AJSAHistoryVol1Iss2 October 2016

SECTION VI – AUTOBIOGRAPHIES AND MEMOIRS

Ellement, Connie and Davidson, Ron. THE DIVIDED KINGDOM. Fremantle, Australia: Fremantle Arts
Centre Press, 1988, 151 pp.

The memoirs of Connie Ellement covered her life on the goldfields of Western Australia and her time
at The Salvation Army’s Girl’s Home at Mosman Park. The narrative told of both pleasant and
unpleasant experiences at the girl’s home and also her use by her mother to bring in extra income.

Gittins, Ross. GITTINS – A LIFE AMONG BUDGETS, BULLDUST AND BASTARDRY. Crows Nest,
Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2015, 344 pp.

Ross Gittins wrote about his life and career which included growing up as a Salvation Army officer’s
child and career as an economic writer. It outlined the famous people and politicians he met and his
view on the economy of Australia.

Gowans, John. THERE’S A BOY HERE… London, UK: International Headquarters of The Salvation Army,
2002, 134 pp.

A personal autobiography was presented by the author. Early life of constant relocation was portrayed
as the normal life of a child of a Salvation Army officer. Military service and life in the training
college of The Salvation Army are both given a chapter as well as information on his mentor, General
Frederick Coutts. Gowan’s relationship and marriage to Gisele Bonhotal was deeply personal.
Information about corps appointments, his poetry and musicals and leadership of territories; including
in Australia and USA reveal his feelings of the people and The Salvation Army in those places. Only a
small chapter is devoted to his time as general.

SECTION VII – CREATIVE PROSE, NOVELS AND POETRY BY SALVATIONISTS

du Plessis, Paul. THE SACRAMENT OF MUSIC – A SELECTION OF POETRY BY PAUL DU PLESSIS.
Upper Norwood, UK: Paul du Plessis, 1987, 32 pp.

The booklet was produced to raise funds for the Upper Norwood Corps Band Instrument Scheme. It
was a collection of poetry on topics which included: music, biblical and Salvation Army themes,
Christian Service and family.

Forster, Ed (ed.). QUOTES OF THE PAST & PRESENT – A COMPILATION OF COLUMNS FROM
THE WAR CRY MAGAZINE. Alexandria, USA: Crest Books, The Salvation Army National
Publications, 2009, 232 pp.

The book was a compilation of quotations from Salvationists and non-Salvations which had appeared
in the United States of America national War Cry. The quotations were all ordered in a thematical
manner and included such topics as; journeys, life, mission, music, salvation, service, sin, etc.

Gilbert, Mavis. SHORT STORIES FOR BIG & LITTLE KIDS. Riverview, Australia: Mavis Gilbert, n.d., 65
pp.

The book was published to raise funds for Salvation Army missionary work throughout the world. It
was a collection of short stories and a number of letters for a factious young person called Tilly.

Gowans, John. O LORD! Sydney, Australia: Salvation Army Australia Eastern Territory, 1994 reprinted
with permission from Salvationist Publishing & Supplies, London, UK, 1981, 84 pp.

The book was a compilation of John Gowan’s pray poems originally printed in the War Cry (London).
Personal and sometimes comical poems directed as prayers but also to make people think.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 101

Gowans, John. O LORD NOT MORE VERSE! London, UK: the General of The Salvation Army, 1999, 78
pp.
The book was a compilation of John Gowan’s prayer poems. Personal and sometimes comical poems
directed as prayers but also to make people think.

SECTION VIII – PLAYS, POEMS, NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES ABOUT THE SALVATION
ARMY
Darbyshire, Bramwell. THE NEW WOODLAND CITADEL. Stibbington, UK: Cambridge Devotional

Directives, 1999, 155 pp.
The book was both a repeat of and addition to the earlier work, Woodland Citadel published in 1959.
It was a compilation of short stories for children about a Salvation Army Citadel made up of woodland
animals. These animals took the leadership of the corps and engaged with their community in a
number of funny ways. The drawings were also from the earlier work and were created by James
Moss.
Flynn, Katie. STRAWBERRY FIELDS. Reading, UK: Arrow Books, 1998; UK: William Heinemann, 1996;
UK: Mandarin Paperbacks, 1997, 521 pp.
One of the main characters of the novel, Sara Cordwainer became a Salvationist and worked in The
Salvation Army children’s home, Strawberry Fields. Here she met the sister of her friend, a young
Irish man and his secrets are revealed.
Gainsford, Ian. DRAMA WORKS – SCRIPTS VOLUME ONE. Wellington, NZ: Creative Ministries
Department of The Salvation Army, 1997, 94 pp, 2nd edition, 2000, 200 pp.
Gainsford, Ian. DRAMA WORKS – SCRIPTS VOLUME TWO. Wellington, NZ: Creative Ministries
Department of The Salvation Army, 2000, 84 pp.
Gainsford, Ian. SCRIPTURE PRESENTATIONS: CREATIVE WAYS TO PRESENT THE BIBLE.
Wellington, NZ: Creative Ministries Department of The Salvation Army, 1999, 45 pp.
The three books listed above contained plays which presented scriptural truths.
Books discovered since the previous edition
Brown, Callum G. THE DEATH OF CHRISTIAN BRITAIN – UNDERSTANDING SECULARISATION
1800-2000. London, UK: Routledge, 2001, 256 pp.
The book was written following research on secularisation. The author argued, using examples of The
Salvation Army and other faith based movements that it was not secularisation but the 1960s cultural
revolution which decimated religion in the UK.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 102

BOOK REVIEW
A HARROWING ADVENTURE OF CHRISTIAN SOCIAL JUSTICE

Reviewed by
David Malcolm Bennett
Cathy Le Feuvre, The Armstrong Girl: A Child for Sale, (Oxford, UK: Lion Hudson, 2015),
224. ISBN: 9780745956992 (e-book: 9780745968216). Available at SP&S online store
http://www.sps-shop.com/book-the-armstrong-girl-11123-p.asp for £9.99.1

This is a difficult book to read, at least in some respects. But it tells a story of great
importance and considerable relevance to us today. The Armstrong Girl is not difficult because it is
hard to read or badly written but because the story is so harrowing.

Victorian England was Christian. Yet is any country Christian? Certainly some of the things
that went on behind the scenes in nineteenth century Britain were horrific and deeply disturbing.
One of the worst was child prostitution, and the Armstrong girl could well have become a child
prostitute. Instead she became a pawn in a campaign to raise the age of consent and attack the
exploitation of the children of the poor.

In 1885 Bramwell Booth, then second-in-command of The Salvation Army, and W. T. Stead,
editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, became aware of children being sold into sexual slavery and, in
some cases, being sent to brothels overseas. With the aid of others, who were mainly Christian, they
hatched a clever plan to combat this. They “bought” thirteen-year old Eliza Armstrong from her
mother and sent her to a brothel in London, where Stead greeted her. They later transported her to
Paris, into the care of Salvationists, to show that it could be done. Various safety factors were put in

Reference citation of this paper
David Malcolm Bennett, “Book review, A harrowing adventure of Christian social justice”, The Australasian
Journal of Salvation Army History, 1, 2, 2016, 103-104.
1 Please note that this was accurate at the time of publication of this journal.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 103

place, to make sure that the girl would not be harmed and that they could not be accused of criminal
behaviour.

Then Stead launched forth with his “Maiden Tribute to Modern Babylon” campaign in the
Gazette. It was vivid. It was dramatic. It was an early example of tabloid journalism at its most
graphic. And it caused a great stir. Initially there was considerable criticism and some shops refused
to sell the paper after the first edition. But as the week of articles progressed the tide turned, and
with the support of many, including numerous church groups, the cry burst forth to end this terrible
business.

The main result was to raise the age of consent in Britain from 13 to 16, which it still is today.
Earlier proposals to raise the age of consent had failed in the House of Commons, so this was a
major success.

But then things began to go wrong. They had technically committed a crime. They had broken
the law, so in spite of their safeguards two court cases resulted, and Stead, Bramwell Booth and
others were put on trial. Bramwell was found not guilty, Stead received six months in jail. Others
were also imprisoned or lost their jobs because of their part in this campaign. Wickedly, those who
made a living out of this evil trade escaped prosecution.

But in spite of these setbacks, the raising of the age of consent was a major achievement. This
campaign also focused much needed attention on the terrible traffic of young girls for the pleasure
of rich men. It made people aware of what before had been hidden behind a cloak of respectability.

Cathy Le Feuvre tells this traumatic story and she tells it well. (I have written and lectured on
Eliza Armstrong and the dramatic events surrounding her, but Cathy has taught me a thing or two.2)
In fact, Ms Le Feuvre sews the pieces of the story together cleverly and clearly, which is not easy in
this complicated affair. Her writing is good and her story compelling.

What is more, this story is very relevant to the age in which we live. Young girls and boys are
still sold into sexual slavery. Christians need to be aware of that and seek to fight it. It is also an
encouragement to us to bear in mind that when Christians band together en masse even changing
bad laws is possible.3

2 See for example, David Malcolm Bennett, “‘The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon’ Affair”, The Australasian
Journal of Salvation Army History, 1, 2, 2016, 53-71.
3 This review first appeared in the Fall 2015 issue of The Pneuma Review and has been used with permission of the
author and the publisher. See: http://pneumareview.com/cathy-le-feuvre-the-armstrong-girl-a-child-for-sale/

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 104

Envoy John Coutts with one of his published books Saints Alive!1

1 Photograph supplied by the author

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 105

MEET THE AUTHOR ~ JOHN COUTTS

Writing about The Salvation Army and by Salvationists are often referenced, cited, criticised and
evaluated without the knowledge of the author, their entire works or motivation. In an attempt to
introduce the authors of Salvation Army works to their readership The Australasian Journal of
Salvation Army History will, from time to time, ask authors to contribute this section of the
publication, “Meet the Author”. The first is from a well-know British Salvationist author who has
written a number of books and contributed to many Salvation Army publications.

By
John Coutts

My life

I was born in Clydebank, Scotland – then a great centre of ship building – where my parents
were Salvation Army officers. We moved south when my father was appointed to International
Headquarters in London, and so my earliest memories are of Southend-on-Sea, by the Thames
Estuary. When the Second World War broke out, our home was requisitioned by the navy, and my
father – the future General Frederick Coutts – found a house twenty miles north of London, near the
historic city of St Albans, in what was still a semi-rural area. I grew up in the St. Albans Corps and
have paid tribute – in some of my poems – to some of the good people who showed me the reality of
Christian love. I became a soldier of The Salvation Army and have never seriously considered joining
another denomination.

I was educated at St Albans School – a centuries old institution – and came to specialise in
language and literature. Those were the days of National Service, and after much thought decided not
to register as a conscientious objector. While in the Royal Air Force I qualified as a Russian
Interpreter – hence my lifelong interest in the Russian language.

After studying English Language and Literature at Oxford University, where I gained First
Class Honours – I entered The William Booth Memorial College in London. I felt that I had a clear
vocation to officership, but had strong reservations about making the commitment not to publish
without the General’s permission. In 1958 I was commissioned, and went on to undertake further
studies at Kings College London gaining the degree of Bachelor of Divinity in 1960. In the same year
I married Lieutenant Heather Cooper, whom I had met through The Salvation Army Students
Fellowship. Shortly afterwards, we sailed away to Nigeria to serve as missionaries.

In Nigeria I served as principal of The Salvation Army Secondary School, Akai, and then as
principal of The Salvation Army Training College in Lagos. I also acted as general secretary of the
Christian Council of Nigeria during the civil war. In 1969 we returned to the United Kingdom where
I undertook postgraduate studies in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. My PhD
thesis was on the Acts of the Apostles. Later appointments included: corps officer at Ealing Citadel,
editor of The soldier’s armoury2 at International Headquarter and territorial youth secretary in
Scotland.

Reference citation of this paper
John Coutts, “Meet the author – John Coutts”, The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, 1, 2, 2016,
105-110.
2 Coutts was writer of The soldier’s armoury, which is now Words of life a Bible reading plan with commentary
published by The Salvation Army twice a year, from 1975 to 1976. See for example John Coutts, The soldier’s armoury
- January to June 1975, (London, UK: Hodder and Stoughton and The Salvation Army, 1975).; John Coutts, The
soldier’s armoury - July to December 1976, (London, UK: Hodder and Stoughton and The Salvation Army, 1976).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 106

Covers of John Coutt’s final and first Soldier’s Armoury and his name in the title page
(see footnote 2 for referencing information, from Garth R. Hentzschel’s Private Collection)
In 1977 my book The Salvationist3– a study of contemporary Salvation Army life – was
published by Mowbrays. I had been invited to write the book and had already exercised a good deal
of self censorship. However it was impossible to avoid consideration of The Army’s controversial
relationship with The World Council of Churches and its position in relation to apartheid in South
Africa. Then I discovered that cuts were made in the text without informing or consulting me – an
action which I thought denied my right to keep silent. This led to my resignation from officership.
Heather was deemed to have resigned with me – though she refused to do so.
I managed to find work as a teacher of Religious Education at Hawick High School in the
Scottish Borders, and then moved to Avery Hill College, which later became the University of
Greenwich, in London, where I lectured in theology and worked in teacher training. I took early
retirement in 1997. Since 2004 we have lived at Stirling in Scotland, and I have worked as a
freelance.4 In The Salvation Army I hold the rank of envoy and am a soldier at Stirling Corps.

A recent example of John Coutts’ work in the British Salvationist Magazine

3 John Coutts, The Salvationist, (Oxford, UK: Mowbrays, first published 1977, paperback 1978).
4 See for example, John Coutts, “Thinkaloud – Signing to be a soldier”, Salvationist, (London, UK: No. 1536, 30
January, 2016), 9.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 107

My Writing

Textbooks and educational

My first published work was in the field of Christian Education. With the international
Salvation Army, I wrote Our faith and theirs5 and This we believe6. I also helped to edit the Salvation
Army song book in the Efik language of South Eastern Nigeria.

For the West African School Certificate, I produced Prophets and kings of Israel7 and How the
Christian faith began8 by Longman. The latter was an early attempt to write a text book that would
be relevant to the African scene: it included a contribution from P.E.S Thompson – a scholar from
Sierra Leone. It was composed at the same time as I was writing my Ph.D. thesis on The Acts of the
Apostles.

My most recent publication for The Salvation Army is Saints Alive! - a brief history of the
Christian Church.9 This was intended to mark the millennium, AD 2000, but finally appeared in 2007.
It was planned as a companion to Our faith and theirs, and This we believe, and aimed to provide a
readable explanation – for second language users – of the place of The Salvation Army in the
universal church.

Poetry and drama

My primary interest has always been in poetry and drama. After receiving encouragement –
and a ‘startup’ gift of £100 from Colonel Catherine Baird – I began marketing my own work under
the imprint, Robert Greene Publishing, now shortened to RG Publishing. This is a non-profit venture;
it may not make money, but it doesn’t lose money either. There is no point in printing your own work
if you can’t sell it.

I have composed a Christmas poem for many years and these have grown into A sackful of plays
and poems for Christmas10. The latest edition was issued in 2008 and is now just about out of print.
The contents are meant for performance as well as for reading.

A garland for the Passion11 is a collection of Easter poems – including a series of dramatic
monologues spoken by characters who play a part in the Easter story. It was commissioned by Scottish
Television – but in the end – for financial reasons – never broadcast.

Lines of a lifetime12 contains my collected poems and was published by The Handsel Press in
2010.

5 John Coutts, Our faith and theirs – The Christian looks at other people’s beliefs, Challenge Books, (London, UK:
International Headquarters of The Salvation Army, 1965, ninth ed. 1983, revised, 1990).
6 John J. Coutts, This we believe – A study of the background and meaning of Salvation Army doctrines, Challenge
Books, (St Alban, UK: The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 1976, 1980).
7 John Coutts, Prophets and kings of Israel, (London, UK: Longmans, 1969). Longmans is not owned by Prentice Hall
Press.
8 John Coutts, How the Christian faith began, (London, UK: Longman, 1973).
9 John Coutts, Saints alive! – A brief history of the Christian Church, (London, UK: Salvation Books, The Salvation
Army International Headquarters, 2007).
10 John Coutts, A sackful of plays and poems for Christmas, (Stirling, UK: RG Publishing, 1986, enlarged and reprinted,
2008).
11 John Coutts, A garland for the passion – Poems for Easter, (Kent, UK: Robert Greene Publishing, 1992, reprinted
1997; Stirling, UK: RG Publishing, 2001, 2009).
12 John Coutts, Lines of a lifetime – Collected poems, (Haddington, UK: Handsel, 2010).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 108

I have written numerous playscripts, among those on Christian themes are a passion play Who
shouted Hosanna?13 and The William Tyndale worship file.14
Broadcasting

I have been freelancing with the BBC for over thirty years. I have written many educational
scripts for Schools radio, and since the rise of the internet have followed this up with work published
online by Optimus Education.
Translation

As a translator from Russian, I have been a major contributor to The complete works of
Alexander Pushkin in English,15 published in 15 volumes by Milner, to mark the Millennium year
2000. Other works, such as Prophets and kings, This we believe, and Our faith and theirs have been
translated from English into other languages.
My work at present, 2016

As a performer I present A box of surprises – an entertainment in poetry and storytelling. I am
Poet in Residence at The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum.

John Coutts with his ‘box of surprises’16
I write an occasional column for the Salvationist magazine, United Kingdom Territory, under
the title ‘Thinkaloud’.17 This discusses topical questions of theology and ethics in a popular style. I
also contribute a regular morning ‘Thought for the Day’ on BBC Radio Scotland.

13 John Coutts, Who shouted Hosanna? – Poetry and drama for Easter, (Stirling, UK: Robert Greene Publishing, 2004).
14 John Coutts, The William Tyndale worship file, (Penrith, UK: Robert Greene Publishing, 1994, enlarged 1995,
reprinted 2003).
15 John Coutts (contributor), The Complete Works of Alexander Pushkin: Critical and autobiographical prose, (London,
UK: Milner ad Company,1999).
16 Photograph supplied by the author
17 See for example, John Coutts, “Thinkaloud – Signing to be a soldier”, Salvationist, (London, UK: No. 1536, 30
January, 2016), 9.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 109

And finally..a memoir.

John Coutts latest published work
Was that me? Memories of a long spent youth, was published by The Handsel Press in 2016.
Do please visit my website: www.johncoutts.info, contact [email protected] or write to 138
Ladysneuk Road, Stirling, FK9 5NR, Scotland. UK

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 110

MILIEU AND CONTEXT:
TOWARDS A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF
RELIGIOUS CHANGE ON THE SUNSHINE COAST

By
Ray Kerkhove

Much has been written about the history of Christianity or its denominations. The resultant
historiography usually discusses broad religious issues and trends of the times. This is essential for
understanding how and why various churches arose and changed. Surprisingly, local religious history
rarely ventures into this subject. Instead, local studies concentrate on a single denomination, or even
the story of a single church community.

This year’s Salvation Army History Symposium was held at Maroochydore on the Sunshine
Coast, Queensland. In an effort to better contextualise the appearance and growth of The Salvation
Army in this region, this paper reconstructs the Sunshine Coast’s ‘religious environment’ across the
broad sweep of religious developments at the time and into today. The author especially seeks to
present the social and cultural forces that shaped the changes that occurred.

Before 1842: Indigenous landforms and bora grounds

As would be true of any part of Australia, at first the only spirituality on the Sunshine Coast was
Indigenous. It involved initiations, Dreaming stories, ceremonial and funerary sites – mostly centred
on animals and landforms of the Glasshouse Mountains, Noosa Heads and the Maroochy River, the
latter involving Dunethin Rock, Mudjimba Island, Mt Ninderry and Mt Coolum.

A characteristic of Aboriginal religion in south-east Queensland and north-east (coastal) New
South Wales was the building and use of a variety of earthen ring bora (ceremonial) grounds. At least
40 bora grounds were in use on the Sunshine Coast before the Europeans arrived (see Map 1
Aboriginal Spiritual Centres). These were a focus for ceremonial dances, initiations and a great deal
of social activity and art connected with spirituality – body painting, scarification, the carving and
painting of surrounding trees, the construction of earthworks and wooden poles and platforms, the
fashioning of clay and grass figures. Sometimes people camped nearby - kippers’ (young initiates’)
huts were observed in the vicinity of Toorbul bora ring. Toorbul drew up to 2,000 visitors from the
Brisbane, Noosa, and Cooloola regions, and dates to around 1 AD.1

The other characteristic of the Sunshine Coast’s Indigenous religion was its emphasis on the
bunya festival. This event occurred during bumper crops of the bunya tree’s nuts. The bunya tree
featured in several Dreaming stories.2 It was “their holy tree.”3 The associated gatherings were a sort
of Yuletide for all groups of northern and western New South Wales and southern and central

Reference citation of this paper
Ray Kerkhove, “Milieu and context: Towards a comprehensive history of religious change on the Sunshine
Coast”, The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, 1, 2, 2016, 111-129.
The paper was presented at ‘History – Our Wake Up Call?’, Salvation Army History Symposium 22-24 July 2016,
Maroochydore, Australia, The Salvation Army Eastern Territory Historical Society, Brisbane Chapter.
1 Josephine Flood, The Riches of Ancient Australia: A Journey into Prehistory, (St. Lucia, Australia: University of
Queensland, 1990), 138-9.
2 E.G. Heap, “In the Wake of the Raftsmen: Survey of Early Settlement in the Maroochy District up to the Passing of
Macalister’s Act 1868: Part 1,” Queensland Heritage, (Vol. 1, Iss. 3, November, 1965), 4.10.
3 “Royal Society of Queensland,” The Queenslander, (Brisbane, Saturday, 24 November, 1894), 986.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 111

Queensland.4 Anywhere from 700 to 20,000 Aboriginals “made the pilgrimage”5 to the pockets of
bunya scrub - mostly in the Blackall Ranges - especially Baroon Pocket (now Baroon Dam) at
Maleny, and the Bunya Mountains. They approached along set “bunya trails”6 – a journey that took
many months, involving set stops and ceremonies. It culminated in “great meetings” – “huge picnics”7
– at the bunya centres themselves: initiations, trade, corroborees, tournaments, marriage-
arrangements and so on. The event was also an armistice, and each gathering ended with all
participants making peace - parting as “excellent friends” - and exchanging possessions.8

(Map developed by the author)

4 See Heather Sullivan, Aboriginal Gatherings in South East Queensland, (Canberra, Australia: BA Honours Thesis,
ANU, 1977).; J. Zillman, In the Land of the Bunya, (Sydney, Australia: W. Dryrock, 1899).
5 Stephen Jones, A Submerged History: Baroon, Aborigines and White Invasion, (Maleny, Australia: Stephen Jones,
1990), 19.
6 L. Satterhwaite & Andrew Heather, “Determinants of Earth Circle Site Location in the Moreton Region, Southeast
Queensland,” in H. J. Hall (ed), Queensland Archaeology Research, (Dept. of Anthropology, University of Queensland
Vol. 4, December, 1987), 21. The usual figure given is 500 – 700, but the Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Australia, 5
May, 1847), S3, reported that gatherings of 5000 had been common in the past.
7 C.C. Petrie, Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland, (Brisbane, Australia: Angus & Robinson, 1983), 11-16.
8 Jones, A Submerged History, 19, 22, 56.

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1842-1860: Earliest Christians and the
‘Sacred Bunya Reserve’

The first presence of Christians on the
Sunshine Coast was inter-twined with the
sacred ‘bunya lands.’ The explorer
Ludwig Leichhardt was a devout
Lutheran and probably the first person to
pray in the bush here. He was religiously
moved by his encounter with the heartland
of Baroon. Before it was submerged in the
current dam, the area consisted of a clear
creek flowing over boulders through a
beautiful open woodland valley within a
majestic gorge, crowned on all sides by
towering bunya trees:

But what can I say about the Bunya (Map developed by the author)
Bunya brush? …About this majestic

tree whose trunk seems like a pillar
supporting the vault of Heaven? About
its (cones)… their fall, sound(ing) far

through the silence of the brush…?
What am I to say about this multitude

of plants and shrubs and rare trees that
grow (here)?9

Around the same time as Leichhardt, the Gosner (German) missionaries from Nundah arrived at

Baroon, hoping to establish a mission base there for converting Aboriginals. Although normally

reticent when it came to emotions, they said they had found “paradise.”10 Similarly, a Brisbane

pioneer - Andrew Petrie - visited Baroon and was so impressed that he went to Sydney to persuade

the colony’s Governor, Sir George Gipps and convinced him to proclaim the entire area a Reserve.11

Thus not only the Blackall Ranges, but the entire district we now call the Sunshine Coast12 began its

European history as a Reserve dedicated to Aboriginal spiritual practices! This was unprecedented in

Australia colonial history (see Map II 1840s – 1860s).

However, the Bunya Reserve proved a brittle entity. It had only just been granted when the

poisoning of scores of their people at Kilcoy sparked a guerrilla war against settlers by about 14 of

the tribes. Bunya gatherings at Baroon became the venue for declaring and planning this war. On

account of this, the missionaries scrapped their idea of a mission at Baroon. The Bunya Reserve

became a fearful place, loathed by whites as being full of “sanctuaries for aggressive Aborigines.”13

9 M. Aurousseau (ed), The Letters of Ludwig Leichhardt (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1968), 704.
10 Jones, A Submerged History, 14.
11 Reverend Joseph Tainton, Marutchi – The Early History of the Sunshine Coast, (no publication information, c1982),
18.
12 Heap, “In the Wake of the Raftsmen,” 4.
13 Malcolm D. Prentis, Science, Race and Faith: A Life of John Matthews, 1849 – 1929, (Sydney Australia: Centre for
the Study of Australian Christianity, 1998), 22-23.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 113

This situation was not helped by squatters ignoring the restrictions on entry - some cattle runs cutting
into the inland areas of the Bunya Bunya Reserve by the 1850s.14

Tiny chapels: domestic faith of the timber getters (1870s)

As a consequence of aggressions launched from the Bunya Reserve, 1860 marked a turning point in
the Sunshine Coast’s religious history. Queensland separated from New South Wales and one of the
new Colony’s firsts acts was to pass the Unoccupied Crown Lands Occupation Act 1860, mostly to
repeal the Bunya Bunya Reserve. This allowed mounted police and Native Police, who were already
conducting “patrols” into the area, easier access, and also carved up the district into half a dozen
unfenced cattle runs of 15,000 to 30,000 acres each. These were later split, again, into smaller plots
by the 1880s. The runs’ dense forests and swamps limited mustering to more open edges, meaning
these vast estates usually had just 600 head of cattle each. This hardly mattered, as their real prize
and revenue was timber.15 Indeed, the Sunshine Coast with its vast stands of fine, diverse forests
became a de facto timber reserve. “Timber ports”, consisting of a jetty and a few huts emerged to
serve this industry, eventually becoming the towns of Mooloolaba, Yandina, Tewantin, Maroochy,
Nambour, Cooroy, and Bli Bli.

Cattlemen and timber-getters lived a wild, nomadic existence, residing in very primitive bark
huts. Most had little time or interest in religion. Until the 1880s, religious practice either occurred as
Bible readings and prayers in private homes, or as services in makeshift bark chapels. There was one
at Gympie, the Diggers’ Bethel responding to gold diggers’ needs, and a bark chapel at Yandina
which was used by a variety of denominations. The latter still survives, much renovated, as All Saints
Anglican.

Failed Missions (1870s-1880s)

Between 1840 and 1880, Australian Christians clung to the dream of converting the indigenous
population en masse.16 It was a dream that failed across the entire continent, largely due to the cultural
ignorance of the day, that is, the insistence that Aboriginal people “civilise” or become Westernised
farmers before they convert. Another hurdle was the collaboration that Aboriginal people experienced
between some of the darker forces of invasion and the Christian message.

A number of missionaries came to the Coast specifically to study and convert its inhabitants.
Many were well educated and thus wore several hats: scientist, explorer, anthropologist and writer.
Presbyterian John Mathew spent years with the Kabi and Wakka peoples before his term as Minister
at Coburg (Victoria).17 He was a foremost linguist. Other churchmen-scientists included Reverend
Julian Tenison Woods and Father Duncan McNab. Woods was St Mary MacKillop’s mentor. With
Mary McKillop he ran retreats around Woodford and Caboolture. Father McNab, a Jesuit, was Mary
McKillop’s cousin, thus the Coast had a link to the dawn of both the Queensland Jesuits and the
Josephite Order.

14 Heap, “In the Wake of the Raftsmen,” 8.
15 P.L. Lloyd, “Introduction,” Noosa Shire Handbook – An Inventory of the Agricultural Resources and Products of
Noosa Shire, Queensland (Brisbane: Qld. Department of Primary Industries, 1981), 1.
16 Hilary M. Carey, Believing in Australia: A Cultural History of Religions, (St. Leonards, Australia: Allen & Unwin,
1996), 53.
17 Prentis, Science, Race and Faith, 4-5.

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(Map developed by the author)

By the 1870s, the churches were ready to create actual establishments. Most notable were the
unsuccessful forays of the Reverend Edward Fuller, a Primitive Methodist, at Lake Weyba, Laguna
Bay (Noosa), Fraser Island and Bribie Island (White Patch/ Mission Point). Father McNab had more
success with Durundur towards Woodford. It ran from 1877 to 1901. These missions were important
as the first places Aboriginal people learnt to read and write. They were also some of the first centres
of farming and pioneering areas of the Sunshine Coast. Durundur Reserve, for example, had a small
herd of cattle and provided a good portion of the region’s labour for land-clearing, stock work and
timber-getting.18

Quaker Communities (1867-1890s)

The local sugar industry; the towns of Buderim, Mooloolah, Bli Bli, Flaxton, Perwillion and
Rosemount; the region’s first schools: all these began with the Society of Friends (Quakers). Like the

18 Reserve at Durundur for Aboriginals, To the Secretary for Public Lands, Paper to Legislative Assembly of
Queensland, (30 October, 1882), 1.

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Pilgrim Fathers of America, the Coast’s Quakers were exiles from religious troubles. They were
fleeing a split that had erupted in 1867 amongst Sydney’s Quakers. The rift was so intense that
Quakers came from around Australia and England to try to heal it. Two camps formed, the original
‘Devonshire Street group’ and a breakaway group based at Pitt Street. Members of the ‘Pitt Street
group’ decided to make a new start in Queensland.

It was these five men, and eventually their families, who established the first sugar plantations
in the region. Between 1868 and 1870 the Quaker settlement along Mooloolah Flat and Petrie Creek/
Maroochy River was established.19 The area became known as “Friend’s Farm” after the ‘Society of
Friends’ being a name for the Quaker church. The Quakers’ clusters of slab huts fostered a network
of interdependence.20 Their sugar mill was their main source of income, providing the region’s sugar
needs.21

The community did not have their own place of worship. They conducted their meetings and
marriages in Brisbane, but they did host Quaker missionaries, and the high standard of education and
cultural activities around Buderim today is part of the legacy of the impact of the Quakers.22 As early
as 1873 they formed a Lodge and Library with 14 members.23 Quakers also formed the region’s first
school at Buderim, July 1875.24 Another “small flourishing village” was founded by the Quaker
Mitchell brothers at Rosemount, near Nambour. It boasted its own post office, school and store25 and
bore the name Sylvania, from Pennsylvania in the United States of America. Sylvania began the
district’s first regular transport and the first mail service in 1885.26 All this is remarkable considering
how remote and tiny the Quaker group was.

Islanders’ traditional faith (1870s-1890s)

Sugar’s triumph on the Sunshine Coast owed as much to the hard yakka (work) of South Sea Islanders
known as ‘Kanakas’.27 Large numbers of mostly single young men were ‘imported’ from Vanuatu,
the Loyalty Islands and other places; some were virtually enslaved while others volunteered to live
and work at Buderim, Mooloolah, Diddillibah and Nambour. They arrived with traditional beliefs
intact, although some individuals had experienced Christian missionaries on the islands. The Quakers
tolerated some of their practices, arranging for “pig feasts” to be held, especially down at Mooloolaba
on Sundays.28 Some performed “sing sings’ in Brisbane.29 When Quaker Joseph Neaves visited the
Kanaka hamlets, twenty years after the Islanders’ first arrival, he found them “mostly heathen....
spending their Sundays in swimming and fishing.”30

19 Bernis Alcorn & Robert Dunn, Moreton Sugar Mill- Sweet Heart of Nambour, (Nambour, Australia: no publication
information, 1997), 7.
20 Helen Gregory, Making Maroochy: A History of the Land, the People and the Shire, (Nambour, Australia: Boolarong,
1991), 28.
21 Tainton, Marutchi, 128-9.
22 Gregory, Making Maroochy, 5, 19, 28.
23 Notes of Joseph C Dixon’s Reminiscences and Journal of Canambie Plant, (MSS Buderim Historical Cottage). See
also Stan Tutt, “Preachers on Horseback Bring God to the Bush,” Sunshine Coast Daily, (September 1988), 18.
24 “Schools Spread over Coast,” Nambour Chronicle, 75th Anniversary Supplement, (1 August, 1978), 49.
25 “Sylvania,” Moreton Mail, (19 April, 1889).
26 Ross Mitchell, Mitchell Family, (Canberra: no publication information, 1996), 17-20.
27 Tamsin O’Connor, Buderim Foote Sanctuary, (Buderim, Australia: Eric Joseph Foote War Memorial Sanctuary
Association, 1998), 20.
28 Dixon’s Reminiscences, 1984.
29 Ray Evans, Kay Saunders & Kathryn Crone, Race Relations in Colonial Queensland: A History of Exclusion,
Exploitation and Extermination (2nd Ed), (St. Lucia, Australia: University of Queensland Press, 1988), 204.
30 Mitchell, Mitchell Family, 35.

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However, the backbone of Melanesian religions graded secret societies, elaborate exchange
networks (kula etc.) and associated ceremonial feasts could not survive without initiated elders. At
any rate the Islanders came from several diverse groups, each with its own beliefs. A few traditional
occultists and healers are said to have been active in community well into the 20th century, as use of
words such as su (magical object) and mausang (sorcery) show.31 A roughly-worked stone image
found face down in a former Kanaka cane field sits now at the Buderim Historical Cottage. It appears
to be a ‘spirit stone’ of the type Vanuatu Islanders placed for magical protection in their fields.

‘Tiny Boxes’ and ‘Union’ Churches (1890s-1920s)

After 1890, ‘closer settlement’ erupted on the Sunshine Coast. This meant mixed farming like dairy
and fruit rather than just pastoralism, and the break-up of the vast cattle/timber runs into smaller
farms. Railways and gravel roads replaced the rough bush tracks. Bark humpies were re-built as solid
timber homesteads. Now a few hamlets appeared, and many ‘Areas.’ ‘Areas’ consisted of clusters of
farms sharing a community hall.32

Accompanying these changes came a spate of church and hall building. From having two or
three bark chapels during the 1870s, by the 1920s the region boasted 100 churches and scores of
community halls which were regularly used for religious purposes. Virtually all these churches and
halls were “small wooden shells without linings or ceilings.”33 Such ‘boxes’ highlighted not only the
tiny size of local congregations but the prevalence of self-contained communities. They were often
built from ‘kit’ template plans, which explains their similarity. Most of the churches and halls were
entirely the work of locals pitching in with their labour and materials in their spare time. Even
furniture and ornaments were mostly made on-the-spot. Thus they exemplify the determination to
have local places of worship.

Nevertheless, so many Sunshine Coast residents were non-religious or lapsed, and pastors were
so few and far between that people had to travel great distances even to these little churches. Clerics
did vast rounds of the district, meaning that a ‘proper’ service occurred only every few months when
the pastor or priest came back to that place. Clergy diaries and letters describe bad roads, long
journeys, unusual venues and the hazards; for example: “like climbing up a wall” of mud for 3 hours
to get to Peachester.34 Some, like the Anglican minister Thomas Beazley (‘the man with the Bible
wagon’) therefore decided it was more practical to use these epic journeys simply to distribute
scriptures and run educative lantern shows.

Faced with such obstacles, and the lack of sufficient persons of any one denomination, some
hamlets and farm clusters formed ‘union churches.’ There were over eight such entities in the area.
These used halls with a schedule of different denominational services at different times. Others
actually created non-denominational community churches.35 Montville even developed a ‘village
green’ where religious business could be conducted, Montville is one of the few Australian towns to
actually have such a thing as a village green (see Map IV 1890s – 1920s).

31 Adele Withers, Report: Preserving historical islander village on Maroochy River Wetlands, (no publication
information, 2000), 36.
32 Daphne Heaton, personal communication, (Nambour, Australia, 2001).
33 Tainton, Marutchi, 147.
34 St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 50 Years 1928-1978, (Nambour, Australia: St Luke’s Lutheran Church, 1978), 11.; H.C.
Beasley, “A month’s work in the North-Coast district,” The Church Chronicle (March, 1902, reprinted in St.
Margaret’s), 10-11.
35 Dave Hankinson, Reminiscence of Maleny, (Nambour, Australia: Maleny & District Centenary Committee, 1978), 20.

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(Map developed by the author)

Ethnic Enclaves (1890s-1920s)

First settlers came from distinct parts of Europe, Asia and the Pacific and found Australia a strange
land. Thus they tended to cluster together for mutual support. This meant that the Sunshine Coast
presented a patchwork of different communities: Finnish (Lutheran/ Orthodox), Scottish (either
Quaker or Presbyterian), German (Lutheran), Indian (largely Sikh), Pacific Islander (Salvation Army,
Anglican or Methodist), or Irish and Italian (Catholic). These religio-ethnic communities were
responsible for opening up entire areas of the Coast including Pomona, Cooran, North Arm, the Mary
Valley, Blackall Ranges (Maleny, Montville) and Bli Bli.

By 1910, there was a Lutheran ‘German town’ at Witta (Teutoberg), a ‘Finnburry’ at Burnside/
Image Flat,36 and a number of Indian hamlets, some unnamed (as at Mt. Eerwah) and others called
‘Poona’, presumably after Pune in Maharastra, India. At Gympie, there was an area of about 600-
1500 Chinese, many working as local shepherds, market gardeners and cooks. The Chinese held
public festivals for New Year and had home shrines but no temple.37 Likewise, Old Ceylon Road at

36 Olavi Koivukanges, Sea, Gold and Sugarcane: Attraction versus Distance – Finns in Australia 1851 – 1947, (Turku:
Int. of Immigration, 1986), 94.
37 Alisa Dawson, “Chinese in the Gympie District,” MSS typescript, (no publication, n.d.).

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Cooran and Cooroy is named after the 500 Singhalese Buddhists38 who worked banana crops here
into the 1920s.39 They lived, planted fruit trees and sometimes even buried their dead in the area.

A ‘spiritual vacuum’ – the crisis for Islanders and Aboriginals (1880s-1890s)

Within twenty to thirty years of arriving in Buderim, crime, suicide and insanity swept through
Kanaka communities across Queensland.40 It seems the Islanders faced a “spiritual vacuum” as
connections with traditional religion weakened. The situation for Aboriginal families was similar.
Deprived of areas wherein they used to perform ceremonies, and often reduced, like the Kanakas to
living on the fringes of society with no opportunities for advancement, they had little time for any
form of spirituality as they coped with poverty, substance abuse, epidemics and overwhelming
injustice. The Indigenous women of the Sunshine Coast now regularly married Islanders, presumably
because so many Aboriginal men had died in massacres and related problems, and perhaps also
because Kanaka men offered slightly more stable lives for their children. Sadly, however, the children
of these unions were in many cases removed by the government to Brisbane for being “mixed”,
Islander-Aboriginal. Nevertheless, the remaining Kanaka-Aboriginal families clung to the Sunshine
Coast in places such as Kenilworth, Glasshouse Mountains, Tewantin, Bli Bli and Mill Hill. This was
as late as the 1910s to 1920s.41 Some even maintained traditional funerals and corroborees. One
corroboree in 1911 at Tewantin was remembered as “a magnificent spectacle.”42

A few churches, especially The Salvation Army and Anglicans became active in providing
education and welfare to address this plight, also protecting these people’s rights by trying to prevent
deportations to Reserves or overseas.43 This resulted in mass conversions by Aboriginals and
Islanders alike. In fact, by as early as 1892, 75% of the Kanaka population could boast a “Christian
education.”44 In gratitude to the Church of England, the Kanaka community pooled their funds to
donate a bell for Nambour’s St. John’s church. This is extraordinary considering the community’s
impoverished state.

‘Salvation Riders’ and the Islander/Aboriginal community (1870s-1900s)

The Salvation Army was very young when it burst onto Australia. It seems to have had a presence on
the Sunshine Coast as early as the 1880s, and by the early 1890s, ‘salvation riders’, pairs of
evangelists on horseback were sent to follow up on this early work. Established churches chased them
out the towns, forcing anyone interested in their message to meet them in the open air which explains
why The Salvation Army held its first service on the Blackall Ranges in Montville’s village green.

Sergeant John Potts, an early Buderim settler and Sergeant Libe, himself a South Sea Islander
pioneered the Army’s work in the Kanaka/ Indigenous community. By 1895 there were meetings and
Bible classes three times a week at Buderim, with mostly Kanaka and Aboriginal attendees. Some of
these Islander newcomers, in their curiosity or yearning, had walked miles to be there. A number of

38 David Hugo, Historian, Noosa Local Studies, personal communication, (Noosa, 2001).
39 Jean Elder, Bald Knob: A Familiar Landscape, (Maleny, Australia: Jean Kenyon Elder, 2000), 60-61.
40 Kay Gittins, The Salvation Army Nambour Corps: 100 years of service on the Sunshine Coast, (Nambour: Salvation
Army Corps, 1994), 8.
41 Jones, A Submerged History, 37-8.; Bennie Alcorn, personal communication, (Nambour, December, 2002).
42 Colin L. Monks, Noosa: The Way It Was and the Way It is Now, (Tewantin: Colin Monks, 2000), 82.
43 P.M. Mercer, White Australia defied: Pacific Islander settlement in North Queensland, (Townsville: James Cook
University, 1995), 13.
44 Mercer, White Australia defied, 10.

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Salvation Army contemporaries commented on the enthusiasm, warmth, zeal and energy of Buderim
Kanakas towards their new-found faith. They would even spend half the night in prayer to farewell
some of the sergeant-majors.45

The Army offered Islanders and Aboriginals levels of freedom, equality and opportunity
unprecedented at that time. The Islanders could, and did, form their own groups with their own flag,
band and drum. They met with and attended talks of Salvation Army luminaries, and freely travelled
to Nambour, Yandina, Gympie and Brisbane to evangelise, worship or help organise church meetings
and festivities. Everywhere, the Buderim Kanakas were quite the stars of the local Army “show,”
drawing large crowds of Europeans, Aboriginal and Islanders alike. It was said that the biggest crowd
Buderim ever witnessed up to that time for any reason whatsoever was on account of a Salvation
Army meetings held by the Kanaka community! The response was even stronger when they brought
their message to Gympie:

Over 800 people crowded the large Gympie I barracks... until the ‘no more room’ cry was raised
and the doors had to be forcibly closed in the faces of a disappointed crowd, who were so eager
for admission that they began to unscrew the hinges.46

Salvation Army Salvation Riders and Aboriginal and South Sea Islander Salvationists at Buderim
(Photographs courtesy of the author)

The Salvation Army became so popular that the Christmas camps it established at Cottontree,
largely to minister to the Aboriginals and Kanakas already frequenting the area, attracted 1,000
attendees; Aboriginal, Kanaka and European.47 As a local ‘old timer’ recalled, The Salvation Army
remained for decades the ‘king pin’ of Cottontree.48 In fact, The Salvation Army effectively founded
the Sunshine Coast’s beach-centred tourism.49 Every Christmas, Nambour became a ghost town on
account of this annual exodus.50 This is remarkable considering how towns of the Sunshine Coast
held just a score to a few hundred residents each. The tradition of Christmas-time camps ministering
to holidaying crowds at Cottontree continues to this day through other church bodies.

45 Gittins, The Salvation Army Nambour Corps, 18
46 Gittins, The Salvation Army Nambour Corps, 18.
47 Gittins, The Salvation Army Nambour Corps, 15.
48 Gittins, The Salvation Army Nambour Corps, 15.
49 Gregory, Making Maroochy, 81.
50 Gympie Times and Mary River Mining Gazette, (Nambour, 4 January, 1898), 3.

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Utopian Seekers and their communities (1890s-1920s)

The economic depression of the 1890s, disastrous floods and droughts in South East Queensland, and
the collapse of Pettigrew’s timber business in 1898, all combined to make the 1890s a difficult time
for the Sunshine Coast. Meanwhile, Socialism and Communism, at this stage just ideologies, excited
many to look for alternatives lifestyles. One result was the Queensland government’s Cooperative
Land Settlement Act of 1893. It encouraged communal and community living. Consequently, to
resettle impoverished and displaced persons, and in pursuit of utopian ideals, Christian as well as
Socialist communal experiments arose.

Attracting most media attention on account of its mishaps, the tee-totalling Woolloongabba
Exemplarites established a commune on the western shores of Lake Weyba. It was inspired by George
Charles Watson, who was sometimes present. He aimed to “uplift” the working class and “morally
create a new earth.”51 Most participants were urban folk made homeless and jobless by the recent
floods and economic depression. Poor soil and the settlers’ lack of skills soon forced the abandonment
of this venture. Another - the Protestant Unity Group Co-operative – flourished around Federal, near
Pomona.52 Some from Exemplarites moved to the Unity Group Co-operative. The latter group was
more successful, largely because it slowly ceased being a commune and turned into the current towns
of Pomona and Federal.

Into the 1910s and early 1920s, more communal groups were established often with less
religious motivation. Firstly, there were additional communities established at Bli Bli by ‘refugees’
from a Finnish socialist experiment by Matti Kurikka in Chillagoe.53 Secondly, the first and largest
soldier settlement in Australia, made up of returned ANZACs was established at Beerburrum. At its
peak it covered a very large area, running from Elimbah down to Pumicestone Passage. Again, the
focus of these developments was to allow the “little man” to make a decent ‘new start’ through a life
on the land, away from the immorality of the city, but again, poor soil and lack of skill meant these
ventures did not end well in many cases.

The Quest for Stable Uniformity (1920s-1960s)

Being rocked by a global Depression and two World Wars, Australia sought solace in a curious blend
of Australian-Anglo-American patriotism and establishing solid foundations for family life. Fearing
ostracism, persons of non-English origin often renounced or anglicised their culture. Even place
names were changed: Teutoberg became Witta; Finnburry became Bli Bli; and Sylvania became
Rosemount. People changed their surnames, stopped speaking their original languages, observing
their traditions and even quit their religion to fit in.54 The best example of this were refugees and
prisoners of war who between the 1940s and 1960s created Queensland’s first and largest artificial
forest reserves at Jimna, Kenilworth, Beerwah, the Glasshouse Mountains, and Beerburrum. These

51 Bill Metcalf, The Gayndah Communes, (Queensland: Central Queensland University, 1998), 16.
52 P.L. Lloyd, “Introduction,” in Suncoast District Extension Committee, in P.L. Lloyd (ed), Noosa Shire Handbook, 2.
53 Koivukanges, Sea, Gold and Sugarcane, 93-95.
54 Beryl Czechura, Secretary, Witta Lutheran Church, personal communication, 2001.

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East European and Baltic men lived in workers’ cottages surrounded by their labour. Most were either
Orthodox or Muslim, but almost all abandoned their faith.55

What became known as the ‘big four establishment churches’ began to dominate the region:
the Presbyterians, Methodists, Catholics, and Anglicans. Not only did these organisations build
solidly in stone and brick but they were often the hub of business, social and cultural life including
education, balls, flower shows and sports; tennis courts were often built by and next to these
churches.56

The security and identity these organisations offered perfectly fitted what was happening on the
Sunshine Coast. The area had become an important rural world in its own right: a prosperous food
bowl serving Queensland and all Australia with sugar, tropical fruits and dairy products. Indeed, when
the sugar harvest was threatened in the 1940s the armed forces, including Americans pitched in to
help.57 This was a time when monoculture, concrete and mechanised farming entered the area. Sealed
roads replaced dirt roads; tractors and trucks replaced horses and ploughs; and brick and cement
replaced wooden buildings. Both on the coast and inland, proper towns developed from what had
been hamlets and beachside camps. These towns had 500 to 5,000 inhabitants each, meaning they
had their own facilities and services. Most locals, in contrast to the earlier and following eras, had
some level of involvement with church-based activities.

‘Camping with a Christian Purpose’ (1920s-1950s)

As the ‘big four’ came to pervade many aspects of life, awareness grew of the region’s potential for
recreational pursuits, and the therapeutic quality of such activities. This trend was started in North
America in the 1910s and 1920s, often with religious and moral overtones: “camping with a Christian
purpose” as it was called. Australia followed by the “20s and 30s”.58 Thus in this period it is found
therapeutic ‘Guest Houses’ in the hinterland, for example ‘Brightside’ run by the Baptists, and the
creation of vast church-run holiday camps. The latter included Camp Cal (Churches of Christ,
Caloundra), Alexandra Park (Presbyterian/Uniting, Alexandra Headlands), Luther Heights
(Lutheran, Coolum)59 and Maranatha (Seventh Day Adventist, Yandina).60 (See Map V 1920s –
1960s)

Nambour Showgrounds became a major Presbyterian venue in 1925, indeed, it was the regular
venue for Presbyterian camps for the entire state of Queensland between 1934 and 1941.61 Then, from
1947 the Presbyterians shifted to Alexandra Park, which saw a vast turnover of students from all over
Asia, Africa and the Pacific. Alexandra Park became hugely important in mission training, becoming
not only the Presbyterian Church’s largest and main holiday camp in Queensland but also the annual
venue for the state’s Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union. In 1953 it hosted the Federal Board

55 Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, Heritage Trails of the Great South-East (Brisbane: Queensland
Environmental Protection Agency, 2000), 128-9. Also Wendy Dixon, Landsborough Historical Museum, personal
communication, December, 2002.
56 Berenis Alcorn, Berenis & Daphne M. Heaton, Methodism in Nambour –A Century of Memories (Nambour: no
publication information, 1996).; B.C. Alcorn, Nambour Town: A Study of Factors Contributing to the Formation and
Growth of a Town in the Queensland Countryside, (MA Thesis, Dept. of History, University of Queensland, 23f, no
publication information, 1996), 25, 29.
57 “Cane Danger at Nambour,” Courier Mail, (5 August, 1943), 3.
58 N.F. Nelson, To Help Find their Feet, (Brisbane: W.R. Smith & Patterson, 1966).
59 St Luke’s Church, (Nambour: no publication information, n.d.), 18.
60 The Salvation Army also had a campsite at Caloundra on The Esplanade near Bulcock Beach.
61 St Luke’s Church, 18.

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of Religious Education’s annual meeting, the first time this event was held away from Melbourne.62
Alexandra Park was the model for permanent youth camps and camping programs all over
Queensland by the mid-1960s.63

(Map developed by the author)
As this shows, holiday church camps were not simply recreational. They were permanent bases
for mission training and the education and conferences of youth and ministers. Beach camps around
Queensland owe their regular programs to VBS (Vacation Bible School), a format devised in 1961 by
Keith Hannah of Woombye Assemblies of God. Hannah’s program proved very popular and was
imitated not only across denominations but also in secular schools. Indeed, VBS and similar programs
inspired the development of regular non-religious vacation programs by Queensland schools. Many
of the first non-religious school camps were run at the Sunshine Coast religious camps. Camp Cal
was particularly central to this development.64

62 Nelson, To Help Find their Feet, 98.
63 Nelson, To Help Find their Feet, 98.
64 Brice Neilsen, Phil Difenbeck, Rod Foster, Churches of Christ head office, Kenmore (Brisbane), personal
communication, June 2002.

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Artist-recluses and Queensland’s first Eastern centre (1940s-1960s)

Offering somewhat of a counterpoint to these solid expressions of Christendom, the Sunshine Coast
now began attracting religiously-inclined artist-recluses drawn by the area’s natural beauty and rural
prosperity. Most notable of these was Ian Fairweather (1891-1974), one of Australia’s greatest and
most influential post-Impressionists.65 Fairweather lived and painted for twenty years (1953 to 1974)
in a ramshackle Bribie Island hut, surrounded by bushland. His decision to live in austere isolation,
ignoring his own fame and wealth, was driven by a keen desire to become a hermit monk-artist, after
the fashion of great Chinese painters. He was very dedicated to his personal fusion of Chinese,
Buddhist and Christian spirituality. Indeed, from 1961 to 1963, Fairweather’s production on Bribie
basically consisted of what is known as “the Religious Group” of paintings. His greatest masterpieces
were both produced on Bribie Island, and these too were religious in nature: ‘Monastery’ (1961) and
‘Hallelujah’ (1958).66

A similar figure was Francis Brabazon (1907-1984), an early Australian Modernist poet and
one of Australia’s first Primitivist painters. Brabazon was well-known in the Melbourne cultural
scene before becoming Shiekh (head) of Australia’s branch of the Sufi Order of Murshid Inayat Khan
(1882-1927). The Sufi Order was the earliest Sufi (Muslim mystic) group in Australia. However, by
the late 1940s, Brabazon along with others of the Sufi Order, had adopted Avatar Meher Baba (1894-
1969) as their Master. Baba was an eclectic figure: a Zoroastrian-born Indian, son of recent Persian
migrants. He had Catholic schooling, but his Masters, who had very large followings of their own,
had been both Hindus and Muslims. Baba’s Masters claimed he was God Incarnate (Avatar) which
is why he gained allegiance from groups and people of many different faiths. His teaching presented
a blend of various faiths.

Meher Baba himself stayed a few days at the summit of Keil’s Mountain (Woombye) in 1958.
Thereafter it became a spiritual centre, Avatar’s Abode. Avatar’s Abode was certainly the first of its
kind in Australia. Most Indian centres and ashrams in Australia did not emerge until the 1970s or
1980s. A small Meher Baba community developed on and near Kiel’s Mountain over the following
decades. Brabazon lived on-site between 1958 and 1959, and again after 1970 here he produced a
range of literary works, drama and music.

Dropping Out, Dropping In and Turning East (1960s – 1980s)

The founding of Avatar’s Abode foreshadowed the quest of people all over the West for fresher, less
formalized spirituality. In many cases, their quest led them to “quit” established society and actively
“seek” higher values or truths by wandering from place to place. Some 2,000 ‘drop outs’ of this sort
made the Sunshine Coast their home. The Sunshine Coast became a major Australian centre for
‘Alternative lifestylers,’67 famed for its communes.68 They developed a new wave of intentional
communities: Cedarton Forester’s Co-operative, Sweet Waters, Starlight and Crystal Waters.
Although very few of these communities were aligned to a specific faith, they were often the platform
for diverse religious groups, and many Eastern religions found their first inroads onto the Sunshine
Coast through interest groups and meetings began at or through these communities.

65 Murray Bail, Ian Fairweather, (Sydney, Australia: Bay, 1981), 11.
66 Bail, Ian Fairweather, 170-172.
67 J. Lindblad, “Where the Drop-outs Are,” Bulletin (27 March, 1976).
68 Margaret Munro-Clark, Communes in Rural Australia, (Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, 1986), Maps 1-3.; Peter Cock,
Alternative Australia – Communities of the Future? (Melbourne: Quartet, 1979), 26-27, 132-134.

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The strongest example of this is Chenrezig. In 1974, ‘Alternative lifestylers’ with connections
to some of the communities mentioned above visited Dharmasala, the centre of Tibetan Buddhism in
India. They arranged for two monks from there, Thubten Yeshe and Zopa Rinpoche, to visit Diamond
Valley near Mooloolah. In this manner, the first-ever Tibetan Buddhist retreat on Australian soil was
arranged, involving over 200 participants from all over Australia. In the wake of this enthusiasm, the
monks went to a nearby property at Eudlo and declared it suitable for a Tibetan monastery. The
property was purchased and developed for this purpose. Chenrezig is thus the oldest and now largest
Tibetan institute in the southern hemisphere. It has been visited several times by the Dalai Lama.

(Map developed by the author)
Hippy Christianity (1970s-1980s)
As stated, this era of change also affected Christianity. Nationally and internationally, ‘traditional’
churches were declining in membership. The “establishment churches” served the needs of the 1920s-
1950s generations perfectly well. They offered structure, protection, solace and uniformity during the
hellish times of the depression and world wars. However, they were ill-equipped to relate to 1960s
youth. The young people of the 1960s and 1970s occupied a safe, affluent, well-informed world. They
craved diversity and novelty. They wished to ‘live out’ the essence of their faith. Thus they were
drawn to, or themselves developed, emotive or experiential forms of spirituality that celebrated rather
than restricted behaviour. What resulted was an immense revival, a period many local ministers recall
as a ‘working of the Holy Spirit.’ They recall a new freedom of expression entering local churches, a

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 125

reaching out to the wider community and a reaching back to the core of Jesus’ message, accompanied
by a personal religious experience and a great deal of enthusiasm.69

Different groups embraced the change in different ways. The Sisters of Mercy developed a very
popular, inclusive environmental retreat centre at Najarra (at Image Flat). Others developed holistic
educational services that included hands-on farming and cooking, for example Pinbarren Christian
Community College.70 A similar development, concentrating on diet, farming, quasi-communal
living, home schooling and natural therapies was the Destiny Press (‘Sabbath Rest’) centre at
Chevallum (Palmwoods). It was dedicated to living by and promoting the writings of Waggoner and
Jones, two major Adventist thinkers. Destiny Press became the world headquarters for the ‘Sabbath
Rest’ movement, with branches everywhere from Africa and New Zealand to Germany and the United
States of America. At the centre’s peak, between 1971 and 1984, people came from around the
globe.71

Equally visible at this time was the free-spirited, pop culture-focussed, surfing sub-culture.
Many from this group adopted ‘born again’ Christianity and wove it into their sporty, music-loving
lifestyle. There were clusters of ‘surfing Christians’ at Cooloola, Noosa and Mooloolaba. One convert
became an Iron Man (Greg Perrens) and another a Sunshine Coast beach inspector (Doug Boyle).
These men developed youth programs that specifically fitted the outlook and energy of teenagers.
These eventually became national and international in scale such as Teen Challenge and Youth with
a Mission.

Evangelism, Pentecostalism and the ‘New Right’ (1970s-1990s)

Pentecostalism and American-style Evangelism had entered the Coast through ‘tent meetings’ as
early as 1928 in Woombye. Indeed, by 1950 the Woombye Assemblies of God (AOG) became
Australia’s first home-born mission church, focussed on Papua New Guinea. The “personal
experience” mood of the 1960s-1980s fitted the Pentecostal/Evangelical outlook especially well.
Thus it is not surprising that the majority of growth happened through churches that embraced
Pentecostalism. Indeed, many people central to this development, for instance the Cunningham family
in the case of the AOG had an alternative background, and Evangelical growth typically happened at
a grassroots community level. For example, the Christian Outreach Centre at Kiel’s Mountain, the
second of its kind in Australia grew out of packing sheds in 1977 to become globally important.

The large following and extensive influence of these newer churches led to the Sunshine Coast
being dubbed one of Queensland’s main “Bible Belts”, the other area being the Mt Gravatt to Logan
area. During the 1980s, these churches asserted considerable influence on the Queensland
government and sometimes encouraged voters to support what was considered the ‘New (Christian)
Right’ in politics.72 The ACE (Christian Schools) Convention for all Australia operated out of
Nambour.

69 Neil Westbrook, former Woombye/ Nambour AOG Pastor, personal communication, Forest Glen, 2001.
70 Pinbarren Community Christian College, CIS (Sunshine Coast Community Information Services entry, 17 January,
2001).
71 Margaret Wright (Sabbath Rest elder), personal communications, 5 September 2001 & 29 November 2002.
72 “Pastor Urges Flock to Vote for Morality,” Sunshine Coast Daily, (20 April, 1987), 2.; “Coast’s Christians Condemn
Condom Bid,” Sunshine Coast Daily, (21 August, 1987), 4.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 126

(Map developed by the author)

Invisible diversity (1990s-2010s)

Between 1996 and 2001, the Sunshine Coast region doubled its ethnic variety, to the point of boasting
the greatest ethnic diversity in Australia. Sixty-one different nationalities and cultures call the area
home. These groups include Americans, English, Canadians, Austrians, Chinese, Egyptians, Dutch,
Germans, Filipinos, South Africans, Fijians, Greeks, Hungarians, Indians, Indonesians, Irish, French,
Malaysians, Maltese, Poles, Singaporeans, Sri Lankans, Aboriginals, Islanders and Croatians.
However- unlike other regions of Australia these nationalities are tiny and invisible. Most of the
Coast’s ethnicities have less than forty persons. Some have as few as one to three representatives.
Even when they number in thousands, they are generally sprinkled anywhere and everywhere up and
down the Coast.73

73 Community Centres for People: Maroochy Community Centres and Facilities, (Maleny, Australia: Public, 1996), 35-
6.

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Surprisingly, this has not added greatly to the area’s religious diversity. Only 1.6% come from
non-English speaking backgrounds.74 A much broader range of non-Christian groups have now
entered the Sunshine Coast, but despite appearances, most of these are tiny (5-10 persons) “interest
groups” without a regular base, and often making only a fleeting passage through the region. The
bulk of the Coast’s migrants are anglicised, ‘Westernized’ and Christian, regardless of their ethnic
roots.

‘Mega-centres’: integrated, multi-purpose centres (1990s-2010s)

Over a decade ago, Pastor Doug Drinnan established Goodlife, a large Baptist sporting/ community
complex at Buderim, as a “multi-functional community centre ...a centre for the whole family.”75
Developments of this type: massive “birth-to-death” complexes covering everything from childcare
and leisure needs to education and aged care have become increasingly common in the last twenty
years. Complexes of this type are particularly noticeable in the area between Maroochydore,
Nambour, Woombye, Buderim and Sippy Downs. Here, over a dozen very large Christian community
centres have sprung up, quite a few associated with evangelical and pentecostal or charismatic
churches. They are also the hub from which regional, state or even international charities, facilities
and media services are run.

A good example is Immanuel Lutheran Community in Maroochydore. Surrounded by dense
rainforest and with only one entrance it is an entire ‘Lutheran world.’ A green, pleasantly wooded
parkland holds a large round church, a college of 1,200 students, a hostel, a childcare centre, a
retirement village, and administrative offices. The Immanuel Community runs a system of pastoral
care and a number of region-wide arts and literature events: Fruehlingsfest, Immanuel Arts Festival,
and Voices on the Coast.76

Conclusions

The aim of this paper was to contextualize the appearance and history of The Salvation Army on the
Sunshine Coast, and present the changing “local religious world” it has been responding to over the
last 125 years. Following a series of conflicts and failed missions, churches were only just being built
in the region when The Salvation Army appeared. This proved to be a perfect setting for the Army.
Limited previous ministry; the scattered nature of the region; the lack of strong denominational
orientation; economic difficulties and utopian or socialist communal hopes of the time all combined
to encourage large numbers of Sunshine Coast residents to regularly attend Salvation Army functions,
whether or not that translated as long-term conversion. The Army’s appearance also aptly addressed
the ‘spiritual crisis’ faced by the Islander-Aboriginal community at this time. This probably accounts
for the Army’s immense popularity and importance in both the European and non-European
communities of the 1880s-1910s Sunshine Coast.

The situation since those heady days seems to have been varied and not always conducive to
the Army’s growth. By the 1920s-1960s, local communities sought to solidify their bases and develop
proper working townships. The Salvation Army was certainly a part of this process, but ‘the big four’

74 Sofia Parez, Multi-cultural Officer, Maroochy Neighbourhood Centre, personal communication, Maroochydore
August, 2001.; “Understanding Maroochy’s Diversity,” 2.
75 Pastor Phil Drinnan, Pastor of Goodlife Centre, personal communication, Buderim, 2001.
76 ‘Walk as Children of the Light’ – Immanuel Lutheran College: A School of the Lutheran Church (no publication
information, c2000), 9.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 128

establishment churches mostly led the field. Similarly, the 1960s to 1980s posed a different challenge:
Sunshine Coast residents sought out unrestricted, ‘alternative’ expressions of spirituality. These
‘newer’ expressions rapidly began to dominate the area, culminating in the Evangelical/ Pentecostal
revival. Subsequently, these bodies developed many large multi-function centres around the Coast.

Opening of the Nambour Corps citadel of The Salvation Army by
Commissioner Frederick Coutts in the 1960s (Photograph courtesy of the author).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 129

Captain and Mrs. George Pollard (above) and Captain and Mrs.
Edward Wright (below), the pioneers of The Salvation Army in New
Zealand (John C. Waite, Dear Mr. Booth, [Wellington, New Zealand:

The Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters, c1964]).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 130

OPENING FIRE:
A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE SALVATION ARMY’S

FIRST DECADE IN NEW ZEALAND
1883-18931

By
Kingsley Sampson

Introduction

The Salvation Army opened fire in New Zealand in 1883 during the decade when the Army became
an international movement. In New Zealand it grew from nothing at the start of 1883 to an Army in
1893 with over 80 corps, about 300 officers and around 4,000 soldiers plus embryonic social
programs and officer training facilities. This all happened in a country where the total population
was less than 700,000 people. This paper outlines the progress made in this pioneering phase, refers
to some of the people and places impacted by the Army and offers some suggestions as to why this
remarkable growth happened.

Salvation Army Expansion

The opening fire occurred within the context of the start of the world-wide expansion of The
Salvation Army and the on-going expansion of the British Empire. From four countries in 1879 the
Army expanded to 23 by 1890 with a further 13 being added in the 1890s. Among these were
Australia (1880), India and Canada (1882), Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and South Africa (1883) and
Newfoundland and St Helena (1886). This was also the time of the ‘Scramble for Africa’ whereby
European powers divided much of Africa into agreed spheres of influence.

It was the era when the military trappings of an army were being widely used. The name ‘The
Salvation Army’ was adopted in 1878. Uniforms, the crest, the flag, bands and the completion of
the Salvation Army doctrines quickly followed. This is also the decade of the Maiden Tribute
(1885), Catherine Booth’s death (1890) and the publication of In Darkest England and the Way Out
(1890). Thus the Salvation Army’s opening fire in New Zealand in 1883 sits within this initial
phase of expansion.

New Zealand Context

The Army’s opening fire also occurred within a wider New Zealand Christian context. The
Reverend Samuel Marsden of the (Anglican) Church Missionary Society (CMS) first preached the
Christian gospel in New Zealand on Christmas Day, 1814. The CMS was followed by the Wesleyan

Reference citation of this paper
Kingsley Sampson, “Opening fire: A brief analysis of The Salvation Army’s first decade in New Zealand”, The
Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, 1, 2, 2016, 130-136.
The paper was presented at ‘History – Our Wake Up Call?’, Salvation Army History Symposium 22-24 July 2016,
Maroochydore, Australia, The Salvation Army Eastern Territory Historical Society, Brisbane Chapter.
1 This paper was given as a way of introducing some key features of the commencement of The Salvation Army in New
Zealand to a mainly Australian audience. There is no new research in this brief analysis of the opening decade which
draws upon previously published material, mainly from Cyril Bradwell, Fight the Good Fight, (Wellington, New
Zealand: Reed, 1982).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 131

(Methodist) Missionary Society (1822) and the Roman Catholic Society of Mary from France
(1838). These three are seen as the missionary churches of New Zealand. The churches that arrived
after the signing of The Treaty of Waitangi and the assumption of British Sovereignty over New
Zealand in 1840 are seen as settler churches and this includes The Salvation Army.
Well-wishers
The Army’s opening fire was prompted by well-wishers requesting The Salvation Army’s help.
New Zealand was not like Australia where before the first commissioned officers arrived from
London, embryonic Salvation Army work had already started in Adelaide (John Gore and Edward
Saunders) and Brisbane (Hester McNaught). In New Zealand it was well-wishers who had heard
about The Salvation Army who then wrote to William Booth asking him to send officers.

Two known letter writers were John Brame, printer of Auckland and Arabella Valpy of
Dunedin. 2 Arabella was from a strong Presbyterian family reputed to be one of Dunedin’s
wealthiest. She wrote on 5 April, 1882:

Dear Sir, - Can you see your way to send to the rescue of perishing souls in this respectable and
highly favoured city? Herewith find draft [of] 200 [pounds]. The Lord reward you and yours. A
Wellwisher.3
Two other women also signed the letter. Of note, one of the other signatories later became a
Salvation Army officer and descendants of Arabella Valpy are among today’s officers in New
Zealand.

Memorial plaque at The Fountain in Dunedin’s central city Exchange
(Photograph from the Kingsley Sampson collection).

2 Bradwell, Fight the Good Fight, 3.
3 Bradwell, Fight the Good Fight, 4. The enclosed bank draft for £200 pounds would be worth approx. $NZ34,000
today. http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator, accessed 1 September, 2016.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 132

The First Year and the First Decade

The Army focused initially on key centres of population in New Zealand. The strategy of the
pioneer leaders, Captain George Pollard (age 20) and Lieutenant Edward Wright (age 21) was for
Pollard to start in Dunedin in the South Island and Wright in Auckland in the North Island. They
were then to meet in the middle of the country in Wellington.

The first official meeting of the Army in New Zealand was held on 1 April, 1883 in Dunedin.
The ‘opening fire’ is recognized with a plaque at the Fountain in Dunedin’s Exchange. Most initial
growth was in the South Island. Later the Army spread to more North Island centres and to rural
towns and districts.

The Army quickly ‘grew from the ground up.’ The initial invading force of five officers4
became an officer force of about 300 by 1893. The majority of these were raised up from within
New Zealand. Alexander and Rachel Matthews were the first New Zealanders to be commissioned
as officers, Rachel being one of the signatories of the Valpy letter.

Corps were opened in 1883 in Dunedin (1 April), Auckland (14 April), Christchurch (20
May), Wellington (17 June), Timaru (24 June), South Dunedin (6 July), Sydenham in Christchurch
(9 August), Oamaru (2 September), Invercargill (9 September), Port Chalmers near Dunedin (10
November) and Waimate (9 December). Of these initial corps openings, only South Dunedin, Port
Chalmers and Waimate have closed.

Five thousand converts were recorded in the first nine months and several hundred
Salvationists and five brass bands attended an initial congress in Dunedin in December, 1883. By
1888 The Salvation Army had a corps or outpost in every town with a population over 2,000 and by
1890, 20,000 copies of the War Cry were being sold every week. In the 1891 census about 1.5% of
the population said they were Salvationists.5

There was a strong connection between the Army in New Zealand and that in Australia in
these early years. Administratively New Zealand was under Australian oversight from 1883-1886
(and again from 1894-1912). Pioneer officer reinforcements came from Melbourne and there were
frequent officer exchanges between Australia and New Zealand during the first decade.

4 Pollard and Wright stopped in Melbourne on the journey to New Zealand where Captain and Mrs Burfoot and
Lieutenant J. Bowerman were added to their invading force.
5 This was 9,383 people out of a population of 626,658.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 133

The first Congress in Dunedin, New Zealand, Christmas, 1883 (John C. Waite, Dear Mr.
Booth, [Wellington, New Zealand: The Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters, c1964]).

The Stronger South Island

The Salvation Army was stronger in the South Island to begin with. Apart from the impetus of the
Valpy letter and the money sent to William Booth coming from Dunedin, the South Island’s
population was greater than that in the North Island until after 1900. Dunedin was the commercial
capital and largest city in New Zealand in the 1880s due partly to the on-going effects of the 1860s
gold rush. Infrastructure developments of the 1870s made for easy travel from Bluff to Christchurch
by train while other helpful developments included the electric telegraph linking key settlements
from the 1860s. Thus nine of the first 11 corps opened in 1883 were in the South Island. By 1891
New Zealand had 43 corps in the South Island and 30 in the North.

Slowly Developing Social Work

When The Salvation Army opened fire, New Zealand was in the midst of what was called ‘The
Long Depression.’ This lasted from the late 1870s to the mid 1890s. It followed the boom of the
1870s’ government-sponsored development and immigration schemes. It was the era when
Reverend Rutherford Waddell (St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Dunedin) preached his famous
sermon The Sin of Cheapness in which he railed against employers who reduced women workers’
wages to such a low level that they were insufficient to live on.6

It was within this climate that embryonic Salvation Army social work began. This consisted
of prison gate work commencing in Auckland in 1884, women’s rescue work in Wellington and
Dunedin, initially undertaken by women soldiers, and in 1891 the establishment of a labour bureau
in Christchurch.

6 Ian Breward, “Rutherford Waddell”, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New
Zealand, (New Zealand, updated 30 October, 2012) http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2w1/waddell-rutherford,
accessed 1 September, 2016.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 134

Gradual Public Acceptance

The Salvation Army received generous assistance from Christian friends in its early days. These
included Alexander Falconer, founder of the Sailors’ Rest at Port Chalmers, William Moor,
Methodist and coach-builder of Christchurch 7 and the evangelically-minded Reverend J. E.
Patterson of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Invercargill. Indeed it was Patterson who conducted the
first wedding of Salvationists in New Zealand, that of Major George Pollard to Captain J. Pearcey
on 24 October 1883.8

However not everyone welcomed the arrival of The Salvation Army in New Zealand in 1883.
One letter writer to The Otago Daily Times said:

Bringing the Salvationists to New Zealand will be another of the many mistakes of
acclimatisation. It is the thistles, the sparrows, the rabbits all over again. The Army will prove a
nuisance as troublesome as these pests and as ineradicable.9

Invercargill corps picnic. New Year’s Day 1884.10
While opposition in New Zealand was never as vociferous as in the United Kingdom,11
nevertheless it was real. The battle to parade and hold open-air meetings in public streets continued
over the years with court cases in 13 towns between 1885 and 1893. New Zealand also had skeleton
armies in Auckland, Wellington and other centres. However in Auckland, the leader Albert Hodson
was converted and eventually became an officer.
A much more accepting climate was evident when William Booth first visited New Zealand
in 1891. During his 16-day visit, the Governor, the premier, cabinet ministers, Supreme Court
justices and church dignitaries received Booth and he spoke at over 30 public meetings. Vast

7 H. Bramwell Cook, Think on These Things: The Salvation Army Christchurch City Corps 1883-2008, (Christchurch,
New Zealand: The Salvation Army Christchurch City Corps, 2008), 14-15.
8 Bradwell, Fight the Good Fight, 17. Pollard was promoted to Major in July 1883 and had been engaged to Captain
Pearcey before he left the United Kingdom for New Zealand. According to the New Zealand War Cry of 3 November
1883, Pearcey arrived in New Zealand just before the wedding.
9 Otago Daily Times, (New Zealand, 6 January, 1883), Quoted in Bradwell, Fight the Good Fight, 7.
10 Neil C. Reinsborg, Sallies of the South, (Invercargill, New Zealand: The Salvation Army Invercargill, 1984).
11 For a recent account of United Kingdom opposition, see Nigel Bovey, Blood on the Flag, (London, UK: The
Salvation Army United Kingdom Territory, 2015).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 135

crowds turned out to hear him wherever he appeared and people from all walks of life attended both
his religious meetings and lectures.12
Other Developments
During this first decade, officer training was begun (1890), a purpose-built colony headquarters
opened (1892), both in Christchurch and initial work among Maori was started by Ernest Holdaway
under the name of Te Ope Whakaora (The Army that brings life).

The Army’s opening decade also coincided with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union
(established in 1885) and its campaign for women’s franchise. This was ultimately successful in
1893 when New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women the vote. The ratio of
women to men officers and soldiers in that first decade is not known at the time of writing. It would
be worth exploring whether the Army’s emphasis on the equality of women and its opposition to
alcohol contributed to its early success, as these issues were subjects of public debate at that time.

One of the Maori Salvationist singing parties (John C. Waite, Dear Mr. Booth,
[Wellington, New Zealand: The Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters, c1964]).
Some Conclusions
The first decade could be described as building an Army from the ground up. Among other things,
it shows the importance of a clear strategy, the value of sympathetic friends and the wisdom of
going where the people were. Reflection does raise questions such as how well new converts were
discipled. The 5,000 converts registered in the first nine months did not translate into 5,000
Salvationists. Nevertheless it was a strong beginning, one that laid solid foundations for the
Salvation Army that developed in New Zealand in the twentieth century.

12 Bradwell, Fight the Good Fight, 59-60.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 136

QUEENSLAND’S MIZPAH COMMUNE AND
THE SALVATION ARMY INFLUENCE

By
Veronica Dawson1

Between December 1893 and February 1896 up to 2,000 people lived in government-sponsored
communes across south-east Queensland. One of these, the Mizpah commune, was comprised largely
of Salvation Army adherents. This article recounts the brief history of the Mizpah settlement and
examines the ways in which it may have been influenced by its links to The Salvation Army.

Background

To understand how and why this social experiment came about, it is necessary to look at what was
happening in the colony of Queensland at that time.

The 1880s had been a boom period for Queensland. Natural resources had been discovered and
exploited, the government had spent heavily on infrastructure - building railways, ports and bridges
- and the colony had experienced an influx of migrants, bolstered by a government assisted passage
program, which sent land and house prices soaring. In 1892 however, the bubble burst. Overseas
finance dried up, the Queensland government reined in spending and over-inflated house and land
prices started to fall.

During February 1893 Queensland was subjected to three cyclones within three weeks - one at
Yeppoon on 1 February, another at Bustard Heads south of Gladstone on 11 February and the third
at Bundaberg on 17 February, bringing heavy rainfall and causing massive, widespread flooding to
Queensland’s south-east. In Brisbane two major bridges, the Indooroopilly Railway Bridge and the
Victoria Bridge, were destroyed, having succumbed to the pressure of the houses and other debris
that were washed up against them. The clean-up after the first flood had hardly begun when down
came the second flood, then the third. In all, around 1,000 homes floated away and were broken up
as were business houses, boats, jetties and ferry houses. Nearly one-third of the population in flood
affected areas were forced to survive on handouts for months after the flood waters subsided.

To make matters worse, banks failed. In January 1893 the Federal Bank of Australia located in
Melbourne had closed, and by July most of the major Australian banks had crashed or had closed
their doors to avoid a run. Eight of Queensland’s eleven banks suspended payment in May, cutting
people off from their savings and mortgage holders of flood-destroyed or damaged homes defaulted
on their loans and simply walked away. Businesses folded and numerous people were declared
bankrupt. Unemployment had become a huge problem and the Queensland government was under
intense pressure to support the unemployed and to address the associated social problems.

In 1892, impressed with the success of the Queensland’s first commune, the Alice River
settlement at Barcaldine, and similar co-operative settlements in New Zealand and elsewhere, the
Queensland government had convened a Select Committee on Assisted Land Settlement tasked with

Reference citation of this paper
Veronica Dawson, “Queensland’s Mizpah commune and The Salvation Army influence”, The Australasian
Journal of Salvation Army History, 1, 2, 2016, 137-149.
The paper was presented at ‘History – Our Wake Up Call?’, Salvation Army History Symposium 22-24 July 2016,
Maroochydore, Australia, The Salvation Army Eastern Territory Historical Society, Brisbane Chapter.
1 More information on this topic can be read in the author’s book, Veronica Dawson, Chinchilla’s communal settlers,
(Brisbane, Australia: Boolarong Press & Veronica Dawson, 2014).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 137

Location of Chinchilla’s farming communes2

2 Adapted from a map by Queensland Department of Natural Resources & Mines, developed by Veronica Dawson.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 138

investigating the concept of co-operative land settlement. This committee recommended that
legislation be enacted to promote rural communes and on 4 October 1893 The Co-operative
Communities Land Settlement Act was passed. Under the terms of the Act, thirty or more male
members of good character, who were natural born or naturalised British subjects aged 18 and over
and who had been resident in Queensland for at least a year, could form a communal group. The
groups would be granted leasehold land for farming, plus £20 per member in financial assistance,
with the expectation of repayment in due course.3

The Salvation Army

Attempts as early as 1880 to establish a Salvation Army presence in Queensland have been recorded
with lasting success assured following the arrival in Brisbane of Adjutant and Mrs Edward Wright in
June 1885. Very quickly a number of corps were established in Brisbane and in regional Queensland.
These early Salvationists had their detractors but the practical social work they did gradually won
support from the wider community. Adjutant Wright purchased land and erected a building in Ann
Street in Brisbane to serve as their headquarters. This was opened in 1891 by General William Booth.4
A book written by Booth entitled In darkest England and the way out had been released in 1890. In
it he outlined a number of plans to address poverty including one to establish farms on which the
urban poor could be placed and trained in agriculture.5 The idea was that once trained, some of these
people could then be sent out to establish other farms, both in England and abroad.

In The War Cry in December 1893 one correspondent was reported as saying that the
Queensland government had fallen back on the General’s scheme in deciding to put people on the
land however no evidence has been found to suggest that this was the case.6 Even had the government
been influenced by General Booth’s plan, they would likely have been discouraged by the article that
appeared in the Brisbane Courier in January 1893 which discussed Booth’s farm colony in Essex.
This article expressed the view that the farm colony was failing to prepare London’s poor for future
employment in farming or indeed in any other useful trade.7

It does however seem very likely that Booth would have discussed some of his ideas during his
visit to Brisbane in 1891 for the opening of the new headquarters, so when the Queensland
Government proposed a communal settlement scheme to place Brisbane’s unemployed on the land
just two years later, the local Salvation Army corps were immediately supportive and began to
canvass their followers for families interested in forming a communal group. As a result, preparations
for a Salvationist group were well in hand long before the relevant legislation was passed in the
Parliament and its organisers had already had discussions with the Lands Department about where
the group might settle.

3 Queensland Government, Co-operative Communities Land Settlement Act 1893.
4 Kenneth Sanz, “Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace and the beginnings of The Salvation Army in Queensland”, Historical
Papers / Royal Historical Society of Queensland, (Brisbane, Australia, Vol. 10, No. 2, 1976), 105-13,
http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:204860 assessed 26 August, 2016.; See later narratives about the
commencement of The Salvation Army in Brisbane, Garth Hentzschel, “The battle for Brisbane”, Hallelujah, (Sydney,
Australia, Vol. 1, Iss. 2, 2007), 18-24.; Garth Hentzschel, “The long shadow of Irish Primitive Methodism: Fintona
primitive Methodism and its impact on south east Queensland”, Bulletin of the Methodist Historical Society of Ireland,
(Ireland, 2014).
5 William Booth, In Darkest England and The Way Out, (London, UK: International Headquarters of The Salvation
Army), 1890.
6 The War Cry, (Australia, 30 December, 1893), 6.
7 Brisbane Courier, (Brisbane, Australia, 9 January, 1893), 7.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016. Page 139

Group Membership

It has been suggested that as many as thirty-two of the original thirty-five Mizpah members were
Salvationists, twenty-two drawn from the Paddington Corps and another ten from the Brisbane City
Temple, Albion and Toowong Corps.8 These were all areas of high unemployment and areas that had
been badly affected by the disastrous February floods. The number of members thought to be
Salvationist varies between sources, including Salvation Army sources. This discrepancy may be
because, while the government only recognised adult males as members of the groups, The Salvation
Army may have counted its female adherents when quoting the number of its members who joined
the settlement group. The actual number of male members of the group who were Salvationist was
probably somewhere between twenty-three and twenty-seven. The remaining members were drawn
from nearby churches.9

Mizpah’s members, as recorded in the Queensland Government Gazette10

1. Thomas H. Fallows 13. George Shield 25. Albert Merritt
2. William J. Bennett 14. John Falconer 26. John V. Garnett
3. Frank Harry Jones 15. William Goostrey 27. Henry Smith
4. Joseph Johnson 16. Henry Malmede 28. Walter Dummer
5. John Daniels 17. Carl Fischer 29. Fredrick Bristow
6. Robert Fisher 18. Albert W. Plummer 30. Thomas, Budgen
7. Maurice Nelson Cathcart 19. Jonathan Gledhill 31. Walter Hopwood
8. George Phillips 20. Thomas Henry Masters 32. Charles Batterbee
9. Henry Woodward 21. Robert Mallabar 33. Joseph A. G. Kerr
10. William Jory 22. William Francis Stanaway 34. J.L. Campbell
11. William James Shipton 23. Thomas Allen 35. Albert Merritt
12. Walter Mason 24. Ernst Johann Heinrich 36. Thomas Harswood [sic
Brockmann Horswood]

Another seven members joined the group over the two year life of the settlement. They were

Joseph Major, Johann Köhnke, M. Fisher, Henry Wilkinson, John Squire Aspinall, James Yarrow
and William James Fraser.11

Mizpah’s Salvationist members12

8 The War Cry, (Australia, 30 December, 1893), 6.
9 The Telegraph, (Brisbane, Australia, 17 November, 1893), 5.
10 Queensland Government Gazette (Brisbane, Australia, Vol. LX, No. 85, 25 November, 1893), 837.
11 Queensland State Archives, (1893-1896), Register - correspondence, inwards.
12 Full Salvationist, (Melbourne, Australia, 1 March, 1894).

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Official records state that three of the original members claimed to have been farmers and three
to have been farm labourers, although there is no indication as to whether any had experience in
Australian conditions.13 Other trades the group had at their disposal were blacksmith, brick-makers,
cabinet makers and carpenters, an engine driver, a fencing contractor, gardener, iron worker, painters,
plumbers, a sawyer, storeman, surveyor and tinsmith.14 Five of their members were single, the
remainder married and their average age was 30.15 With wives and children, the full complement of
the group amounted to 172 individuals.16

Preparations for Settlement

Under the requirements of the Act, each group had to choose its own name, write their own rules,
particularly in relation to the settlement of disputes, and to select their own land from a limited number
of options open to them.

The Salvationists chose the name Mizpah, a Hebrew term which means ‘May the Lord watch
between thee and me whilst we are absent, one from the other’. The reason for the choice of name is
not known, but perhaps its significance lies in the separation of this group of individuals from the
remainder of their corps.

Map of south east Queensland showing the area between Brisbane and Chinchilla17

The land they chose was a block of around 4,000 acres (1,619 hectares) four kilometres south
of Chinchilla, a small town on the western edge of the Darling Downs.18 Two other groups also chose
land in the same district – the Monmouth group which settled close to Mizpah but on the opposite
bank of Charley’s Creek, and the Industrial group which settled 23 kilometres from Chinchilla near
where there is now the small town of Brigalow. The Monmouth group came from Ipswich, another
town that had been badly affected by flooding, and while its members were of mixed religion they

13 Queensland State Archives, Item ID 23301, Letterbook, 12.
14 Veronica Dawson, Chinchilla’s Communal Settlers, (Brisbane, Australia: Boolarong Press, 2015), 19-20.
15 The Telegraph, (Brisbane, 17 November, 1893), 5.
16 Legislative Assembly, Votes and Proceedings, (Queensland, Australia, Vol. 3, 1894), 795.
17 Map modified from Bing maps
https://www.bing.com/mapspreview?&ty=18&q=Brisbane&satid=id.sid%3a42da5c6f-c43f-8401-d736-
da01adb6e95c&mb=-27.379084~152.877502~-27.559418~153.141174&ppois=-
27.4722595214844_153.026779174805_Brisbane_~&cp=-27.47226~153.026779&v=2&sV=1 access 26 August, 2016.
18 Queensland Government Gazette, (Brisbane, Australia, Vol. LX, No. 85, 25 November, 1893), 837.

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included a large number of Catholics and benefited from the watchful support of Father Andrew
Horan, Ipswich’s parish priest. The Industrial group was comprised largely of labour unionists from
Brisbane.

Mizpah’s rules provided for the election of a foreman and a six-person Working Committee
whose role it was to plan and superintend all work and expenditures, plus a treasurer, a storeman and
two auditors. Work was to be undertaken co-operatively with the men working a fifty and a half hour
week - nine hours a day from Monday to Friday and from 7.30am to 1.00pm on Saturday. All land
and property was to be held co-operatively although each family was allotted one acre for their own
use upon which it was planned that a cottage would be built for them in due course. The rules also
provided, amongst other things, for the operation of the communal store and for the eventual
repayment of government advances. Alcohol was strictly prohibited.19 The latter was significant as
alcohol proved to be a problem for some groups, not least for their neighbours at Monmouth.

The Mizpah group’s application, submitted on 23 October 1893 just three weeks after the Act
was passed, was the first to be lodged with the Lands Department. They inspected their land on 4
November and notified the Lands Department of their acceptance of it on 10 November. The group
was formally recognised on 16 November and proclaimed in the Government Gazette on 25
November 1893. Twelve groups were eventually gazetted and besides the three that went to
Chinchilla, another three settled near Gayndah, three near Roma, one near Rolleston in the Springsure
district, one near present day Pomona and the other at Lake Weyba in the Tewantin/Noosa area.
Several of these other groups included one or more families who were Salvationist.

Within The Salvation Army’s organisational structure Mizpah’s members, on leaving Brisbane,
were all transferred to Queensland’s Southern Division which at this time included all the corps in
the south and to the west of Brisbane and which were under the leadership of Adjutant Cain. Adjutant
Cain’s oversight was however for their religious requirements only; the group had no connection with
The Salvation Army in any formal context. Mizpah was not the Army’s responsibility and its
members were not answerable to it. However the Army remained deeply interested in the group’s
progress and welfare, and several of their officers, including Major Jeffries, Adjutant Cain, and Staff-
Captain Pearce visited the settlement from time to time. The Army also used The War Cry to canvass
its followers for new members to join the group when specialist skills, such as blacksmithing, were
required and they provided advice and support where possible. In speaking with the press about the
progress of the group, Salvation Army representatives would at times make mention of any shortages
being experienced and offer to receive supplies on the group’s behalf and despatch them to the
settlement.20

The Settlement Years

The Mizpah group was the first to set out and the only one to harvest a crop in the 1893/4 season. A
pioneer group of nine members left Brisbane on 6 December to set up tents and prepare for the arrival
of their fellows. A road party of five men with horses and drays and droving cattle, left Brisbane
around the same time but did not arrive until Christmas Eve.21 The majority however, took advantage
of free rail passes issued to all new settlers by the government and departed on the morning of 14
December, arriving in Chinchilla that same afternoon.22 Their secretary was Salvation Army captain,

19 The Telegraph, (Brisbane, 5 December, 1893), 2.
20 The Queenslander, (Brisbane, 24 March, 1894), 570.
21 The Telegraph, (Brisbane, 6 January, 1894), 2.
22 The Telegraph, (Brisbane, 14 December, 1893), 4.

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Thomas Hughes Fallows, a 35 year old carpenter and joiner. Under the terms of the Act the secretary
was the group’s leader and the person with whom the government liaised in all group matters. Brother
Thomas Budgen, a storeman from Paddington, was elected foreman and the members of the Working
Committee were Walter Dummer, Joseph Johnson, Robert Mallabar, Henry Malmede, William
Shipton and William Stanaway.

Mizpah’s Working Committee
Back row: Shipton, Malmede, Fallows, Budgen, Mallabar

Front row: Stanaway, Johnson, Dummer23

Sadly just sixteen days after the group’s arrival, a six month old infant died. Eva Johnson had
been sickly when she left Brisbane and her death certificate states that she died of teething although
as there was no doctor, or indeed any qualified medical help in Chinchilla, the diagnosis is
questionable. Fallows officiated at Eva’s burial and Carl Fischer, the group’s wheelwright and a
master cabinetmaker, performed the interment. Eva’s was the first of several deaths, mostly of
children, that were to occur during the settlement years and most were buried in the settlement’s own
burial grounds which has since become the site of Chinchilla’s Memorial Cemetery.

The first few weeks on the commune were extremely busy and a routine was quickly
established. A bugle was blown each day to rouse the group from sleep and to signal meal times and
the start and close of their working day. By the time Fallows sent his first report to the Brisbane press
on 2 January 1894, two and a half weeks after their arrival, he was able to state that the seeds they
had planted were flourishing and the stock rolling fat. They had situated the settlement on a ridge
where the red sandy loam soil was suited for kitchen gardens and for fruit trees, especially grapes. A
24’ x 12’ store of split brigalow slabs with an iron roof and a 12’ x 12’ butcher’s shop with a roof
made from rushes three or four bundles deep for coolness had been built and they were starting to
erect some of the huts. The community was consuming a bullock per week and, although the store
was being run on very economic lines, members were satisfied. They had cleared 6 acres and
surrounded it with a wallaby proof fence and had begun to plant it with maize and were planning to
plant about 70 acres in potatoes in February.24

23 The Queenslander, (Brisbane, 7 April, 1894), 649.
24 The Telegraph, (Brisbane, 6 January, 1894), 2.

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Living at Mizpah in tents with lean-tos and later (for some) slab huts25

When Adjutant Cain visited the commune a few weeks later he confirmed the details in
Fallows’ report and went on to describe his visit:

…My first night in camp we had a very nice meeting, under the trees. Our soldiers turned up in
strong force, as also did a number of others, and truly God came very near.

Next morning, in company with the foreman (Brother Budgen), I went all over the
settlement and saw every bit of the work done and visited every gang of men excepting one, and
they were splitting palings two miles and a half away. I devoted the afternoon to visiting the
homes and having a little talk with the women folk. Without exception they were all as happy and
contented as though in a most comfortable house in town, although their dwelling’s a tent.

A combined meeting for mothers and juniors was held at three p.m., and a fine crowd turned
up (I think there are something like 111 children in the group) and a very happy meeting we had.
Of course it was in the open-air, which made little ones a bit restless, but that did not prevent God
blessing us. A meeting had been arranged for the night at Chinchilla; the publican (Mr. Hogg)
very kindly placed a nice large hall at our disposal. Some thirty soldiers came in and we had a
most glorious time …

I had a talk with the soldiers after the meeting, and with the united spirit they at present
manifest, not only will the group be a success as an enterprise, but God’s kingdom is bound to be
extended. If I had been a king I could not have met with greater attention and kindness. The
soldiers are determined to retain their consecrated spirit, and from what I have personally seen
they can do with the prayers of all their comrades.

I received a warm invite to come again and hope to do so at my very earliest.26

Meetings were held at Mizpah every Sunday and twice during the week but members also
conducted meetings in the town and for their neighbours at Monmouth. A Monmouth spokesman at
one time reported:

Next Sunday will be “the Army Sunday” as it is called. Several members of the Mizpah Group
(Salvation Army) come over here and hold services every Sunday; and on Sunday nights one of
them preaches for us. We had a Band of Hope meeting on Monday night.27

25 The Queenslander, (Brisbane, 7 April, 1894), 649-50.
26 John Cain, “A new settlement: Adjutant Cain’s first visit to the Mizpah Group”, The War Cry, (Australia, 3 February,
1894), 10.
27 The Queenslander, (Brisbane, 4 August, 1894), 198.

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Not everyone appreciated this attention but given that there were no churches in Chinchilla at
that time, the meetings were well attended. During his visit in March 1894, Major Jeffries conducted
a meeting at the settlement which attracted a crowd of up to three hundred people, including a large
contingent from the neighbouring Monmouth settlement and others from the town and surrounding
district.28 To fully appreciate the size of this gathering, it is useful to understand that Chinchilla’s
adult population, prior to the arrival of the settlement groups, was just 100.

Sunday School was conducted each week for the settlement’s children, many of whom attended
the State School in Chinchilla during the week. This small school’s new enrolments jumped from 13
in 1893 to 67 in 1894 with 34 of those coming from Mizpah.29 Most children did not start school until
they had turned six, largely due to the distance they had to walk to town, and the majority left school
after they turned 12. The group had plans to build their own school, but this did not eventuate.

There were around 17 births during the settlement years and most of these occurred on the
settlement with another woman from their group in attendance. However a few women chose to return
to the city to give birth, particularly if they had previously experienced the loss of child. The same
situation existed at Monmouth however when a young, unmarried girl from that settlement was due
to give birth, it was Mrs Jane Malmede, wife of Mizpah’s second secretary, who helped the young
girl during her delivery. This was just one of several examples found of the kindnesses exhibited by
the Salvationists.

The Salvation Army’s constitution was framed to give equality to women and was probably
one of its distinguishing characteristics. From its inception the attitude was adopted that women were
to have equality with men as ministers and as leaders. It was disappointing then, to read the following
remark from a member of the Working Committee:

The women have no voice in the election of the committee... We have no petticoat government
in this settlement. If any of the women are inclined to be aggressive they are very soon compelled
to take a back seat and are asked to mind their own business.30

People do tend to hold to the values of their time however, which may account for the remark.
For the first several months the communards worked hard and were content, however a series

of crop failures eventually took their toll. The group used up its first advance from the government
of £12 per member quite quickly and were allocated the balance, which also disappeared rapidly even
though they were managing to feed everyone on just 1s 7½d (about 17 cents) per person per week.31
In today’s terms and with inflation taken into consideration, this equates to around $11.60 per person
per week.32 They tried planting a number of crops – corn, potatoes, oats, wheat, and tobacco - but
their yields were disappointing. Very few of their number knew anything about farming and it was
July 1894 before Professor Shelton, the government’s Instructor in Agriculture, visited their
settlement to provide advice - too late to avoid early and costly mistakes. Although 1893 had been
quite wet, from mid-1894 onward a drought set in. Further setbacks were experienced as wallabies
and bandicoots nibbled their crops and frosts damaged the new trees in their orchard which had been
planted with over 200 fruit trees of various kinds. Nor were they tilling their best soil – two-thirds of

28 The War Cry, (Australia, 7 April, 1894), 2.
29 Queensland State Archives, Item ID614300, Register - admissions, state school [Chinchilla].
30 The Telegraph, (Brisbane, 19 November, 1894), 6.
31 The Queenslander, (Brisbane, 24 March, 1894), 538.
32 The Reserve Bank of Australia’s Pre Decimal Inflation Calculator was used to determine the change in value between
1901 (the earliest year available) and 2014 (the most recent year available when the calculation was made),
http://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html

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their land was covered in prickly pear, forcing them to cultivate the less fertile, pear-free sections of
their block first. The presence of prickly pear had not been disclosed to the public earlier and it is not
known if the settlers were aware of this pest on their land when they selected it, nor if they appreciated
how difficult it was to eradicate. A number of visitors commented that Mizpah’s soil was poor but
for some time members continued to insist that they were content with what they had.

The group supplemented their income where possible. They secured a mail contract between
Chinchilla and Durah and some of their number worked away from the settlement on fencing
contracts, contributing their earnings to the group. Their bootmaker was doing a good trade, earning
£2 per week for the group. Members completed a stockyard, a second, larger store, a tool shed,
blacksmith’s, wheelwright’s and butcher’s shops, three humpies and a committee room. They had
also sunk a tank, completed a considerable amount of fencing and commenced brick-making, another
trade that was to eventually earn them a little money. Each family had started a vegetable garden on
their own house-block and, by the time Mr Fallows submitted a lengthy progress report in September
1894, the group had plans to plant grape vines.33

Sinking a tank at Mizpah34

Around October 1894 William Shipton, a Working Committee member and one of the group’s
most experienced farmers, was hospitalised in Toowoomba with what was described as a brain
disease.35 Shipton’s wife and children remained on the settlement for many months until it became
obvious that he would not recover, at which time the Army helped the family make their way to Mrs
Shipton’s relatives in New South Wales. Shipton died in hospital on 29 June 1895, never having
returned to the settlement.

There is no doubt that the settlers had worked very hard indeed and it was recommended that
this and the other groups should receive further government assistance even though it was not at all
certain that any of the groups would ever become self-supporting. It was pointed out that there were
still no employment to be had elsewhere in any case.36 In November 1894 an Amendment Act was
passed making additional assistance available.

33 The Queenslander (Brisbane, 29 September, 1894), 580-581.
34 The Queenslander (Brisbane, 7 April, 1894), 649-50.
35 Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald & General Advertiser (Ipswich, Australia, 20 November, 1894), 5.
36 The Queenslander, (Brisbane, 6 October, 1894), 633.

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In February and March 1895, with this additional government assistance mostly exhausted, a
number of members, including founding secretary, Thomas Fallows, withdrew and returned to
Brisbane. Joseph Kerr was one of several of these members to be interviewed on their return and he
blamed a poor choice of land, which turned out to be unsuitable for agriculture, and the lack of a
competent agriculturalist as director and instructor, as reasons for the group’s lack of success. He felt
there was no point in persisting further.37 Even so, there was no hint of any ill-feeling towards fellow
communards in direct contrast to the dissension that was rife in most of the other communes.

While work continued on the settlement, over the following months more members left or were
expelled. No record remains of the reason for any of the expulsions, and some (perhaps most) of these
could be attributed to the group needing to maintain an accurate census record. If members left
without submitting a formal withdrawal to the Lands Department, their departure would need to be
recorded as an expulsion, probably attributed to their unapproved absence, in order to keep records
up-to-date. The annual returns for June 1895 records this group’s membership at twenty, plus seventy
women and children.38

In October 1895, by which time all the groups were in a dreadful plight, a Bill was introduced
into Parliament to amend the Act yet again. The amendments included clauses to provide for the
dissolution of groups should they wish it, and to absolve the remaining members of any liability in
respect of the advances that had been made. Other provisions included the division of land and assets
belonging to the group between the remaining members. The groups’ land titles would be
extinguished and in their place, a five-year Licence to Occupy would be issued to existing members
applying for land.39 Blame for the failure of the scheme was mostly laid at the feet of the communards
themselves, but even at this late stage Mizpah still tended to be more highly regarded than most.40
Quite deservedly, the government did receive criticism from some quarters over its woeful handing
of the scheme, but this appeared to have little impact and was much too late to alter the outcome.

Whether intentional or not, the introduction of the Bill sent a signal to the groups that the end
was inevitable. Even at Mizpah many of the remaining members lost heart and refused to do any
further work, unable to see any point to it. Some members even wanted to pull up and sell their vines
and fruit trees, much to the annoyance of those who wished to continue and make a go of things on
the land.41 This was the first real evidence of dissension within the group.

The final version of the Bill was enacted on 23 December 1895 and on 8 January 1896 Mizpah’s
secretary notified the Lands Department of their wish for the group to be dissolved and the land
divided. This took effect on 5 February 1896, a little more than two years after they had gone onto
the land.42

Ten members chose to stay and each was permitted to select 160 acres (about 65 hectares) of
what had previously been group land. Those who remained were Thomas Allen, Carl Fischer, Robert
Fisher, William Fraser, John Garnett, Jonathan Gledhill, Thomas Horswood, William Jory, Henry
Malmede and Albert Plummer.43

37 The Telegraph, (Brisbane, 11 March, 1895), 2.
38 Legislative Assembly, Votes and Proceedings, (Queensland, Vol. 3, 1895), 425.
39 The Telegraph, (Brisbane, 4 October, 1895), 4.
40 Queensland Parliamentary Debates, (Vol. LXXIV, 1895), 1858-1879.
41 Queensland Parliamentary Debates, (Vol. LXXIV,1895), 1861.
42 Queensland Government Gazette, (Vol. LXV, 8 February, 1896), 311-312.
43 Queensland State Archives, Item ID72066, File - land selection.

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Strengths, Weaknesses, Successes and Failure

It would seem that almost every visitor to the commune and every observer from afar - whether
ministers of religion, politicians, public servants, journalists or members of the public - remarked
how the Mizpah members, unlike those of most other groups, were unfailingly cheerful, industrious
and productive; they worked together harmoniously and the group was free from discontent. The
consensus was that it was because they were Salvationists who shared the bond of a common religion.
This explanation does have great merit but there were other uniting factors as well.

Coming as they did from just three congregations in Brisbane many families knew each other
and had well-established friendships. A number shared bonds of kinship as well. These bonds were
noticeably lacking in those groups where most members were strangers to each other prior to their
arrival on the land. The Salvationist religion is a practical one with a culture of hard work, social
conscience and of caring for others, especially for those who are less well off. This may well have
contributed to the feeling of harmony and co-operation within the community and made people less
inclined to complain if one family required more support than another. Even the military-style
regimen of their daily lives may have given members a feeling of confidence that their work and its
rewards were planned, regulated and shared equally. As Salvationists, members had agreed to abstain
from alcohol and those who were not Salvationists would have been aware that the community would
be alcohol-free and would have been prepared for that when they joined. As a result, some potential
pitfalls for the group were avoided.

The editor of The Brisbane Courier obviously had thoughts along these lines. He wrote in
March 1894 that, while the State may have insisted that only men of legally unblemished character
could be eligible as members of a group, it could not inspire the “passion of self-sacrifice for the
general good” and could not “create the bond of a common faith and devotion which experience has
shown to be a mighty factor of successful colonisation.” He referred to the reports on the successes
of the Mizpah settlement and declared:

The religious bond has kept out the drink, has strengthened the spirit of comradeship, has secured
ready obedience to the controlling committee... [and goes on to say] If we are ever to have men
collectively helpful, patient, docile, willing to lose self in the general interest, we must begin by
making them individually what they should be as the Salvationists have done. 44

Group cohesiveness, hard work, an almost total absence of dissension and successful businesses
bringing in extra funds were not enough to ensure success. Mizpah was free of many of the problems
experienced on other communes such as absenteeism of members, fraud committed by officials and
members accepting outside work but not contributing their earnings to the group (even though the
group supported their families while they were away). Mizpah had access to permanent water and to
a town and the railway to ensure access to markets for their crops but this still did not tip the scales
in their favour. After all, they had no crops to sell. Inexperience, prickly pear infesting two-thirds of
their best land and poor crop choices for the land they were able to cultivate, all worked against them.
Their decision to plant fruit trees and grape vines was sound, but those take a few years to yield a
substantial crop - time they did not have.

Although Mizpah and the eleven other communes undoubtedly failed as co-operative
agricultural settlements, it is difficult to write them off as complete failures. None became self-
sufficient and they were an expense for the government, but the members and their families would

44 The Brisbane Courier, (Brisbane, 19 March, 1894), 4.

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still have been a drain on the government had they chosen to stay in the cities where there was no
employment for them. Instead they were gainfully employed on the land and where they had an
opportunity to learn new skills.

Around one quarter of Mizpah’s members chose to stay on the land and continued to contribute
to their new community for years to come. This surely is some measure of success. The communards
and their visitors would have given a boost to Chinchilla’s economy and provided opportunities for
the locals to socialise and worship. The children of the settlement learnt what it meant to live and
work co-operatively, a useful lesson for adult life. Whether or not The Salvation Army would count
the experiment a success, by whatever measure, is for their own historians to determine.

Plaque at the site of the Mizpah Cemetery
(names are now known to contain errors)45

Mizpah’s old store and building of the new store46

45 Photograph courtesy of the author.
46 The Queenslander, (Brisbane, 7 April, 1894), 649-50.

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Photograph of a Corps History Book (Photograph supplied by the author)
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