Reverend Henry Mathews of Port Moresby, a Victorian cleric who was well over 60 years of age. He was killed, either shot or drowned, in a boat in which he was carrying a group of local people to safety. Killed with him was his faithful Papuan helper, Leslie Gariadi of Boianai. Shortly afterwards Japanese forces rounded up other missionaries who were trying to flee to safety. The Reverend Henry Holland, John Duffill (from Woolloongabba in Brisbane), Sister Margery Brenchley and Lilla Lashmar, missionaries from Sangara and Isivita, were taken to the coastal village of Buna and executed on the beach. Lucian Tapiedi, a Papuan teacher, who was with them was murdered at the same time by his own people when he stood up for the missionaries. Another missionary, the Reverend Vivian Redlich, was for many years also thought to have died at Buna but more recently it was revealed that he had been hiding in a bush hut near Sangara before being speared and buried by local Papuans who perhaps feared Japanese reprisals. Two further missionaries from the beachside Anglican Mission at Gona near Buna, Sister May Hayman and Mavis Parkinson, were also killed. They had retreated into the jungle along with a group of other Australians, Americans and Papuans. Running into an ambush, they scattered according to a pre-arranged plan. But some time later Hayman and Parkinson were betrayed to the Japanese. They were incarcerated and denied food. After refusing to reveal any information during interrogation, they were taken to a coffee plantation where shallow graves were dug.

The window in St John’s Cathedral representing four women missionaries among the “New Guinea Martyrs” - including Queensland teacher Mavis Parkinson - who were murdered by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in 1942.

Ken Lilley / St John’s Cathedral

6 Not all accounts agree on just what happened to the missionaries in Papua and New Guinea, and the precise sequence of events, between January and September 1942. This account is largely based on E C Rowland’s F aithful unto Death: the Story of the New Guinea Martyrs, (Australian Board of Missions, 1964).

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