James Johns: Religion and Adventure in 1930's East Asia
Upon finishing up a three year posting as a Bank of New South Wales employee in Papua, James Harold Wesley Johns went on holidays.
James Johns was based in Salamoa, a small town on the northeastern coast of Papua, from 1929 to 1932. During his years overseas, Johns established branches on the Bank of New South Wales in Salamoa, Walwa, Balranald and Moulamein. After being recalled to Australia in November 1932, Johns was granted four months leave. Instead of returning south to Melbourne, Johns cast his eyes north and boarded a Japanese steam ship to Hong Kong.
Born in Horsham, Victoria as the son of a Methodist minister, James Johns worked for the Bank of New South Wales for 38 years. A dedicated photographer and devoted son, Johns documented his four months leave in photos and letters back home to his parents, Wesley and Elizabeth.
It is clear through these letters that Johns is an adoring son, and there is a great sense of longing in his writing. This is particularly heightened by the fact that Johns leave is over the Christmas break, and in each and every one of his letters during his travels there is some mention of wishing his parents well for Christmas, and subsequently hoping “that Xmas passed off happily.”[1]
Perhaps the greatest recognition of James’ continuing devotion and love for his parents can be seen in the names of his children. His eldest child, Kenneth, has the middle name Wesley, and his second child is named Elizabeth. His third is named David, perhaps a reference to his mother’s maiden name ‘Davis’.[2]
Johns first stop on his grand East Asian odyssey was Hong Kong, where he visited the old walled city of Kowloon, pictured. He is not particularly enamoured with it, stating some days later that “the smells still seem to carry with me.”[3] He is, however, given a warm welcome during a visit to a school. At entering each class room, “the head boy rings a bell, all stand and bow, low.” Johns bowed back.[4]
From Hong Kong, Johns sailed aboard another Japanese ship, the Kashima Maru, to Shanghai in increasingly poor weather. In the letter he wrote home from the ship on 28th November 1932, James said that “the ship is fighting its way up north to Shanghai in the teeth of a monsoonal depression.”[5] From Shanghai, Johns boarded a ship bound for Kobe, Japan. It is here, between Kobe and Tokyo, that Johns has his first exposure to Shinto Buddhism.
There is a clear respect for religion that arises out of John’s letters, yet at other times, he is clearly baffled by the cultural and religious customs of others. There seems to be a line of tolerance that China and Japan push hard to cross. Upon visiting a large statue of the Mother of Buddha in Japan, Johns waxes lyrical about the beauty and spectacle of the site, yet “why the priests decided to place her shine on a mountain 2.300” high is beyond (him).”[6]
Another perfect example of this comes when Johns visits Nara, Japan, as seen in the attached photo. Again, Johns is extremely positive, describing Nara as “the home of temples and shrines” and stating that the period of Nara’s founding (700-800 AD) was when “religion was at it’s best and brightest”.[7]
However, when it comes to the deer that Johns feeds in the photo, he provides his parents with a brief history, saying that “it would appear that 1200 years back a devoted pilgrim rode into Nara on a deer and for some reason not clear the gods declared the deer “protected””.[8]
If we look further back, to Johns’ time in China, his analysis of the society is that “ancestors are the only things worth considering” due to his view that reform is impossible because it is offensive to the dead to “alter the system”.[9] This situation holds clear similarities to Lynn Hunt’s theory that there are always issues of truth “in colonial settings where official documents represent the understanding of administrators or military officers who often had little knowledge of local languages and customs.”[10] Johns admits in his letters that he does not speak a word of Japanese, and often finds it difficult to communicate.
This, however, does not mean that the story that John’s tells is not a true one. As McCullagh writes, “historical descriptions are true if they are part of a coherent account of the world…”[11] Johns sees the world through Johns’ eyes, and the account is consistent and true to that.
The one caveat here is that due to the narrow archive collection, Johns’ world is only seen through letters to his parents or his photographs. Throughout the letters, Johns continually praises the religious services he is attending. As these letters are the only documents in the archive, it is impossible to say whether Johns was a deeply devout man, or the continued religious references were for the benefit of his father.
In a letter dated December 8, 1932, Johns tells his parents that, in Shanghai, “if a bandit is caught he is executed immediately in the streets.”[12] He fails to mention that he has seen this himself, and indeed, captured graphic photographs of at least two different public executions. It is harder to determine a truth here, as this is a clear piece of evidence of omission in Johns’ letters. Who is to say what else he declined to tell his parents that was not subsequently photographed.
[1] Letter, “December 8, 1932”, Box 1, Folder 55, Johns, J.H.W. Correspondence and Photographs (1972.0054), University of Melbourne Archives.
[2] Family Tree, “Details re: James Harold Wesley Johns”, Box 1, Folder 56, Johns, J.H.W. Correspondence and Photographs (1972.0054), University of Melbourne Archives.
[3] Letter, “November 28, 1932”, Box 1, Folder 54, Johns, J.H.W. Correspondence and Photographs (1972.0054), University of Melbourne Archives.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Letter, “December 8, 1932”, Box 1, Folder 55, Johns, J.H.W. Correspondence and Photographs (1972.0054), University of Melbourne Archives.
[7] Letter, “December 8, 1932”, Box 1, Folder 55, Johns, J.H.W. Correspondence and Photographs (1972.0054), University of Melbourne Archives.
[8] Letter, “December 8, 1932”, Box 1, Folder 55, Johns, J.H.W. Correspondence and Photographs (1972.0054), University of Melbourne Archives.
[9] Letter, “November 28, 1932”, Box 1, Folder 54, Johns, J.H.W. Correspondence and Photographs (1972.0054), University of Melbourne Archives.
[10]Lynn Hunt. History: Why It Matters. (Cambridge: Polity, 2018) Ch. 2, ‘Truth in History’: 37.
[11] C. Behan McCullagh. The Truth of History (London; New York: Routledge, 1998): 5.
[12] Letter, “December 8, 1932”, Box 1, Folder 55, Johns, J.H.W. Correspondence and Photographs (1972.0054), University of Melbourne Archives.
Otis Heffernan-Wooden 833185