Cemetery for Australian Missionaries Will Open
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A cemetery for Australian missionaries in South Gyeongsang Province will open in Masan on Sept. 19.
The 6,000 square-meter cemetery is to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the first Australian missionary's landing in Korea in 1889, said Masan-based Chang-Shin College and a Christian missionary group that co-financed the project.
Eight tombs of Australian missionaries, including Joseph Henry Davies, the first missionary, will be moved to the venue on the opening day, they said.
``We expect it to raise people's awareness of how much foreign missionaries devoted themselves to spread Christian belief here,'' said Sin Sung-yong, the chief manager for the cemetery.
They plan to gather tombs of Australian missionaries scattered around the province and will build a memorial hall for them in the cemetery by 2010.
``The missionaries made a significant contribution to educating Koreans and regaining the nation's sovereignty from Japanese colonial rule,'' said Kang Byeong-do, the president of Chang-Shin College.
Australian Embassy officials and foreign missionaries including Rev. John Brown, a close aide to the late former President Kim Dae-jung, will attend the opening ceremony, Kang said.