by Linda Banks
院書光靈
After several months at ‘Darriwill’, Amy returned to Sydney to begin training as a nurse at the Sydney Hospital for Sick Children in Glebe. This institution had opened six years earlier, with equal funding from the government and some prominent citizens. The building was ‘Elegant and extensive with a delightful view of the surrounding country, even as far as Pennant Hills … which can be observed from the balconies and windows of the second floor.’ 6
2.1 Nurse Amy at the Sydney Hospital for Sick Children, Glebe.
Previously a school, the building’s large classrooms and dormitories were easily converted into a 40-bed hospital with ample room for nurses’ quarters. As the first children’s hospital in New South Wales, it catered primarily for the children of poor and destitute families, many of whom came from the country.
When Amy began her work in 1887, the training of nurses was still in its infancy; it was only two years later that a formal program of courses and lectures started. Recalling her own brush with death as a child, she began learning how to care for children with infectious and other deadly childhood diseases, congenital abnormalities and conditions caused by malnutrition, as well as those recovering from surgery after accidents. Diphtheria, which had taken a severe toll on children until the invention of a vaccine in the 1920s, dominated the hospital’s work at this time.7 There were two large wards, one for the girls and one for boys. The matron, Miss Lobb, also encouraged her staff to make the wards as pleasant as possible and to bring joy into the lives of these disadvantaged children. As the local press reported:
A lantern entertainment was given on New Year’s night by Mr J.M. Main, missionary … The views given were just such as would interest and arouse young children … The little patients, to the number of 30, and of ages ranging from 3 to 5 years were carried by the Matron and her staff of nurses into the dining room, and there propped up on the tables, which were plentifully covered with beds and pillows, the greatest care and interest being manifested for them by the nurses who … appear all to have won the children’s affections. When anything amusing came on the scene, there were shouts of pleasure and clapping of hands among the children and remarks made freely as to the peculiarity of the picture. After amusing them for an hour and a half, the entertainment was brought to a close, and many of the children loudly thanked Mr Main for his kindness in providing them with such a treat.8
Amy learned the importance of getting to know and treating the children personally. The following article, written when she was just 21, gives us a wonderful first-hand glimpse of the kind of person she was and of her approach.
We should desire, as far as possible, to make our hospitals resemble homes, where soothing influences can add their due weight … to infuse a return to health. If, then, this kindly attention is of much value to adults, how much more beneficial is it likely to prove to children for whom sympathy in their suffering is almost a first necessity? But it is so difficult to speak of these cases in the abstract, so as to convey an exact impression of the class of treatment demanded. I think I can make the aim and object of our Children’s Hospital better understood by speaking of the actual cases which from time to time pass through our hands. It must be borne in mind that the children cannot describe to us what is amiss; and it is often only by the closest observation and deepest sympathy that we can succeed in ascertaining the cause of pain.
One of the most interesting of all the little sufferers was Bobbie. I had been taking duty in the Girl’s ward, and, having, learned to understand them, did not care to charge into the Boy’s ward. But I soon made friends with the boys, especially with Bobbie and his mate, Tom. Almost my first duty was to help sister while she performed his dressing and Bobbie looked up at me with moist eyes and said: ‘Nurse, don’t let sister hurt me, will you?’ Of course I said ‘no’ … but at the same time I felt I could not prevent it; and from that time I loved the little fellow … he was only three years … his hip, after he had been knocked down by a bigger boy, has become so diseased that amputation of the leg was necessary, and so close to the hip as only to leave a stump, never entirely healing, and rendering fresh operations imperative.
I remember getting him ready for an operation, brushing his hair and putting on a clean white nightshirt. He had no idea what it was for, but said little, except asking for Tom; but when I carried him into the operating-room and the doctor gave him the lint with chloroform over his face, he fairly shrieked for Tom to come and take the nasty thing away, till, becoming insensible, he looked like a little waxen image lying perfectly still … when I took him back to bed he cried, ‘Nurse, I’m so thirsty, I want an egg and brandy’ (poor little fellow, young as he was, he knew the effect of brandy) … I managed to get Bobbie into the country for a fortnight’s convalescence. Except in pictures, he had never seen until then cows, pigeons and fowls, but he recognised with extraordinary delight the real articles. Bobbie had a curious distaste for religious subjects and would never listen when these matters were referred to in the daytime. But at night, he would frequently talk to me about being in Heaven with a new leg, so that he could run like other boys.
Another patient was a little girl with clubfeet, who had been in the hospital for more than a year. She had no friends or relations. This girl had typhoid fever … she appeared to continue without improvement, until one day I took her to the Botanic Gardens, which seemed to fill her with life again. Another patient was a boy with the gift of singing. He could easily have learned music had anyone been able to devote some time to him. One of my children recently said to me before being sent back to their wretched house in the city ‘It is very dull down our way, you know nurse, no children would come down our lane to play with us because there are so many dead dogs and cats and things[’] … No wonder the child had typhoid and how could she get well again, having to go back to that dreadful lane.9
On the home front, in 1888 Amy’s family moved from what had been their grandmother’s house in Hunters Hill to the, then still rural, southwest Sydney suburb of Auburn. Their home took several years to construct. John, the sole inheritor of his mother’s estate, decided on a similar style of stately home which he called ‘Moolabin’, the Aboriginal name for a creek his father had first surveyed in 1823. Built on high ground, it had superb views from the balcony looking eastwards up the Parramatta River towards the city and westwards towards the Blue Mountains. It was described as a ‘Gentleman’s residence and grounds, containing 11 large rooms … every convenience and splendidly finished throughout. Beautiful gardens and lawns.’10
Amy’s rostered time off was now spent at ‘Moolabin’. When there, along with the rest of her family, she attended St Phillip’s Auburn and occasionally helped out at parish events. In the next couple of years, three of her siblings – Arthur, Eleanor and Anne – were married at St John’s Parramatta, with its Marsden family connections, and held their receptions at the new family home. The notice of Eleanor’s marriage to Mr Blomfield read like something out of Vogue magazine today.
The bride was given away by her father and attended by three bridesmaids Misses Anne, Amy and Beatrice Oxley, sisters of the bride who each wore a dress of pale pink Indian muslin, pink sash hung across each right shoulder, with tulle veil and bonnets to match. Each bridesmaid carried a bouquet of pink roses, tied together with long streamers of ribbon, and wore a diamond brooch … The bride was attired in a dress and court train of white cashmere, heavily trimmed with lace and faced with white satin, and wore diamond bracelets with tulle veil fastened with diamond stars … The guests and wedding party were, after the ceremony, driven to ‘Moolabin’ … where the wedding breakfast was served.11
This comfortable lifestyle only lasted a few years. In 1891, just a month after his 67th birthday, John Norton Oxley suddenly collapsed and died. His funeral, held a few days later at St Paul’s Cobbitty, attracted a very large crowd, from local farmers through to politicians.
院書光靈
Amy had first hea
rd about China through her father’s stories telling of the influx of Chinese on the goldfields, mostly from Hong Kong, Canton and Fukien Provinces. Her first encounter with a Chinese man was probably with the owner of a store in one of the towns on the edge of Sydney. In the city itself, she occasionally passed by the entrance to Chinatown near the fruit and vegetable markets. In history lessons at school, she learned about the British government’s involvement in the Opium Wars and establishment of the first treaty ports in Shanghai, Ningpo, Foochow, Amoy and Canton. She may have also read one of the popular accounts of life in China written by missionaries that began appearing around this time.12 In the early 1880s an outbreak of smallpox among immigrants arriving in Sydney from southeast China was a headline story.
She discovered that there were a few Chinese churches in Sydney, and in 1885 the ordination of the evangelist Soo Hoo Ten in St Andrew’s Cathedral was a newsworthy event. At St Barnabas’ Church, and from Aunt Lizzie, she heard about early Anglican missions in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Foochow. The name on everyone’s lips, however, was that of Dr Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission.13 When she was at ‘Darriwill’, Amy spent time with people who regularly received reports from and prayed for this ministry.
In early 1890 Hudson Taylor’s influential article ‘To Every Creature’ reached Australia, and in May that year the first Australian to go as a missionary to China, Mary Reed, returned and spoke to a near-full audience at the Centennial Hall in Sydney. The title of her lecture, ‘Why I Went to China, and What I Saw There’, immediately caught Amy’s attention. As captured by The Sydney Morning Herald:
After relating the circumstances that led to her … proceeding to China to assist in missionary work, [she] described in detail the many difficulties besetting a new arrival in that country. First, there was the acquirement of the language, no easy task on account of the similarity of words with vastly different meanings. Then it was necessary to conform to the customs of the people, and if one would travel inland, it must be by houseboats on the rivers. The method of locomotion adopted in the cities – the sedan chair – was not at all congenial to the taste of a European upon first landing in China. The superstition characteristic of the Chinese, and the methods employed by them to keep away evil spirits, were dilated upon, as well as their modes of asking favours from their gods, the advance of the cause of Christianity among the people that had been made in recent years was shown. In 1861 there were only 90 missionaries in China, at the present time there were 1000 persons engaged in the good work. Still, there were not sufficient missionaries for the dense population, in the province of Hunan, for instance, there was only one missionary to every million inhabitants. The lecture terminated by an appeal for missionaries who were ready to assist in spreading tidings of the Gospel in the great territory embraced by the Chinese Empire.14
Mary’s lecture gave Amy a clearer sense of what missionary work in China was actually like, more than anything she had come across so far. Hearing that Hudson Taylor was making a visit to Melbourne later that year, she wished she could go to hear him. Instead Amy had to content herself with reports from her aunt and cousin, who talked about how his simplicity and naturalness made his appeal for China so forceful and compelling. In November, however, she was able to meet with the first group of seven China Inland Mission Australians heading to China, together with Mary Reed, when they passed through Sydney.15
The next in the series of events God used to open Amy’s eyes towards overseas mission was the visit of the influential Keswick Convention speaker, Rev. George Grubb.16 Amy heard that after a time in Victoria, Grubb and his team were coming to Sydney, beginning with a series of meetings over ten days at St Barnabas’ Church. At these, and through other meetings in Sydney, a number of people, who later became influential, received their call to ministry. One of these, Sophie Sackville Newton, became her colleague in China for a number of years.17
Through what seemed to her to be a series of divinely arranged occasions, Amy was now actively considering preparation for missionary work in China. What finally clinched this was the visit in May 1892 of Irishman Rev. Robert Stewart, a pioneer missionary of the Church Missionary Society in Kucheng, Fukien Province, China. He was accompanied by Eugene Stock, editorial secretary of the Society. In stirring meetings held at St Andrew’s Cathedral and St John’s Parramatta, and to hundreds of Chinese Christians in the Young Men’s Christian Association Hall, Stewart spoke powerfully about the need for the work in China.
He held up a graven figure in his hand and described how families in every house prayed to idols like this for their protection. He showed them a very small shoe and explained how infant girls were cruelly hurt and deformed by foot binding. He told of the towers outside cities containing a small hole and pit into which newborn girls were frequently cast. How was God now gathering these people to him? He was working through new day schools, where even girls could now learn to read, write and count, as well as hear stories and sing hymns about Jesus. He was working through new medical centres, which brought healing to countless sick people and the opportunity to hear the gospel and see it in practice. He concluded with an appeal to come and help.18
The mention of medicine and education spoke deeply to Amy. It combined her own convictions and experience. Subsequently she had the opportunity to meet first Eugene Stock and then Robert Stewart, when they visited ‘Darriwill’ during her six-week stay in August and September. By then, Stewart had been travelling all over Victoria, speaking not only to large meetings in the city but small groups in remote country towns. Amy found him an engaging, down-to-earth, witty person, easy to talk to and even open to her taking his photo. The visitors mentioned two young women from Melbourne, Nellie and Topsy Saunders, who had already offered themselves for service in China with the Church Missionary Association (CMA) Victoria and would soon join Robert and Louisa Stewart. Before she left ‘Darriwill’, Eugene Stock directly invited Amy to consider making Kucheng the location of her missionary service.19
2.2 Rev. Robert Stewart, in a photo taken by Amy at ‘Darriwill’.
院書光靈
Until this time, there were only two branches of the London-based Church Missionary Society (CMS) in Australia – the CMA in NSW and the CMA in Victoria – and neither had the authority to select their own candidates or decide where they should serve. Reinvigorated by Stewart and Stock’s visit, these branches now became semi-autonomous associations and resolved to focus their energies on mission fields in China, India and the South Sea Islands. Amy applied to the CMA NSW and was accepted in the latter part of 1892. Within the month, her Aunt Eliza was invited by the CMA to found and supervise a missionary training home for women. She offered her home ‘Cluden’, a large residence in Ashfield that she had purchased after her mother’s death.
The Marsden Training Home began operating early in 1893.20 It was opened by the Dean of Sydney, William Cowper, and dedicated to the memory of Eliza’s grandfather, Rev. Samuel Marsden. Alongside Amy, the first intake included two other students who had been accepted by the CMA, Amy Price and Ada Wilkes. A grey outfit with a high, starched black collar was their uniform. In the second half of the year, several others entered the Home. For Amy, living and learning with others was a wonderful experience. The opportunity to devote all her time to studying the Christian faith, sharing with other committed young women and preparing for missionary work was a special privilege. The program of study included the Bible, church history and apologetics; practical subjects like mission geography, first aid and music; and electives on elementary and obstetric nursing. Lectures were given by Eliza (including talks from books of the Bible), visiting clergymen and others.
2.3 The Marsden Training Home, with Eliza Hassall (sitting, left) and Amy (standing, left), c. 1893.
Amy remained at the Marsden Training Home for the following two years, enabling her to take an elective on obstetric nursing, which she passed with Honours. This had not been part of her training at the Hospital
for Sick Children, and she knew it would be necessary in China.21 During this time she also connected more closely with the work of Chinese churches in Sydney. Finally, on 22 May 1894, the CMA appointed Amy to Fukien Province and scheduled her departure for 27 October. This gave her the honour of being the first NSW CMA candidate ever to be sent out to China. Before leaving she made a trip to ‘Darriwill’, her last opportunity to spend time with Isabel. While there, she learned that due to an outbreak of Japanese aggression against Fukien, and hostility against Westerners by some Chinese groups, her passage would be delayed.22
Anglican work in Fukien Province began in 1842 through the English CMS. Its growth was slow, partly due to the death of two of its first three missionaries. For a time, Rev. John Wolfe carried on the work alone. American Methodists were the other main denomination in the province. All foreigners were required to base their work in the foreign concession outside the Old City of Foochow, mainly on Nantai Island. In the 1870s Christianity took root in inland districts, first through Rev. Robert Stewart in Kucheng and then through a Chinese pastor in the district of Lieng Kong. By the mid 1890s, in a population of 20 million, there were still only 16 Anglican missionaries – 11 clergy, two laymen and three female teachers – in the whole province, with about 3,000 fully declared Christians and another 3,000 church attenders.23
Until it was safe to travel to Foochow, Amy continued to engage in what CMA described as ‘useful work’ among its Gleaners’ Unions and Sowers Bands.24 Gleaners’ Unions were involved in raising money for missionary support. They also collected and packed items for use by missionaries, such as books and clothing. In Sydney, these activities took place in the basement of the Royal Arcade in Pitt Street, which was provided by Quong Tart, a well-known leading Christian businessman in the city. Amy worked with the leaders of these groups, helped resource and co-ordinate them, and also established new ones.