Hannah Dudley

Hannah Dudley (1862–1931) was a Methodist mission sister who worked amongst Indo-Fijians in the Suva area of Fiji for 13 years.

She was the daughter of Hannah (née Brereton) and Charles Dudley who immigratedfrom the United Kingdom to Australia as single assisted immigrants, arriving on 12 February 1849.

Dudley was a teacher in New South Wales before joining the British Methodist Missionary Society as a mission sister in India where she became conversant in Tamil and Urdu.

Women's organisations linked to the Methodist Church in Australia raised funds for her trip and she arrived in Suva in September 1897.

Lilly taught music in Suva to earn money to support the Dudley family and the mission.

Erection of two native school buildings at Nausori and Davuilevu were authorised and she was allowed to use the Jubilee Church for her day classes and for her Indian services on Sundays.

She wanted a wooden church and collected money to have one built and it dedicated on 19 December 1901 at the site of the present Dudley High School, called the Indian Mission Hall.