McHardy, Emmet; Duggan, Eileen [editor]. Blazing the Trail: Letters from the North Solomons. Sydney: Right Rev. T. J. Wade, 1935. First Edition. [9299]
Red cloth with black titles, light soil/spots, fine joints, no dust jacket, 8 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches. 188 clean pp., many b/w plates. Good. Hardcover.
Illustrated from photographs taken by Fr. McHardy. With Nihil Obstat & Imprimatur.
Emmet Charles McHardy (1904-1933), b. Pihama, Taranaki, New Zealand. As a lad he had a keen interest in the outdoors, photography, and machinery. He studied at the Marist seminary, Mount St. Mary's, at Greenmeadows, and took his first vows in 1923. He was ordained priest in December, 1928, and the following year Fr. McHardy volunteered for Pacific Island missions, and was appointed to the North Solomon Islands. The rugged terrain and seven language groups of the region on the island of Bougainville proved to be a challenge.
"Having served just three years as a missionary, McHardy considered himself a 'failure'. His posthumous influence belies that judgement. Sitting at his typewriter at Tunuru, often late at night, had had written thousands of letters (up to 60 every week, when the steamer called by) about his work to his friends and family. Informal and cheerful, they present an engaging picture of a young man combining idealism with adventure. Emmet's brother John, recognised in them a power to stimulate Catholic piety and support for Marist missions, and commissioned the poet and writer Eileen Duggan to prepare a selection for publication. The result, Blazing the Trail in the Solomons, was published in Australia and the United States in 1935...Illustrated with McHardy's photographs, it attracted a large, enthusiastic and enduring readership, especially in New Zealand, and is credited with having inspired many people to adopt religious vocation. Because of his youthful self-sacrifice and the influence of his book, McHardy has been regarded as a possible candidate for canonisation, particularly in Marist circles." - Hugh Laracy, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.