For Australia Day: Analysing popular stereotypes on the foundation of Christianity in Australia
In 2015, Associate Professor Stuart Piggin gave this fascinating address at a gathering to commemorate the First Christian Service in Australia.
The event, in Richard Johnson Square on 3rd February, was close to where the Rev. Richard Johnson conducted the first Christian service in the Colony, on 3rd February 1788.
With Dr. Piggin’s permission, we published this at the time. We think it is well worth reading again.
“The preacher at that service, held under a ‘great tree’, beginning at 10 o’clock on 3 February 1788, a hot midsummer’s day, was the Rev Richard Johnson, Australia’s –
- first minister,
- first educator,
- first carer for orphans,
- first carer for aboriginal children.
With all those firsts, he was quite a pioneer – and John Newton, author of the much loved hymn ‘Amazing grace’, who recommended Johnson to MP William Wilberforce who recommended him to PM William Pitt, bestowed on Richard Johnson the title, ‘Patriarch of the Southern Hemisphere’, that is, if you will, founding father of the Christian movement in Australia.
Now, since this was the site of the first school house, it is surely fair to put a question to you. Here is the question:
If Newton gave Johnson the title ‘Patriarch of the Southern Hemisphere’, what title did the Eora people, the Aboriginal people who lived in the Sydney Basin, give Richard Johnson?
Well, class, I don’t see a forest of hands of those keen to answer the question. But I ask it to make a point. The basic question asked by the organisers of this event is:
‘Does our heritage matter?’ What they really mean is ‘does our Christian heritage matter?’
Well surely we must know what our Christian heritage is before we can decide if it matters. But I doubt if we have ever found what our Christian heritage is – we are in great danger of losing it before we ever find it. Nobody has ever told us.
Has anyone ever told us what title the Eora people gave Richard Johnson? I will tell you at the end of this address, but my point is that there are parts of our Christian heritage we just don’t know because no-one has ever told us.
Then there are other matters which we think we do know. We have been told them so often they have become stereotypes.
But maybe they are false stereotypes.…”
Do read the whole address. (PDF file.) Photos courtesy Ramon Williams, Worldwide Photos.
Related:
Richard Johnson’s Address To The Inhabitants Of The Colonies (PDF file).
See also:
John Anderson’s Conversations: Featuring Associate Professor Stuart Piggin (June 2018). Take the time to watch.
and
The Fountain of Public Prosperity – Evangelical Christians in Australian History 1740–1914, published by Monash University Publishing.
A man of words and a man of his word – Bishop Donald Robinson
“The ninth Archbishop of Sydney, Donald William Bradley Robinson, has been laid to rest after a funeral service in St Andrew’s Cathedral which he helped write 40 years earlier.
Bishop Robinson died early on Friday morning, 7th September. He was 95.
A renowned New Testament scholar, Bishop Robinson was a lecturer and Vice-Principal at Moore College, before becoming Bishop in Parramatta and later Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan of New South Wales from 1982 to 1993.
Among his achievements was the production of An Australian Prayer Book (AAPB), highlighted in the eulogy by his daughter Anne. …”
– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Russell Powell reports on today’s funeral service for a dearly loved and respected Christian leader.
See also:
Servant of the Church of God: Donald William Bradley Robinson, 1922–2018 – by Rory Shiner at Shenton Park, who recently completed a PhD on the life and work of Donald Robinson.
Remembering Donald Robinson – The Gospel Coalition Australia has assembled a number tributes.
The Rev. Peter Robinson spoke about his father’s legacy on 2nd September 2018, as part of the Australian Legacy series at Holy Trinity Wentworth Falls.
(Photo courtesy Ramon Williams.)
Ramon caps his lens
“A significant figure in the Australian Christian media landscape for the past 50 years has been forced to close his ministry due to ill health.
Ramon Williams, 87, whose pictures have regularly featured in Southern Cross magazine since it began, has issued his last news release from Worldwide Photos – the Religious Media Agency. …”
– At SydneyAnglicans.net Russell Powell reports on Ramon Williams’ reluctant decision to close Worldwide Photos.
Related: Ramon Williams, Australian Christian media powerhouse, decides it’s time to retire.
Sydney to give thanks for Billy Graham on Friday 9th March
St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney will host a special thanksgiving service for the life and ministry of Billy Graham. Read more
Billy Graham Preaches in Sydney
“In ideal weather conditions, Billy Graham’s Sydney Crusade opened at the Show Ground with record first day’s crowd of over 50000 Dr. Graham’s address was simple, direct, and Bible based, of about forty minutes’ duration, concluding with an invitation for decisions…”
– In memory of his life, and with thanksgiving to God for his ministry – the Australian Church Record has re-published their report on the opening night of the Billy Graham 1959 Sydney Crusade.
(Photo from his 1979 Crusade, courtesy Ramon Williams.)
With great thanksgiving for Billy Graham 1918–2018
Billy Graham at the age of 99, has been called home to be with the Lord.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has the news.
The Gospel Coalition has a number of feature articles linked from their home page.
In the Lord’s providence, Billy Graham and his team had a huge impact on Sydney in 1959 – and in the years since. We are sure that much will be written about the 1959 Sydney Crusade.
In the midst of all the thanksgiving for Billy, please consider this:
Do you need to get right with God? Do you need to find new life in Christ? –
You could do a lot worse than to listen to Billy’s message, given at the Sydney 1959 Crusade, on the subject: “The Certainty of Death”.
(His other messages in Sydney can be heard here.) Then find a church.
Archbishop of Sydney Dr Glenn Davies has issued this statement:
The world has lost one of the most significant figures of the late twentieth century with the news of Billy Graham’s death on 21 February in his 100th year.
Billy Graham’s extensive ministry has affected the lives of millions of people around the globe, and under God, hundreds of thousands of people have been brought to faith in Jesus Christ through his anointed preaching ministry.
We in Australia are especially grateful for his first visit to our country in 1959, where his crusade in Sydney of that year had all the hallmarks of revival with increased church attendance, increased candidates offering themselves for the ministry and a marked effect on criminal statistics with fewer crimes being committed. His visits in 1968 and 1979 were again welcomed by church leaders, which again saw an increased level of cooperation among the Churches and many people becoming Christians.
Billy Graham was passionate about Jesus Christ and unrelenting in finding ways to persuade people to put their trust in the Saviour of the world.
We have lost a giant among us – but the angels in heaven rejoice in his arrival in his eternal home.
Dr Glenn Davies,
22 February, 2018 AD
And SydneyAnglicans.net has this tribute.
Top image: BGEA. Second image – Billy with Archbishop Marcus Loane at the 1968 Sydney Crusade, courtesy of Ramon Williams.
History Bytes – Remembering Sir Marcus Loane
“I was Rector of Berridale. The clergy of the Monaro were invited to dinner in the Cooma Rectory to meet Sir Marcus Loane, then Archbishop of Sydney and Primate of Australia. I found him a shy and reserved person, but when Church history was the subject his face lit up. …”
– On the Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn website, Fr. Robert Wilson remembers a great man.
Related:
From Strength to Strength — A Life of Marcus Loane by Allan M. Blanch reviewed at Australian Presbyterian.
(Photo courtesy of Ramon Williams.)
Prominent Anglicans honoured
“The Reverend Dr David Claydon and Lawyer Garth Blake are among Sydney Anglicans named on the 2018 Australia Day Honours list.
Included in the list are 641 recipients of awards in the General Division of the Order of Australia who have been recognised for contributions and service to fellow citizens in Australia and internationally. …”
– SydneyAnglicans.net has the details. (Thanks to Ramon Williams for the photos.)
Cathedral to remember “Mr. Eternity” Arthur Stace, 50 years on
This Sunday (30th July) marks the 50th anniversary of the homecalling of Arthur Stace, the man who wrote “Eternity” on the streets of Sydney from 1932 until 1966.
He died at Hammondville Nursing Home on the evening of Sunday 30th July 1967.
On Sunday, Arthur Stace will be remembered at a special service at St. Andrew’s Cathedral at 10:30am.
Why did he write “Eternity” right across our city? What happened to change him from a life of alcohol and crime and hopelessness? Was he a mystic or a loner? This Sunday, hear the wonderful news he discovered, and understand what drove this humble Sydney icon.
(He’s also being remembered, this Sunday and next, in the western suburbs. Is your church doing something? Let the webmaster know.)
Photo of Arthur Stace by Les Nixon, via Ramon Williams, used by permission. Taken at Burton Street Tabernacle, 27 December 1952. Right hand photo: the Eternity memorial in Town Hall Arcade.
Related: The Eternity waterfall after 40 years – 12th July 2017.
The Eternity waterfall after 40 years
Forty years ago, the Eternity plaque at the waterfall in Sydney Square was unveilled.
On Tuesday, 12th July 1977, The Sydney Morning Herald’s Column 8 wrote:
“TRUE to his words of last November, Ridley Smith, the Sydney Square architect, has immortalised the late Arthur Stace, ‘Mr Eternity’. You may recall that Column 8 campaigned unashamedly for a suitable memorial to Mr Stace, Sydney’s footpath evangelist for 20 years until 1967. Ridley Smith promised it without strings.
TODAY, the memorial above will be officially unveilled (a small explanatory plaque is yet to come). Yesterday Column 8 had an informal peek. Mr Stace would be proud. There, set in aggregate near the Sydney Square waterfall, in letters almost 21cm (8 in) high, is the famous copperplate message. ‘Eternity’. The one-word sermon gleams in wrought aluminium. There’s no undue prominence. No garish presentation. Merely the simple ‘Eternity’ on the pebbles, as Arthur Stace would have wanted it.”
In 1994, journalist Alan Gill wrote, “The waterfall adjoins a modest cafeteria. [The Architect of St. Andrew’s House and Sydney Square, Ridley] Smith once told me that he hoped visitors would say ‘Meet you at Eternity’ as well as ‘Meet you in Eternity’.” (1)
Ridley Smith (pictured) was named for evangelist John G. Ridley, who was a friend of his father. In November 1932, Arthur Stace had been in the congregation at the Burton Street Tabernacle in Darlinghurst when John Ridley preached on the need to be ready for eternity. It was this sermon which inspired Stace to begin his 34 year campaign of writing that word on the streets of Sydney.
Arthur Stace died on 30 July 1967, fifty years ago this month.
Did the ‘small explanatory plaque’ mentioned by Column 8 ever appear? In 1994, Alan Gill wrote that some complained “the present inscription is ‘out of the way’ and doesn’t explain who Arthur Stace was. Other admirers of Arthur disagree. They believe the ‘odd’ location of the present tribute and the absence of an explanation are part of that blend of mystery and surprise that ‘Mr Eternity’ himself would appreciate.”
(Top photo showing the waterfall on the day of the unveilling, and the photo of Architect Ridley Smith in 2009, courtesy Ramon Williams, Worldwide Photos. Ramon adds, “Ridley Smith sprinkled water around the ‘Eternity’ replica so as to help photograph it.” While the pavement around the memorial has been replaced, “Eternity” on the pebbles remains, as seen in this 2014 photo.)
(1) Alan Gill, “Sydney’s Phantom Preacher”, The Catholic Weekly, 31 August 1994.
The Remarkable Mr. Graham
Billy Graham turned 98 yesterday. Christianity Today gives thanks.
(Photo: Billy Graham with Archbishop Marcus Loane in Sydney in 1979 — courtesy Ramon Williams.)
From Here to Eternity: Giving thanks for Arthur Stace, 49 years on
Today, 30th July 2016, is the 49th anniversary of the home-calling of Arthur Stace.
Remembered today as ‘Mr. Eternity’, Arthur Stace committed his life to asking the men and women of Sydney to consider where they will spend eternity. His ‘one word sermon’ was written in yellow crayon on the streets of Sydney for three decades – until ill health prevented him.
Stace was also a keen evangelist, and was seen on Saturday nights preaching from the Open Air Campaigners van parked on the corner of George and Bathurst Streets in Sydney.
He was no eccentric, and there is no secret about his motives. He wanted men and women to place their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The 50th anniversary of Stace’s death, 30th July 2017, falls on a Sunday.
This is an excellent opportunity for churches to remind the people of Sydney of his call to consider where they will spend eternity. (It is most appropriate for older Sydney-siders who remember actually seeing his work!)
The next year gives Sydney churches time to consider how they might use this anniversary for the eternal good of the people of our great city.
Top photo courtesy Ramon Williams. Read more about Mr. Eternity here.
Sydney mourns two leaders in Education
We are saddened to learn of the death of The Rev. Canon Stanley Kurrle OBE, sixteenth Headmaster of The King’s School. He died on Wednesday 20th January 2016, at the age of 93.
Canon Kurrle was Headmaster from 1965-1983.
In a message to the school community, the present Headmaster, Dr Timothy Hawkes, wrote,
“During his time at King’s Canon Kurrle was greatly respected for his pastoral care and educational leadership and was loved by his boys. He had the unique capacity to know and never forget his boys, a quality that greatly endeared him to all.”
Canon Kurrle was a long-standing member of the New Universities Colleges Council (NUCC) which founded New College at UNSW and Robert Menzies College at Macquarie University.
His funeral will be held at St. James’ Chapel, Mowll Village, Castle Hill at 11:00am on Friday 29th January.
News has also come of the death of Mr. Roderick West, Head at Trinity Grammar School 1975–1996.
Current Head Master, Milton Cujes, wrote in a message dated 25th January 2016:
“It is with regret that I inform you that we have learned that our much-loved former Head Master, Mr Roderick West AM, M.A.(Syd), B.D. (Lond.), Dip. Ed. (Syd.), F.A.C.E., died this morning. An outstanding teacher of the Classics, and an inspiring leader in Christian education. Mr West was Head Master at Trinity Grammar School from 1975 to July 1996. He was then appointed as interim Principal at Kambala Anglican Girls’ School at Rose Bay from May to December 1999.
Details regarding funeral arrangements will be communicated in due course.”
Many will give thanks for Rod West’s service in his capacity as a Trustee of Thomas Moore’s Estate. In addition, he was a valued member of the governing board of Moore College.
His funeral service will be held at the Trinity Grammar School Chapel, Prospect Road, Summer Hill on Friday 5th February 2016 at 11.00am, followed by morning tea. All clergy requested to robe.
Update: The Sydney Morning Herald has published a very fitting Obituary.
We give thanks to the Lord for these two brothers, and do not mourn as those do who have no hope. (1 Thessalonians 4:13.)
(Top photo: Canon Kurrle in 2014, courtesy of The King’s School.
Second photo: Rod West in 1994, courtesy of Trinity Grammar School, via Ramon Williams Worldwide Photos.)
Funeral of Bishop John Reid — 14th January
The funeral of Bishop John Reid, who died on Saturday, will be held at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney, at 10:00am on Thursday 14th January 2016. Burial at St. Jude’s Randwick, at 2:00pm.
Details at The Sydney Morning Herald.
1977 photo of Bishop Reid courtesy Ramon Williams, Worldwide Photos.
With thanksgiving for Bishop John Reid
It has been announced that Bishop John Reid, Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Sydney, 1972–1993, has fallen asleep in Christ at the age of 87.
In a tribute posted at SydneyAnglicans.net, Archbishop Glenn Davies said that Bishop Reid,
“will be remembered for being an accomplished Bible teacher, an able administrator and a passionate evangelist. His abilities were internationally recognised through his involvement with the Lausanne Movement as chairman, as well as the missionary organisation Interserve.”
John Reid was ordained in Sydney in 1955, served as Curate at St. Matthew’s Manly (1955-56) and as Rector of Christ Church Gladesville (1956–1969). He was collated as Archdeacon of Cumberland in 1969, and in 1972 was consecrated as Assistant Bishop of Sydney. He was responsible for the South Sydney area of the diocese until his retirement in 1993.
Bishop Reid was passionately concerned to see men and women come to faith in Christ. Many will be unaware, for example, of his behind-the-scenes work to support pastors in Communist Eastern Europe, before the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Bishop Reid is survived by his wife Alison. We will post funeral details here when they become available.
(Top photo: Bishop John Reid visiting St. George’s Hurstville in 1986.
Second photo: Bishop Reid in 1981, courtesy Ramon Williams, Worldwide Photos.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…