The Methodist Church has worked with orphans in Fiji for more than 100 years.
According to an article published by The Fiji Times on September 12, 1996, the first recorded act of taking care of orphans was when the celebrated “pioneer” missionary, Hannah Dudley, took five children into her care between 1898 and 1901.
This was done with the approval of the Immigration Department which was responsible for the supervision of the indentured Indians coming into Fiji.
She also had the support of her Methodist Church leaders who saw her initiatives as a Christian outreach.
She received financial assistance from the church mission and donations from individual supporters in Australia, New Zealand and the local Indian community.
Hannah Dudley was, however, a headstrong young woman who displeased her mission chairman, Reverend Arthur Small, and started taking in more orphans without informing him. Mr Small attempted to exercise control over her actions, and in 1904, she was appointed matron of a proposed new mission orphanage to be built at Davuilevu, Nausori, the following year.
She did not seem happy with the prospect of being instructed to leave Suva for the Rewa countryside, and in July, 1905, she suddenly departed for India, taking her adopted orphans with her.
She did not return to Fiji until 1908, and as a result, the Methodist Church had to make a fresh beginning.
In September, 1905, the Rev John Burton, superintendent of the Indian Division of the church, took over the guardianship of two Indian girls; Durki, whose parents had died and Sukhraji, who according to records had been deserted by her parents.
Both girls were aged between six and seven. During the following months, Mr Burton’s house at Davuilevu served as an orphanage.
Mr Burton, who was later to take an active role in the campaign to abolish the indentured system, gave the care of these orphans to his wife and a missionary teacher, Mary Austen.
Within a short time Mary had to relinquish her teaching post and devoted all her time to orphanage work.
If any person could be identified as the founder of Dilkhusha Orphanage, it was Mary Austen.
In March, 1906, the Australian Methodist Mission Board gave permission for the building of an Indian orphanage and this was opened in the middle of the year.
During the time of Rev Burton’s leadership of Methodist Indian work, 13 children were admitted, in most cases their parents had died. Some were as young as two weeks.
The first two girls, Dukri and Sukhraji, had marriages arranged for them by the mission, Dukri in 1913 to a mission teacher, H M Samuel, and Sukhraji in 1915 to Paul Samson. Mr Burton’s successor, Cryril Bavin, consolidated orphanage work at the Davuilevu site.
A new two-story building was opened in early 1912 and in the same year, Hester Clark began a remarkable 26 years of service as matron.
She was remembered particularly for her many visits — by foot, horseback and canoes — to Indian homes throughout the district.
