Mavis Doreen Parkinson (1915-1942)

Mavis Doreen Parkinson was born in Ipswich on 10 November 1915. Her parents were William Bretherton Parkinson and Eileen Massey Parkinson (nee Robinson). She had one sibling, Betty Parkinson, who was born 25 August 1921.

Mavis attended the Ipswich Girls Grammar School. She was a Sunday School Teacher at St Paul's Anglican Church and from an early age she wanted to become a missionary.  Her parents refused to let her go until she turned 21 years of age. In 1940 she completed her teacher training in Brisbane. She was then appointed to teach at the Anglican Mission School at Gona in New Guinea, she left Australia in January 1941. Mavis was 21 at the time.

December 1941 the Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbour. In the same month they also invaded Malaya. The missionaries who lived in New Guinea at the time watched events anxiously and they feared the worst. January 1942 the Anglican bishop, Philip Strong, broadcast an appeal to ask them to stay at their work, come what may. Many of the missionaries themselves also wished this, and had already resisted calls to turn to safety.

On 21st July 1942 the Japanese invaded the island near the mission station at Gona. Mavis and her fellow missionaries, May Hayman and Father James Benson, fled into the jungle. After some time, the missionaries joined a group of soldiers who were heading towards Port Moresby. The party was fired on and in the confusion Mavis and May became separated from the group. They were later captured by some Papuans and handed over to the Japanese. They were then taken to an abandoned Haruru coffee plantation near Popondetta where they were bayonetted, and their bodies thrown into a shallow grave.

In February 1943, after the Japanese were defeated in the area, the bodies of the two women were recovered and re-interred at Sangara mission station.

Quoted from the book AMONG THE RUINS, THE STORY OF THE NEW GUINEA MARTYRS. Author PADRE ARTHUR BELL, ASSISTANT CHAPLAIN-GENERAL.

At the Martyrs' Graves.
"Reaching land, we set out again for Sangara. This took almost a whole day. The first thing we saw here was the new graveyard in which were buried the last remains of two faithful and much-loved missionaries, Sister May Hayman and Miss Mavis Parkinson. It belongs to another to recite an account of their work in the name of the Lord--it is for me to attempt only to portray the immediate happenings. No sooner had the Bishop set his feet upon the ground than, with hat removed and the sorrow of his heart fully revealed in his face and posture, he made his way to the graves and there prostrated as before an Altar, his inmost soul laid bare before his God. Such a moment is not to be told in words of earthly origin, but all present found themselves soon upon their knees, even the driver of the American vehicle whose background in spiritual matters is not known. The silence was barely broken till Even-song was said, joined in by natives who had gathered at the approach of their Bishop (Right Rev’d Philip Strong). Three Australian signalers and a native, named Christian, who were present at the burial, took part in these and following services. Once more the Prophet was in evidence, for the Cross, standing within the graveyard, taken as it was from living trees, had also budded and betokened the certainty of the Rising again. 

To commemorate her life and to acknowledge the sacrifice made by Mavis Doreen Parkinson a memorial has been erected in the grounds of St Paul’s Church, Ipswich. A grey granite Celtic Cross was unveiled on 31 July 1949 by the Archbishop of Brisbane, Reverend R. C. Halse. The memorial was a gesture by the people of Ipswich, who subscribed money for it to be erected.

The Mavis Parkinson Shield is awarded annually by the Girl Guides.

In 1950 the Martyrs Chapel was established in St Paul’s Church. The centre stained glass window above the altar was given by the Parkinson family in memory of Mavis. The altar is covered in a tapa cloth which is produced by the women of New Guinea. Each of the candles on the altar bears the image and name of one of the martyrs.

Mavis’s death has been acknowledged in the Ipswich Girls’ Grammar School Community since 1944 through the Mavis Parkinson Prize for Character. This is a much-coveted prize, which for many years was presented to the Head Girl, but which today is given to a Senior who has shown exceptional leadership qualities. In addition to this, the purpose-built Junior School – Ipswich Junior Grammar School, which opened in 2009 is named the Mavis Parkinson Building.