Biographical entry: Scott, Clara Emily Louise (1886 - )

Born
7 November 1886

Details

Clara Emily Louise Scott, daughter of Minnie McDonald and Edward Austen, was born in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia on 7 November 1886. She was a granddaughter of John and Melinda McDonald (q.v.), early planters in the Shortland Islands. Her father died in about the early 1890s and her mother remarried, to Nicholas Charles Tindal at Faisi in 1895, a son of Rear Admiral Louis Tindal. Tindal purchased Faisi Island from the German New Guinea Company as a wedding present for his wife. As a child, Clara hoisted the Union Jack at Maliae in the Shortlands in 1900 when HMS Torch visited to mark the change from German to British status for the islands. Clara owned Tapokai plantation on Laminiai Island and another on Orlofi Island, where she lived before the Second World War. She married Hugh Scott and they leased Kamaliai plantation on Shortland Island. They were divorced in the 1930s and he left to manage plantations in the Baining area of east New Britain. The family fared badly during the Great Depression of the 1930s and lost many plantations to their creditors Burns Philp & Co. (q.v.). Her home on Olefu was always the centre of European society in the Shortlands, and she acted as midwife to local women. She also owned a launch called the Lauai, which she used to escape from the Japanese to Tulagi in 1942. She was awarded an M.B.E. in the 1960s. (Allan 1989, pt. 1, 29; Chaning-Pearce 2009, 60; Golden 1993, 365)

Published resources

Books

  • Allan, Colin H., Solomons Safari, 1953-58 (Part I), Nag's Head Press, Christchurch, 1989. Details
  • Golden, Graeme A., The Early European Settlers of the Solomon Islands, Graeme A. Golden, Melbourne, 1993. Details

Journal Articles

  • Chaning-Pearce, John, 'Recollections of My Family's Early Years in the British Solomon Islands', UnaVoce, vol. 4, 2009, pp. 60-63. Details