John Williams

John Williams (1796-1839), missionary, began his working life in 1810, apprenticed to an ironmonger, but in 1814 he underwent an Evangelical conversion and became a member of the Tabernacle Church (Calvinistic Methodist). In 1816 he volunteered for service with the London Missionary Society and was ordained. He was amongst the third party of missionaries to arrive in Tahiti after the supposed conversion of the islands in 1815. In March 1817 the party arrived in Hobart Town and held the first Evangelical service conducted in Van Diemen's Land, Williams defying opposition by preaching in the open air. In May they arrived in Sydney where they were received favourably by Governor Lachlan Macquarie; Williams, in particular, impressed Samuel Marsden with his ability. Returning to the islands in September 1817, Williams became regarded as the most enterprising missionary in the area. Four years later, he and his wife paid a three-month visit to Sydney, where he preached and addressed public meetings. On his own initiative he bought a ship to trade between Raiatea and Sydney; and he engaged Thomas Scott to instruct the people of Raiatea in the culture of sugar-cane and tobacco. Williams believed that the Christianisation of the islands in the Pacific would lead to the greater prosperity of Sydney's business houses, although he cautioned people to remember God’s role as they flourished. Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane was so impressed by Williams that he supplied stock to the mission and gave him magisterial authority for the islands. In 1838, when Williams had become a public figure, he returned to Sydney in the mission ship Camden, and drew considerable crowds to his meetings. Having recently given evidence before the committee of the House of Commons on Aborigines, he was influential in the establishment of the local Aborigines Protection Society, and was also responsible for founding an Auxiliary Missionary Society in Sydney.