Very Reverend John MathewPrint Page 
The marble plaque commemorates the Very Reverend John Mathew who was the Minister of the Parish from 1889 to 1923.
He was also the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria in 1911, and Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia from 1922 to 1924.
In 1889 Mathew was called to the suburban charge of Coburg, where he was minister until his retirement in 1923. He was elected moderator by the 1911 Victorian assembly and moderator-general for Australia in 1922-24. He was a home chaplain during World War I.
Mathew was a council-member of Presbyterian Ladies', Scotch and Ormond (chairman, 1910-26) colleges. He was a founder and office-bearer of the Melbourne College of Divinity; an advisory council-member of Coburg High School, and a long-standing member of the Royal Society of Victoria and the Australian Literature Society (president, 1915-20). In 1926-29 he served on the anthropological committee of the Australian National Research Council. His scholarship won him further degrees, from the University of St Andrews, Scotland (B.D., 1892), and the Melbourne College of Divinity (B.D. ad eund., 1913; D.D., 1924).
Between 1879 and 1928, John Mathew (1849-1929) published two books and over 20 articles on aspects of Aboriginal culture, society and languages. In that period he gradually developed some repute as an ethnographer, linguist and student of Aboriginal society. He has generally been included in subsequent lists of pioneers of Aboriginal ethnography in the period from the 1880s to the 1920s.
A tablet will be unveiled in the Coburg Presbyterian Church on Sunday evening. September 7, by the Right Rev. Dr. Borland, Presbyterian Moderator, to the memory of the Rev. John Mathew, B.D., who died in March, 1929, after being minister at Coburg for 34 years. The tablet is being presented by the congregation. Mr Mathew was Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria in 1911-12. Mr Mathew made a life study of aboriginal life and was regarded as a leading authority on that subject.
Herald (Melbourne), 30 August 1930.
Location
| Address: | 19 Victoria Street, Coburg Uniting Church, Coburg, 3058 |
|---|---|
| State: | VIC |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -37.743171 Long: 144.964783 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Plaque |
|---|---|
| Monument Theme: | People |
| Sub-Theme: | Religion |
| Approx. Event Start Date: | 1889 |
| Approx. Event End Date: | 1923 |
| Link: | http://adb.anu.edu.au/ |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Sunday 7th September, 1930 |
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This tablet is erected by the congregation
In memory of their beloved Pastor the Very Rev. John Mathew M. A., D. D.
Minister of the Parish 1889 - 1923.
Moderator of Presbyterian Church of Victoria 1911.
Moderator-General of Presbyterian Church of Australia 1922 - 24.
Entered into the fullest life 11th March 1929.
"So he passed over and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side."
