Hansen, Paul Br. (1827-1903)

Prepared by:

Regina Ganter

Birth / Death:

Born 15 May 1827, Dobel (Jutland)

Died 25 February 1903, Christiansfeld, aged 82

Moravian brother who helped to establish Lake Boga mission.

Born as the son of watchmaker and farmer Hans Jacobsen and Kjesten Nidsdatter née Bang, Paul Hansen entered the village school of Dobel at age 6 and was confirmed at age 9 on 10 April 1836. Three years later he began an apprenticeship as a tailor, and at age in 1843/43 came into contact with Moravians after which he began to work in the kitchen of the Brüderhaus in Christiansfeld [1]. Hansen joined the Moravian Brüdergemeine on 12 November 1845 and answered the call to Australia in late July 1853. He was accepted into the Moravian Akoluthie at Christiansfeld on 5 September 1853 and was sent to assist at Lake Boga [2] mission in Victoria.

He arrived in Melbourne on 6 January 1854, and at Lake Boga on 1 March 1854. The mission was abandoned and on 1 June 1856 he returned to London and Herrnhut with Spieseke [3] and Täger [4]. From March to November 1864 he appears as a translator for the Greenland missions speaking English, German and Danish.

He died at age 82 at the Moravian settlement of Christiansfeld.¹

1 All information is taken from Jensz 2010: 241. Further details on the Lake Boga experience is in the entries for Lake Boga, Täger and Spieseke. Felicity Jensz, German Moravian Missionaries in the British Colony of Victoria, Australia, 1848–1908: Influential Strangers, Brill, Leiden, 2010.

VIC