Lorimer Fison
Encyclopedia
Lorimer Fison was an Australia
n anthropologist
, Methodist
minister and journalist
.
, Suffolk
, England
, the son of Thomas Fison, a prosperous landowner, and his wife Charlotte, a daughter of the Rev. John Reynolds, who was a translator of seventeenth-century religious writers. Fison was sent to a good school at Sheffield, proceeded from there to the University of Cambridge
where he read with a tutor before becoming a student of Caius College in June 1855. After an incident at school he left for Australia.
, joined the Methodist church
, and after some further study at the University of Melbourne
offered himself for missionary service in Fiji
. He was ordained a minister and sailed for Fiji in 1864 with his wife Jane. His first seven-year term as a missionary was very successful. The Rev. George Brown in an article in the Australasian Methodist Missionary Review wrote that Fison was "one of the best missionaries whom God has ever given to our church". His honesty, kindliness, tact and commonsense were appreciated alike by government officials, white settlers, and the natives themselves. He became much interested in Fijian customs and in 1870 was able to give Lewis H. Morgan
, the American ethnologist, some interesting information relating to the Tonga
n and Fijian systems of relationship. This was incorporated as a supplement to part III of Morgan's Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity (1871). When Fison returned to Australia in 1871 he began investigating similar problems in connexion with the aborigines. This led to his becoming acquainted with Alfred William Howitt
with whom he was afterwards to do a great deal of worthwhile work in Australian anthropology.
Fison returned to Fiji in 1875 and, when the training institution for natives was established, he became its principal. He did excellent work and the effects of his influence on the Fijians was long felt. He published a life of Christ Ai Tukutuku Kei Jisu and also wrote a valuable pamphlet on the native system of land tenure in Fiji. This little treatise became a classic of its kind and was reprinted by the government printer, Fiji, more than 20 years later. Though so far away he continued his study of the Australian aborigines, his preface to Kamilaroi
marriage descent and relationships in Kamilaroi and Kurnai (1880), by Lorimer Fison and A. W. Howitt is dated Fiji, August 1878. The materials for the interesting legends afterwards published under the title of Tales from Old Fiji (1904), were also collected about this time.
Fison returned to Australia in 1884 and for most of the remainder of his life lived near Melbourne
. He retired from the ministry in 1888 and from then to 1905 edited the Spectator and made it one of the best Melbourne church papers. At the meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science held at Hobart
in 1892 he was president of the anthropological section, and from the chair, with charming candour, pointed out that a theory of the Kurnai system, which he had worked out with infinite pains in Kamilaroi and Kurnai, was "not worth a rush". In 1894 he visited England and attended the meeting of the British association at Oxford. There he met Max Müller
, Professor E. B. Tylor and many other distinguished scientists. At Cambridge he became acquainted with Dr., later Sir James Frazer, who was much impressed by his frank and manly nature.
, Melbourne. He was survived by his wife, two sons and four daughters.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n anthropologist
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
minister and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
.
Early life
Fison was born at BarninghamBarningham
Barningham may refer to:*Barningham, County Durham*Barningham, Suffolk*Little Barningham, Norfolk*North Barningham, Norfolk...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the son of Thomas Fison, a prosperous landowner, and his wife Charlotte, a daughter of the Rev. John Reynolds, who was a translator of seventeenth-century religious writers. Fison was sent to a good school at Sheffield, proceeded from there to the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
where he read with a tutor before becoming a student of Caius College in June 1855. After an incident at school he left for Australia.
Career in Australia and Fiji
In 1856 Fison arrived in Australia and while at the gold diggings the news of the unexpected death of his father led to his conversion to active Christianity. He went to MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, joined the Methodist church
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
, and after some further study at the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
offered himself for missionary service in Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
. He was ordained a minister and sailed for Fiji in 1864 with his wife Jane. His first seven-year term as a missionary was very successful. The Rev. George Brown in an article in the Australasian Methodist Missionary Review wrote that Fison was "one of the best missionaries whom God has ever given to our church". His honesty, kindliness, tact and commonsense were appreciated alike by government officials, white settlers, and the natives themselves. He became much interested in Fijian customs and in 1870 was able to give Lewis H. Morgan
Lewis H. Morgan
Lewis Henry Morgan was a pioneering American anthropologist and social theorist, a railroad lawyer and capitalist. He is best known for his work on kinship and social structure, his theories of social evolution, and his ethnography of the Iroquois...
, the American ethnologist, some interesting information relating to the Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
n and Fijian systems of relationship. This was incorporated as a supplement to part III of Morgan's Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity (1871). When Fison returned to Australia in 1871 he began investigating similar problems in connexion with the aborigines. This led to his becoming acquainted with Alfred William Howitt
Alfred William Howitt
Alfred William Howitt was an Australian anthropologist and naturalist.-Background:Howitt was born in Nottingham, England, the son of authors William Howitt and Mary Botham. He came to the Victorian gold fields in 1852 with his father and brother to visit his uncle, Godfrey Howitt...
with whom he was afterwards to do a great deal of worthwhile work in Australian anthropology.
Fison returned to Fiji in 1875 and, when the training institution for natives was established, he became its principal. He did excellent work and the effects of his influence on the Fijians was long felt. He published a life of Christ Ai Tukutuku Kei Jisu and also wrote a valuable pamphlet on the native system of land tenure in Fiji. This little treatise became a classic of its kind and was reprinted by the government printer, Fiji, more than 20 years later. Though so far away he continued his study of the Australian aborigines, his preface to Kamilaroi
Kamilaroi
The Kamilaroi or Gamilaraay are an Indigenous Australian people who are from the area between Tamworth and Goondiwindi, and west to Narrabri, Walgett and Lightning Ridge, in northern New South Wales...
marriage descent and relationships in Kamilaroi and Kurnai (1880), by Lorimer Fison and A. W. Howitt is dated Fiji, August 1878. The materials for the interesting legends afterwards published under the title of Tales from Old Fiji (1904), were also collected about this time.
Fison returned to Australia in 1884 and for most of the remainder of his life lived near Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. He retired from the ministry in 1888 and from then to 1905 edited the Spectator and made it one of the best Melbourne church papers. At the meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science held at Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
in 1892 he was president of the anthropological section, and from the chair, with charming candour, pointed out that a theory of the Kurnai system, which he had worked out with infinite pains in Kamilaroi and Kurnai, was "not worth a rush". In 1894 he visited England and attended the meeting of the British association at Oxford. There he met Max Müller
Max Müller
Friedrich Max Müller , more regularly known as Max Müller, was a German philologist and Orientalist, one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion...
, Professor E. B. Tylor and many other distinguished scientists. At Cambridge he became acquainted with Dr., later Sir James Frazer, who was much impressed by his frank and manly nature.
Late life
Fison continued to do a large amount of journalistic work and even when he was past 70 years of age had to work very hard to make a bare living. In 1905 Fison was granted a civil list pension of £150 a year by the British government. He had become very weak in body though his mind retained its sharpness. Fison died on 29 December 1907 at EssendonEssendon, Victoria
Essendon is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Moonee Valley...
, Melbourne. He was survived by his wife, two sons and four daughters.
External links
- Kamilaroi and Kurnai book details, ISBN (10) 0 85575 222 X