Place: Siota

Details

Siota, once known as Port Wiseman, is on the north side of Nggela Island at the western end of Utuhu (Mboli or Scudmore) Passage. It was here that Rev. Richard Comins (q.v.) led the Diocese of Melanesia's first attempt to establish a permanent boys' school in the Protectorate, St. Luke's. He purchased Siota in 1893 for £10 from the Belaga people. The first buildings were erected in 1896. The initial students also worked on a farm there. Comins ran the school for half of the year and Henry Welchman for the other half. Rather than teaching in Mota, the usual lingua franca of the Diocese, they used English. The school had forty-seven boys in 1897 when a dysentery epidemic killed eleven of them and made Welchman very ill. The swampy school site was thought to be unhealthy and so, much to Comins' disappointment, St. Luke's was closed after just four years. (Fox 1958, 225-226) When the Mission moved to the Solomons from Norfolk Island in 1920, Siota became its new headquarters, and remained so until the Second World War. The ornate St. Luke's Cathedral (q.v.), built in local style, was dedicated on 27 May 1928, though it was still at that point far from complete. (Fox 1958, 158; Godfrey 1928, 5)

Published resources

Books

  • Fox, Charles E., Lord of the Southern Isles: Being the Story of the Anglican Mission in Melanesia, 1849-1949, Mowbray, London, 1958. Details

Manuscripts

  • Godfrey, Richard, Diary of the Rev. Richard Godfrey, Priest of the Melanesian Mission. First Voyage S.T. Southern Cross, 1928. Synod trip., 1928. Details

Images

Title
Fishery at Siota, Florida (Nggela) Islands (Solomon Islands)
Type
Image
Date
1906
Source
Anglican Church of Melanesia

Details

Title
Siota Anglican church (ex-St Luke's Cathedral) rebuilt after the Second World War
Type
Image
Date
1940s
Source
DOM

Details

Title
The Mission House at Siota, Florida (Nggela) Islands (Solomon Islands)
Type
Image
Date
1906
Source
Anglican Church of Melanesia

Details