Guide to the Papers of Bishop Mathew Blagden Hale (as filmed by the AJCP), 1850-May 1885

Summary

Collection number:

M381

Creator:

Hale, Matthew Blagden, 1811-1895

Extent:

25 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

Papers of Bishop Mathew Blagden Hale including: personal diaries; four letters 1883-1884 from Edward Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury, to Hale; Copies of Letters Patent 1857 creating the See of Perth and the act of consecration of Hale as first Bishop; correspondence, reports and press cuttings 1850-1875 relating to the Poonindie Mission.

Press cuttings, letters and farewell addresses 1875 and 1885, on Hale's departure from Western Australia and from Australia for England.

Addresses 1858-1882 by Hale relating to the Elementary Education Bill 1871 in Western Australia, support of Aboriginal Australian children, the responsibility of the Church of England for the welfare of Australian Aboriginals, and the transportation of convicts to Western Australia.

Biographical / Historical:

Mathew Blagden Hale (1811-1895) was born at Alderley, Gloucester, and educated at Lady Berkeley's School, Wotton-under-Edge, and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was ordained priest in 1837 and in the next ten years was curate in a number of parishes in Gloucestershire. He married Sophia Clode in 1840 and they had two daughters. His wife died in 1845.

In 1847 Augustus Short, the first Bishop of Adelaide, invited Hale to be archdeacon and examining chaplain in South Australia. Hale and his daughters arrived in Adelaide in December 1847, where he took charge of St Matthew's Church, Kensington, and St John's Church, Adelaide. In 1848 Short and Hale visited the Western Australia part of the diocese and during the visit Hale met the Molloy Family at the Vasse. He married Sabina Molloy at Busselton on 31 December 1848.

In 1850 Hale obtained a grant to establish a mission where Indigenous Australians from Adelaide could be taught farming and other practical pursuits. He bought the lease of Poonindie run near Port Lincoln. After a time, Hale agreed to accept Indigneous Australians from any part of the colony on the advice of the 'Protector of Aborigines'. By 1856 there were 62 residents at Poonindie and, despite rising costs and crop failures, the mission became self-supporting. It was eventually closed in 1894.

In 1857 Hale was consecrated as the first Bishop of Perth. In the following year he opened a boys' school, known as the Bishop's School, which he funded for several years. (The name of the school was changed from the High School to Hale School in 1929.) He introduced synodical government in the diocese in 1872. In 1875 Hale was installed as Bishop of Brisbane, with a diocese that covered the whole of Queensland. The ardours of travelling eased a little when the diocese of North Queensland was created in 1878. Between 1881 and 1884, as senior bishop, he presided over the General Synod of the Church of England in Australia.

Hale returned to England in 1885, where he continued to support the work of the Anglican Church with the Aboriginal Australians. He died in Bristol in 1895.

Related

Existence and Location of Copies:

The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn348145] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.

Existence and Location of Originals:

University of Bristol Library, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, England.

Collection reference: DM130. For further information see Matthew Blagden Hale Papers at the Univeristy of Bristol Library. [http://www.bristol.ac.uk/library/]

Conditions Governing Access:

Available for Access.

Conditions Governing Use:

Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

Contact us