A legacy of one’s own

A legacy of one’s own

As a biographer and historian Margaret Reeson has spent her career documenting other people’s lives, now at 86 she is reflecting on her own story and legacy.

“One advantage of living into old age is that, provided you retain mental capacity, you have a store of memories, artefacts and knowledge that may be of interest and value to the next generations,” Margaret said.

Margaret has had a phenomenal career which has involved authoring eleven published books, multiple articles and academic theses covering historical events and family histories. In addition to this she has held senior roles in the Uniting Church across local, regional, state and national levels, including having been the Moderator of the Uniting Church Synod of NSW and ACT.

In her early twenties, in 1961, Margaret travelled to the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea working for the Methodist Church as a school teacher and Christian education worker.

“I had a special interest in youth, village women, literacy and translation. Here was an amazing world of communities who were only just learning that another world, the rest of the planet, existed beyond the high mountain ranges that ringed their valleys,”

“Every day was an adventure. I was bursting to share the stories of everything that I was witnessing.  I wrote many letters, short articles and then my first book. That led to an invitation to write short booklets on historical figures for a syllabus in Papua New Guinea schools. This introduced me to a fascination with history, and church history in particular,” Margaret said.

In 1978 Margaret relocated to Canberra with her husband Rev. Ron Reeson and their three children where they continued to lead a rich church and family life, however their passion for Pacific culture continued with them travelling back to Papau New Guinea multiple times over the course of the next 45 years.

“After Ron’s death, I began scanning our very large collection of slides from our years in the Papua New Guinea Highlands. With the collaboration of ten former colleagues, we collected, scanned and identified about 4500 images, which have been passed to the UCA Assembly Archivist to be placed in the Mitchell Library for safekeeping. It is a world that has changed dramatically over the decades,” Margaret said.

Margaret’s last trip back to PNG was March this year where she met with church leaders and friends in Port Moresby.

“They were very excited to receive digital copies of the whole collection, as well as sequences of photos on a range of themes in PowerPoint format, plus photo books covering key moments in the life of their church over the decades. This was their story and history, with images of many key people who have died,”

“Most of the people I met in Port Moresby in March carried a mobile phone, but in the 1960s and 70s none of the Highland people owned a camera and very few were literate. They had no records of their own families or the life and growth of their church. With this gift of archival images, at last they have a record of their own spouses, parents and grandparents in their youth. The present young generation had never seen pictures of their own people in a world that has changed forever. It was a great joy to share photos of the first convert, Wasun Koka, with his daughters and adult grandchildren.”

“It was a very emotional time for us all. Later, I learned that the visit, with the reminder of the stories and legacy of those earlier missionaries and early converts to Christian faith, had encouraged some of today’s leaders to a renewed commitment in their own ministry.”

In addition to her invaluable gift of images and historical information to future generations Margaret, with her late husband Ron, will leave a bequest to the Uniting Church. To Margaret, leaving a bequest to the ministry of the Uniting Church is just like leaving something to her family.

“This is our church family. And these are people and ministries that we love and care about. And we want those ministries to continue to be healthy and supported, as the next generation takes our place.”

For more information on how you can leave a bequest to the Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of NSW and ACT please visit bequests.uca.org.au.

Jo Maloney, Media and Public Affairs Consultant, Uniting Church Synod of NSW and ACT.

Photos supplied by Margaret Reeson.

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2 thoughts on “A legacy of one’s own”

  1. A true labour of love Margaret and the ultimate gift to such an amazing community. Ron would be proud! Well done, true and faithful Servant! Xo

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