AJSAHistoryVol5Iss2 September 2020

Their repertoire not only matched contemporary popular exhibitors of the early 1890s in content
and technology, they also rivaled them in the level of supporting acts and orchestration.7

The Limelight Brigade’s inventory in 1892 included a bi-unial lantern projector and the
associated limelight generating plant, a 22-feet square canvas screen and 400 glass slides. These
included the Darkest England scheme, scenes from Pilgrim’s progress, and the Life of Christ,
portraits of leading Salvation Army officers, and simple melodramas such as The road to heaven and
Neddy’s care. A report in All the world showed Perry’s versatility and creativity,

Captain Perry’s practical acquaintance with the photographic art enables him to add to these slides
from time to time, and occasionally, in the towns visited, local views are taken and reproduced,
as circumstances permit, on the canvas at night.8

Barritt received marching orders for England in July 1893, and as Staff-Captain Hendy had
previously returned to headquarters duties, Perry became head of limelight operations, where he
remained until the Limelight Department’s closure 16 years later.

For the next three years the Limelight Brigade consisted of Perry and his wife, plus some 300
kilos of lantern projector, slides and associated equipment,

…journeyed something like 29,057 miles. Of these 21,839 had been negotiated by rail, 6,074 by
water and 1,144 by coach, cart or horseback. Including junior meetings, 522 exhibitions have
been held, at which some 469 souls have been saved, and the nett proceeds to the war have been
something like 1,784 Pounds.9

In April 1894, The Limelight Brigade previewed its first production of a narrative slide set,
entitled A daughter of Ishmael. It was the story of Maggie O’Donoghue, a young Irish woman jilted
by her fiancé, who followed him to Australia to be again rejected, which led her to drunkenness and
prostitution, and finally to murder. After 14 years in prison Maggie was released into The Salvation
Army’s care and spent her remaining years at the Brunswick Rescue Home giving assistance to young
women in moral dilemma.

O’Donoghue’s testimony was published in Melbourne under the title of A daughter of Ishmael.
It became an Army best seller, reaching 15 reprints, and Perry’s astute choice of this subject for his
first narrative lantern slide set all but guaranteed success. Of the staged settings, Full salvation
reported,

The necessary groups and surroundings were arranged by Captain Perry in person, the scenery
was painted by one of our own artists, and the Captain himself photographed the live models...10

7 Hartrick, “Consuming illusions”, 203.
8 All the world, (1 June 1892), 189-192.
9 Full salvation, (1 September 1894), 290-295.
10 Full salvation, (1 April 1894), 36.

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The cover of the book A daughter of Ishmael11

A facsimile of a glass slide from A daughter of Ishmael12
Following the earlier preview, the official premier of A daughter of Ishmael was at the Prahran
Barracks in June 1897. It was preceded on the night by another new, but shorter production entitled
Are the colours safe?, based on a well-known poem by H. Beavan. The war cry reported on the event,

11 Photograph courtesy of The Salvation Army Museum – Australia.
12 Photograph courtesy of The Salvation Army Museum – Australia.

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The Barracks was crowded to the doors, and very genuine enthusiasm was displayed as the lifelike
scenes from A Daughter of Ishmael were reproduced with such admirable fidelity on the great
canvas stretching across the Barracks. … The colouring of the pictures is good, their arrangement
admirable, and the grouping of the life models as perfect as they could be desired.13
Commandant Herbert Booth arrived in Australia as Territorial Commander in September 1896.
Booth was immediately impressed by the work of the Limelight Brigade and upgraded it to
Department status. Booth also increased the number of Perry’s staff and acquired £1000 worth of
new equipment, including three bi-unial lanterns, three kinematographs, six phonographs and three
gramophones. A life-model studio was erected at the rear of the Bourke Street premises. “Life-model”
is the term used where photographic images of real people staged on sets are used to illustrate the
narrative.
The Limelight Department’s first major production was of 100 lantern slides to accompany Mrs
Commandant Cornelie Booth’s illustrated lecture entitled The slums of the great cities, promoting the
Army’s social work in Australasia. The success of Cornelie’s lecture led to her husband, Herbert
Booth expanding the presentation to become The Commandant’s social lecture consisting of “200
limelight slides and 2,000 feet of kinematograph film.” 14 This mixed-media presentation was
expanded into a two-and-a-half hour documentary lecture, renamed Social salvation, illustrating
social premises and programmes at work and depicted by on-site actualities and staged studio
vignettes. Cornelie, however, continued to present her original lecture until at least late 1901.

A glass slide from Social salvation15

13 The war cry, (Melbourne, 16 June 1894), 238.
14 The victory, (1 September 1901), 444.
15 Photograph courtesy of The Salvation Army Museum – Australia.

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Two glass slides from Social salvation16

Towards the end of 1899, the Limelight Department produced the first of a series of narrative
Biblical slide sets. Again The war cry outlined the description of the work produced,

One of the latest is the story of the Prodigal, a new and up-to-date rendering of the old story of
the prodigal son. The slides, forty in number, all from life models, were made under the
Commandant’s personal directions, and the connective readings are also the fruits of the
Commandant’s genius.17

Booth seized upon the success and popularity of the Army’s lantern and kinematograph
lectures, conceiving and writing Soldiers of the cross.

Billed as “The Commandant’s soul-thrilling lecture,” Booth was asked how many slides would
be in his forthcoming lecture, his response was reported in The war cry,

Close to 200, and my pictures will be a work of art. My slides are not produced by artists other
than the merest detail in the back-ground - they are all life-models. Everyone knows that no artist,
even of the first type, can compete for a moment with the lens of the camera. I should say that not
fewer than 150 characters have cheerfully lent their services for the production of these pictures.
In some of them there are as many as fifty characters at once. I have not been able to discover any
such slides in the world.18

Premiering at the Melbourne Town Hall on 13 September 1900 to a paying audience of more
than 2,000 people, Soldiers of the cross has become the best known of the Limelight Department’s
productions. Some historians have made the extravagant claim that it is the world’s first feature film.19
By most definitions Soldiers of the cross is not a feature film, but an ingenious mix of motion picture,
lantern slide, music from the Masses of Mozart, and oratory by Booth. Although usually touted as a
film, in fact the film segments of Soldiers of the cross form less than one quarter of the whole two-
and-a-half-hour presentation. The lengthy religious epic was an extraordinary achievement for its

16 Photographs courtesy of The Salvation Army Museum – Australia.
17 The war cry, (Melbourne, 27 January 1900), 7.
18 The war cry, (Melbourne, 18 August 1900), 9.
19 Eric Read, Australian silent films, (Melbourne, Australia: Lansdown Press, 1970), 15.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 54

time. It was a startling, stirring, and often brutal portrayal of the sufferings of the early Christian
martyrs, with costumed actors photographed and filmed on elaborate sets.

The well known glass slide from Soldiers of the cross20
The following page shows six glass slides from Soldiers of the cross21

20 Photograph courtesy of The Salvation Army Museum – Australia.
21 Photographs courtesy of The Salvation Army Museum – Australia.

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The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 56

Soldiers of the cross commenced with an opening song and a prayer. Coloured lantern slides
depicting the arrest and trial of Stephen filled the screen and were followed by depictions of ancient
Rome, incidents in the life of Peter, the later life of Paul, and the massacre of Christians in the
Catacombs. Next were the stories of three martyrs, Polycarp of Smyrna, Calepodius, and an
anonymous martyr beaten to death after the mob broke down the door to his room. The lecture
climaxed with Christians martyred in the Colosseum, followed by the tragic story of Perpetua,
condemned to a violent death for refusing to deny Jesus. The finale left the audience with a vividly
coloured image of Christ and the caption, “Will you also follow Christ”.

The final slide of Soldiers of the cross22
The following day the Herald newspaper reported: “The effects of the films and life-model
pictures is greater than anything Dore ever produced, and the kinematograph portrayal of the
martyrdom of St. Polycarp quite beggars Rubens’ marvellous picture.”23
Nearly four month’s after Soldiers of the cross premiered, on 1 January 1901, the Limelight
Department documented on film, The inauguration of the Commonwealth. This commission from the
New South Wales government was entirely film, more than 30 minutes long and five times the length
of any earlier Australian film. It was the only major production of the Limelight Department not to
feature slides.
The production arm of the Limelight Department was registered as the ‘Australasian
Kinematographic Company’ on 26 January 1901 with the statement, “The Business of the Firm is all
Articles of Kinematography, Photography, Optical Lantern Work and Slide making.”24
The successful gaining of Government film contracts, and the filming of popular actualities,
has caused lantern slide production by the Limelight to be largely overlooked, and perhaps it was the
less glamorous activity. However, whilst the Limelight Department was establishing itself as an
important motion-picture pioneer, it was also producing lantern slides of the highest quality, and The

22 Photograph courtesy of The Salvation Army Museum – Australia.
23 The victory, (1 June 1901), 228.
24 26 January 1901. Registration Of Firms Act 1892. Form B. 228 (9539).

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Salvation Army became “the only Australian organization to produce life-model slides on a scale
approaching that of English manufacturers”.25

The registration document of the ‘Australasian Kinematographic Company’
signed by Herbert Booth26

Following Herbert Booth’s resignation from The Salvation Army in 1901, Commissioner
Thomas McKie took charge and developed the Limelight Department as a successful business.

In July 1902 The war cry announced the release of narrative slide sets,
Another Limelight Department Triumph - The slides, which have all been made and coloured by
our own Limelight Department, from life models, represent a large number of Bible stories, such
as the Widow of Nain, The Syrophenician Woman, The Deliverance of Peter from Prison, and
many others. The slides are far ahead of anything we have ever seen in this line...27

Two glass slides from The Syrophenician Woman28

25 Hartrick, “Consuming illusions,” 205.
26 Photograph courtesy of The Salvation Army Museum - Australia
27 The war cry, (Melbourne, 12 July 1902), 9.
28 Photograph courtesy of The Salvation Army Museum – Australia.

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In the same mixed-media format as Social salvation and Soldiers of the cross, on Monday 11
August 1902 the Limelight Department’s third extravaganza premiered at the Prahran Barracks; as
reported in The war cry:

Under Southern Skies is distinctly suggestive of Australia, and, indeed, the whole lecture is
tinctured with a whiff of the wattle-blossom. It consists of a profusely-illustrated account of the
history and progress of Australia, from the time when Tasman sailed his vessel close in to the
unknown shore, and then passed on, deeming it too barren and forbidding to land, to the founding
of the Commonwealth on January 1, 1901.29
Under southern skies entranced audiences for two hours with 35 motion picture segments and
200 slides. Some of the film footage was from The inauguration of the Commonwealth, and a number
of the slides were from local actualities and travelogues.

A glass slide from Under southern skies, showing the moment after the signing of the documents for the
declaration of the Australian Commonwealth30

Six years after Under southern skies the next Limelight Department epic hit the public screen.
Not that the Limelight Department had been idle, for many Government film contracts were serviced
and also about 300 actualities, travelogues and documentaries were filmed during that time.

The narrative Biblical sets produced between 1899 and 1908 were usually between 12 and 24
slides, and about 20 sets are known to have been produced.31

On Tuesday 11 May 1909, Heroes of the cross premiered at the Melbourne Town Hall. The
war cry reported: “The lecture which has just been completed at the Army’s Biograph Studios, vividly
portrays scenes in the lives of heroes of the early Christian era.”32 The war cry also included a
description of the production,

29 The war cry, (Melbourne, 9 August 1902), 16.
30 Photograph courtesy of The Salvation Army Museum – Australia.
31 1907 catalogue held in The Salvation Army Australia Museum, Melbourne.
32 The war cry, (Melbourne, 27 March 1909), 8.

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There are stirring scenes in Jerusalem, the stoning of Stephen, and other Scriptural scenes. Then
we will show the thrilling tragedies of the arena in Rome, the arrest of the Apostle Peter, murder
of Senator Julian, fights with gladiators, confronted by wild beasts.The drowning of Calapodus,
the murder of the venerable Bishop Polycarp, and many others, such as the burning in Rome by
Nero, and the Christians being thrown into the lime kilns, Hiding in the Catacombs, On the Rack,
The Dice-throwers, Early Youth and Old age, The story of the Twins, etc., etc.33

A glass slide from Heroes of the cross34
Heroes of the cross was a remake of Soldiers of the cross, but with additional scenes and its
own original musical score by Captain Robert MacAnally. It consisted of nearly 5,000 feet of motion
picture film35 (doubling that of Soldiers of the cross) and 230 lantern slides (similar inumber to
Soldiers of the Cross, with approximately a quarter of the latter’s slides reused in the new production).
While Heroes of the cross was being filmed and photographed on elaborate sets in the Limelight
Department’s new Biograph studios in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield, another costumed epic
was being produced mainly “on location” at Wildwood, near Clarkefield in the open Victorian
countryside some 40 kilometres to the north-west of Melbourne.
The Limelight Department’s fifth, and final epic production was Scottish covenanters, the story
of the brutal religious suppression of the Presbyterians by King James during the 17th century. Scottish
covenanters previewed in Melbourne to an audience of Salvation Army officers in late May 1909. It
was launched officially in New Zealand, but was never exhibited to the public in Australia, for soon
after his arrival in September 1909, Commissioner James Hay ordered the Limelight Department to
close.36

33 The war cry, (Melbourne, 10 April 1909), 10.
34 Photograph courtesy of The Salvation Army Museum – Australia.
35 The war cry, (Melbourne, 10 April 1909), 8.
36 The war cry, (Melbourne, 20 April 1991), 3.

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Two glass slides from the Scottish covenanters37
Eighteen years after its launch the light in the Limelight Department suddenly went out, and by
1910 Australia’s first film studio had ceased production and the equipment of Australia’s first
permanent and most prolific film production unit was sold off. The film productions were destroyed,
seemingly in an attempt to eradicate all trace of the Limelight Department’s existence. Commissioner
Hay wrote, “It should be noted that the cinema, as conducted by the Army, had led to a weakness and
a lightness incompatible with true Salvationism, and was completely ended by me.”
However, magic-lantern slide production and use was continued by the Army in Australia, but
not of the brilliantly hand-coloured narrative story-telling genre.
Thus ended a never-to-be-repeated chapter in Salvation Army history that recorded historical
events, provided entertainment, raised funds and presented the gospel to thousands of people in
Australia and New Zealand.

37 Photographs courtesy of The Salvation Army Museum – Australia.

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A line drawing of General William Booth from
an Australian issue of The war cry

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 62

WRITING ABOUT THE BOOTHS

David Malcolm Bennett

I have spent years of my adult life, reading and transcribing letters and other documents written by
William and Catherine Booth, and writing books and articles about them and The Salvation Army.
Why would I, David Malcolm Bennett (a Methodist/Baptist/Presbyterian), do that? The answer is in
a long sequence of events that I had only partial control over. In those events I can see the hand of
God, and, as I relate them, I hope you can too.

The Methodist Bennetts

I was born into a Methodist family, in London in the middle of World War Two. Our church was
Prince of Wales Road Methodist, situated a kilometre or a little more from the Chalk Farm Salvation
Army hall in north-west London. I think we even shared some Sunday School scholars. The Army’s
band marching through the streets, usually with boys and girls following on, was a common sight on
Sundays and it impressed me. My working-class parents had a high regard for the Army and spoke
well of it. Indeed, George Wilkie, an uncle of my father’s, had served with The Salvation Army late
in the nineteenth century and, as “Scribe Wilkie”, had several articles printed in The war cry.1

In my mid-teens I became heavily involved in youth activities at the Methodist church, and,
after a lengthy spiritual struggle, was converted at the age of 19. I remember Chalk Farm’s Songsters
paying us a visit on one occasion, which was much appreciated. In about 1960, our youth group went
to the Chalk Farm Citadel to hear Commissioner Herbert Lord, who had been imprisoned by the
Communists in Korea. We were deeply impressed.

Much of the Methodist Church at that time, at least in the south of England, had become
theologically liberal, so I decided to leave that denomination and go to an evangelical church. The
choice was between the Baptists and The Salvation Army. I chose the Baptists, though I did attend a
service at The Salvation Army late in January 1965.

Bookselling and books

I have always lived in a world of books. We had a lot at home and dad was a big reader. He encouraged
us to borrow books from the nearby Keats’ Grove Library (named after the poet who had lived next
door to where the library was housed). Mum also read Bible stories to me and my brother at breakfast.

In July 1958 I left school, but I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I saw an
advertisement for a job at a W.H. Smith bookstall on London’s King’s Cross Railway Station, applied
for it and got it. That large and busy bookstall was on platform 10. (I will leave you to work out the
magic.) That job increased my love of books and reading.

Early in 1961 I resigned from Smith’s and went to work in the export department of the Epworth
Press (the Methodist Publishing House) in London’s City Road. Apart from publishing, Epworth ran
a bookshop selling new books and another selling secondhand books. One day I was browsing

Reference citation of this paper; David Malcolm Bennett, “Writing about the Booths”, The Australasian journal
of Salvation Army history, 5, 2, 2020, 62 – 68.
1 These items include “Mrs Bramwell conducts a rescued lass’s memorial service”, The war cry, (London, 24
November 1888).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 63

through some books stacked on a table in the secondhand shop and I saw a large book, with a blue
cover, and I picked it up. It was the first volume of St. John Ervine’s God’s soldier: General William
Booth.2 Pencilled inside was the price, “10/6” (ten shillings and sixpence) for two volumes. But where
was the other volume? I asked my friend in the shop if he had the other. He found it. I paid my 10/6
and took the precious volumes home. It was probably the best 10/6 that I ever spent. That day, that
moment, that purchase had a major impact upon my life. It almost certainly can be said that if I had
not bought that wonderful book, the Booths and I would have remained strangers or, at least, not
close. But I not only bought it, I read it, all 1,100 pages, though that did take a while. It is a brilliant
book and the best biography of William Booth. It opened my eyes to the drama and the wonder of the
ways in which God used William and Catherine Booth to preach Christ and to bring into being The
Salvation Army. One of the things that I especially loved about it was the host of delightful and odd
characters that Booth gathered around him, such as Railton, Dowdle and Cadman. A little later I also
bought and read Richard Collier’s fine book, The general next to God,3 which increased my interest
in The Salvation Army.

It was in the early 1970s that I first had the urge to write a book. The subject seemed obvious:
William Booth. At that time, I made one important contact, Cyril Barnes. He kindly gave me a set of
Harold Begbie’s Life of William Booth,4 a useful book, but rather dry. My Booth collection was
growing. But, as yet, I did not have the time, the knowledge and the ability to write a book.

In January 1965, a young Australian lady from the Queensland Book Depot in Brisbane had
come to join us at Epworth. She was on a working holiday. Her name was Claire Wilkie, a Methodist
and sister to Brigadier Clyde Wilkie of The Salvation Army. We fell in love, eventually married, and
after a few years in England moved to Australia in 1973, making Brisbane our home (note that the
surname Wilkie appears on both sides of our family).

A venture into writing

I worked for the Queensland Book Depot from 1973 to 1985, at which point I had itchy feet and the
desire to write arose again. So, with a little money in the bank, I resigned and began to write, a move
that my loving and tolerant wife accepted. The subject inevitably was William Booth. I realised that
at that time writing a modern God’s soldier was beyond me, so what I decided to do was write a
shortish biography of the Army’s Founder, highlighting the dramatic points in his life. Drama and
excitement were to be the essential ingredients, and Booth’s life had plenty of it. I wrote what became
William Booth and The Salvation Army, published in the “Heroes of the cross” series in England in
1987. This became William Booth, published in the “Men of faith” series in America in 1997, and
William Booth and his Salvation Army, published in Australia in 2012.5 It has been well received, has
sold over 25,000 copies in the three editions, and the Australian edition (available around the world)
is still in print. Clyde Wilkie loved it.

2 St. John Ervine, God’s soldier: General William Booth, (2 vols), (London, UK: Heinemann, 1934).
3 Richard Collier, The general next to God, (London, UK: Collins, 1965).
4 Harold Begbie, Life of William Booth, (2 vols), (London, UK: MacMillan, 1920).
5 David Bennett, William Booth and The Salvation Army, (Basingstoke, UK: Marshall Pickering, 1986).; David Bennett,
William Booth, (Minneapolis, USA: Bethany House, 1997).; David Bennett, William Booth and his Salvation Army,
(Capalaba, Australia: Even Before Publishing, 2012).

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Theological study

I wrote two more books and then studied at the Bible College of Queensland (now the Brisbane
School of Theology) for three years (1988 – 1990), emerging with a B.Th. During my time at college
I did part time work in the Bible Society Bookshop, which helped put food on the table. After leaving
college I increased my hours at the Bible Society (but I was still only working part-time) and began
writing again. I had a couple more books published. I also jumped ship and became a Presbyterian.
Then in the late 1990s I did a M.Th. through the Australian College of Theology, examining the
origins of the practice of inviting people forward to what, in Salvation Army circles, is called the
mercy seat or penitent form. This was published in 2000 as The altar call: Its origins and present
usage6 and has been rather influential.

Carrying out that research at an academic level improved my research and writing skills
considerably and lifted my confidence. At about that time an unexpected, almost miraculous, situation
arose, that meant I did not have to work any longer so I could write fulltime. God moves in surprising
ways.

The general and the letters

A year or so before Roy Hattersley’s book on William and Catherine Booth was published (so at that
stage it was unknown), a friend of mine who worked at Koorong Books said that he believed that a
new in-depth biography of William Booth was needed. He added that he believed that I should do it.
I thought and prayed about it and decided that he was right. So, I began to write The general: William
Booth. It was not long before I decided that to do a good job of it, I needed access to the letters of
William and Catherine Booth. The letters they wrote to each other and the letters that Catherine wrote
to her parents are housed in the British Library. I purchased them all on five long rolls of microfilm.

I began on the letters that William and Catherine wrote to each other. When reading them I
immediately ran into a problem. The first letter was supposedly dated 1852, but, after reading it, it
soon became clear that that date was wrong. I found out later, much later, that it should be dated early
1854. There were other problems with the letters too. There were more incorrect dates, some pages
had been shuffled, and other pages were written in cross writing (ask Jane Austen). It soon became
evident that what I needed was a sorted and transcribed version of these letters, so I made a few
enquiries to see if anyone else had done it or was working on it. The answers were all “No!” So, in
the words of one or more American Presidents, I decided that “The buck stops here”, and began to
transcribe them myself, dating them where that was necessary and possible. It took three years, though
I was also working part time, so I estimate that the actual work of transcription took nearly 18 months
of 40-hour weeks. I then published the letters in book form in 2003.7 Though that book is now out of
print, the transcribed letters can still be obtained from me on a PDF.8

I then returned to writing The general, using these transcriptions, the microfilm of some of the
letters Catherine wrote to her parents, her diary and reminiscences, the main biographies, and items

6 David Bennett, The altar call: Its origins and present usage, (Lanham, USA: University Press of America, 2000).
7 David Malcolm Bennett (ed.), The letters of William and Catherine Booth, (Brisbane, Australia: Camp Hill
Publications, 2003).
8 David Malcolm Bennett (ed.), The Booth letters CD, (Brisbane, Australia: Camp Hill Publications, 2012).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 65

supplied by such places as the International Heritage Centre. It was published in two volumes in
America by Xulon Press in 2003,9 and is still available.

In 2005 I also published transcriptions of Catherine Booth’s diary and reminiscences in book
form.10 That book is also now out of print, but the transcriptions are available on PDFs on the same
disk as the letters of William and Catherine Booth.

I left the Booths alone for a while, wrote three more books and did a PhD through the University
of Queensland. That was published in America in 2010 as The origins of left behind eschatology.11 I
then wrote a few more books, mainly biographies.

More on the Booths and the Army

It was probably in 2015 that Garth Hentzschel approached me about becoming an assistant editor and
peer reviewer for a journal that he was planning. I agreed to assist with it, and in 2016 the first edition
of the Australasian journal of Salvation Army history was published. This online journal is issued
twice a year and I have had articles in most issues.

In 2017 I completed a book on Hudson Taylor, and while that was going through the publishing
process, I decided that that would be my last book. So, still breathing and faced with what to do with
the remainder of my life, I decided to transcribe the letters that Catherine Booth wrote to her parents,
which I did that year and into the following year. This is now available on a separate PDF.12 I then
said to Garth Hentzschel, that as the major sources were all now easily accessible, “It’s time that
someone wrote a good biography of Catherine Booth.” He said, “You should do it.” So, after more
thought and prayer, I decided to write a book about the first half of Catherine’s life, up to about 1865,
which would then be my last book. This has been completed and is being published by Morning Star
Publishing in 2020 as Catherine Booth: From timidity to boldness.13

But while I am still breathing, thinking and able to write, the idea of any book being “my last
book” tends to fade away, so I decided to write a second volume called Catherine Booth: From
boldness to Glory. This is nearing completion, and hopefully will be published in 2021. That really
might be my last book.

A Confession

As many Salvationists will suspect, I do not agree with everything that the Booths believed and did.
Nor do I agree with all the beliefs and practices of The Salvation Army. But that does not present a
problem to me. I am perfectly happy to admire and write about people and institutions, with which I
have minor disagreements. You will find some criticisms of the Booths’ ideas and beliefs in my
writings, but they are not plentiful (some have been noticed by the eagle-eyed over the years, but that
is fine with me, and I hope it is fine with the reader). Nor do I believe in writing books that present
my heroes as perfect. Rather, I believe in writing “warts and all” biographies. That is, I tell their
stories in a way that clearly shows their greatness, but I also make it clear that they had some faults.

9 David Malcolm Bennett, The general: William Booth, (2 vols), (Florida, USA: Xulon Press, 2003).
10 David Malcolm Bennett (ed.), The diary and reminiscences of Catherine Booth, (Brisbane, Australia: Camp Hill
Publications, 2005).
11 David Malcolm Bennett, The origins of left behind eschatology, (Florida, USA: Xulon Press, 2010).
12 David Malcolm Bennett (ed.), Catherine Booth’s letters to her parents PDF, (Brisbane, Australia: Camp Hill
Publications, 2018).
13 David Malcolm Bennett, Catherine Booth: From timidity to boldness, (Melbourne, Australia: Morning Star
Publishing, 2020).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 66

I have long found it interesting that this is how the Bible treats its heroes. Abraham and David in the
Old Testament, Peter, James and John in the New, are all great biblical heroes, godly men, but the
scriptures make it clear that they had faults, some of which shock us. We do our heroes (and our
readers) no good service by painting people as perfect, when they clearly were not. I also think that
there is some advantage in me, a non-Salvationist, writing about the Booths and having my books
published by non-Salvationist publishers. That way I am free to say what I think.
Postscript
William and Catherine Booth continue to amaze me. The work they did to win men and women into
the Kingdom of God (to “save” people), many from out of the gutter, was outstanding. Their care and
concern for the social needs of the poor and abused, which manifested itself mainly towards the end
of their lives, was also admirable. As I read the New Testament, I see those two facets clearly
portrayed as part of the church’s mission. That William and Catherine Booth and The Salvation Army
were committed to doing not one or the other but both, has long attracted me to them.

It has been a delight, it has been a pleasure, to research and write about the lives of William and
Catherine Booth. It has also been a lot of hard work. But it has been worth it. They have left a deep
imprint upon my life.

Some of David Malcolm Bennett’s publications relating to Catherine and William Booth

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 67

Some of David Malcolm Bennett’s publications relating to Catherine and William Booth
The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 68

MEET THE AUTHOR

Publications about The Salvation Army and by Salvationists are often referenced, cited, critiqued and
evaluated without the reviewer knowing anything about the author. 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 to this section of the journal, “Meet the
Author”. This issue introduces readers to a New Zealand Salvation Army officer, author and inspira-
tional speaker, who has written a number of items on Salvation Army history and has contributed to
Salvation Army devotional works.

WORDS1

Barbara Sampson

I love words. I don’t know when words first came to me or where they came from. Did my mother
read to me right from the start? Was I an early talker? When did I first love pencils and pens and
paper? While my older sister still played with her dolls, dressing them in nurses’ outfits, I swapped
mine early on for writing pads and coloured pencils. I loved the feel of books, the smell of paper. My
primary school stationery cupboard was enticing in its fragrance and I loved its neat piles of new
exercise books and boxes of pencils and erasers. I treated my own new exercise books at the start of
a year with a kind of reverence. Using soft clear printing I made sure I made no mistakes so there was
no need for the teacher’s jarring red pen.

On a Friday afternoon trip into Invercargill, New Zealand, I would wander through Craig’s
Stationers, noticing, breathing in, savouring the vast assortment of stationery designed to meet every
need. I believe heaven will have a huge stationery warehouse where people can wander freely. That
and a massive garden.

Even now I still love the time early in the year when the school stationery is set out in neat piles
in the shops. I loiter, touching, sniffing the exercise books, buying a dozen or so at 19cents each and
wishing, in a wistful kind of way, that I was going back to school again.

As a child I wrote letters to my Uncle Don, the steely-blue-eyed policeman at Bluff. I would
hunt out some of the longest words in the dictionary and string them together with ‘and’ or ‘but’ and
send pages of it to him. He would reply in good humour, ‘Roger (my cousin) says, If you had another
brain it would be lonely.’ Or, ‘Roger says, If you had twice as many brains you would be a half-wit.’
The kind of thing you would never say to a child today.

From as early as I can remember I wrote stories. Usually once upon a time, happily ever after
stories with a maiden, a villain and always a lovely ending. Such writing was probably a reflection
of my life growing up on a farm – safe, secure, abundant, where I always felt my mother’s encour-
agement and my father’s great delight. No wonder I flourished and grew strong in such rich soil.

When I was 12 my Dad bought me my first typewriter. I would sit up in bed on a Saturday
morning with the little machine perched on my knees and try to teach myself how to touch-type. My
efforts were obviously in vain as I still hunt-and-peck but can do so now at speed!

1 Reference citation of this paper; Barbara Sampson, “Meet the author. Words”, The Australasian journal of Sal-
vation Army history, 5, 2, 2020, 69 – 72.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 69

Major Barbara Sampson2

2 Photograph courtesy of the author.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 70

With my Dad’s death when I was 15 the words changed. The endings were no longer happy
ever after. In fact the words stopped for quite a while. The rawness of loss was like a terrible awak-
ening to a real world. I somehow grew up all of a sudden on that night between Christmas Day and
Boxing Day 1964.

At high school and university words were crafted and shaped into essays and assignments then
lesson plans during the year I taught at a country High School before our first baby was born. A
second blow of grief knocked me over when Mum died just 18 days after his birth. Wonderful new
life and sorrowful death on either side of Easter gave me a new perspective on what life is really all
about - not always happily ever after and not only sorrow and loss, but most often a mix of the two –
joy mingled with sadness, light and shadow shafting together, good and bad in a thought-provoking
dance.

With a two-year-old toddler and a six month old baby we trekked off to our first appointment
as Salvation Army officers to Zambia in the heart of Africa. It was to be for a lifetime, but it turned
out to be for only three and a half years – a mere 5 minutes in the grand scheme of things. We came
home, me to hospital for surgery for melanoma and our daughter a week later for heart surgery.

They were deep dark days beyond the reach of words. I couldn’t pray but all around the country
and dotted around the world there were people praying for us. Post-surgery we returned to Island
Bay, Wellington from where we had left to go to Africa. I walked the hills and tried to get within
sight of the sea every day. The exercise was good for me, as was the time to think, to pray and to heal.

Out of all those individual experiences of suffering and loss and the searing sound of dreams
shattering, words flowed in poems, in songs (Joy because of you, In Jesus’ hands), in human interest
stories, (often published in the New Zealand War Cry), in creative celebrations and speaking engage-
ments, all testimony to God’s grace and blessing at work in my life.

When I wrote a poem or a song, I would take it next door to my neighbour, an encouraging
creative spirit, fellow mystic and muso. Slowly, steadily loss turned to gain, sorrow to a new depth
of joy, emptiness was filled, life that was threatened flourished in a rich new soil and I was able to
grow and become, and to offer something fresh and engaging to others.

In Suffrage Year 1993, the centenary of women getting the vote in this country, I wrote Women
of Spirit, telling the story of 28 Salvation Army women in New Zealand. In the main they were ordi-
nary women, but all were made extraordinary by the work of God in and through their dedicated lives.

Cover of Women of spirit by Barbara Sampson
The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 71

The crowning delight of my Salvation Army officership was the appointment as author of
Words of life. For six years words flowed under the inspiration of God, anchored in the promise that
he gave me from Isaiah 50:4: “The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue to know the
word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one
being taught.”

Two examples of covers from Words of life from when Barbara Sampson was the author

People from different parts of the world wrote, “That word was just right for me today. How
did you know?” An Anglican nun wrote from a retreat centre in Wales telling me how amazed she
was that on the day of the Queen Mother’s funeral the reading in Words of life was about “Blessed
are those who mourn”. She said she copied the reading and sent it to Prince Charles. I’m still waiting
for my invitation to a royal garden party!

Six years and around seven hundred thousand words later I finished the role with a deep glad-
ness and thankfulness to God for every opportunity of those years of writing and the bonus of several
overseas speaking engagements that opened up for me during that time.

Words did not dry up then, they just reshaped themselves into poems, articles and the proof-
reading of manuscripts. We thought about setting up a proof-reading business and calling it Wounded
Bull – “She charges like a wounded bull”. Then came the privilege of listening to other people’s
words and stories in the practice of spiritual direction. Everyone has a story to tell, a burden to share,
a vocation from God to respond to.

Now, in a grand sweep of effort and discipline, I have set about the task of gathering the words
together, telling the amazing stories of my 70plus years and leaving them as a record and testimony
to God’s faithfulness and grace at work all through my life. Thanks be to God.

Biographical paragraph from the back cover of Words of life

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 72

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SALVATION ARMY LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
1988 – PRESENT

BOOKS DISCOVERED OR PUBLISHED SINCE
THE PREVIOUS ISSUES OF AJSAH

Garth R. Hentzschel

Following on from R. G. Moyles, A bibliography of Salvation Army literature in English 1865-1987,1
some editions of the Australasian journal of Salvation Army history will have information of literature
by Salvationists or containing information on The Salvation Army to assist researchers and those
interested in more information on The Salvation Army. Both bibliographical information and a brief
outline of the work will be included. Please note that categories and referencing style will be that used
by Moyles to be consistent with his work.

Allen, Rod. CAPTAIN KINDNESS AND KIND KID. IT ALL BEGINS WITH GRACE. Australia:
The Salvation Army, 2017, 20 pp.
The cartoon strip introduced young readers to the act of kindness in the face of adversity.

Coe, John J. NOT A PENNY OF DEBT. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HENRY REED:
MERCANTILIST, EVANGELIST & PHILANTHROPIST. Ingham, Australia: John J. Coe,
2011, 407 pp.
The in-depth study into the life and times of Henry Reed includes his connection with William Booth
and the East London Christian Mission.

Cover: Not a penny of debt
Davies, Tracey and Powell, Kelly. KIDZONE CURRICULUM. Melbourne, Australia: The Salvation

Army Australia Southern Territory, 2014, 52 pp.
The book, based on The Salvation Army’s Australian magazine for children, Kidzone, included three
series of themed lessons and activities for children’s clubs or Sunday schools run by churches.

Reference citation of this paper
Garth R. Hentzschel, “A bibliography of Salvation Army literature in English, 1988 - present, Anon or under
authority of ‘the general’”, The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, 5, 2, 2020, 73 – 77.
1 R.G. Moyles, A bibliography of Salvation Army literature in English (1865-1987), (Lewiston, USA: The Edwin
Mellen Press, 1988).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 73

Cover: Captain kindness and kind kid
The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 74

Evans, Robert. EARLY EVANGELICAL REVIVALS IN NEW SOUTH WALES &
QUEENSLAND. Hazelbrook, Australia: Robert Evans, 2015, 222 pp.
The compilation of primary and secondary sources covered evangelical and revival work in the colonies
of New South Wales and Queensland, from a Wesleyan Methodist perspective. A revival in Ipswich,
Queensland included information on Hester Robinson, later Robinson-McNaught and the impact of her
ministry in that town. Robinson-McNaught was to assist in the commencement of The Salvation Army
in Queensland, Australia.

Evans, Robert. EARLY EVANGELICAL REVIVALS IN VICTORIA 1836-1886. Hazelbrook,
Australia: Robert Evans, 2016, 262 pp.
While the book included information on revivals in Victoria, with a focus on the Methodist churches, it
included information on the evangelist Matthew Burnett, who held meetings in Adelaide that were to
become the catalyst for the commencement of The Salvation Army in South Australia.

Evans, Robert. EARLY REVIVALS & EVANGELISM IN TASMANIA, 1820 TO 1890.
Hazelbrook, Australia: Robert Evans, 2017, 174 pp.
Henry Reed, the evangelist who supported William Booth’s work was listed throughout the book. At
the end of the book, in a short biography was given of Reed and his Christian Mission Church he founded
in Tasmania.

Cover: Early revivals & evangelism in Tasmania, 1820 to 1890
Evans, Robert. EVANGELISM AND REVIVALS IN AUSTRALIA 1880 – 1914. Hazelbrook,

Australia: Robert Evans, 2005, revised 2012, 477 pp.
Although the book focused on the role of Methodism in Australian revivals, it gave one chapter on The
Salvation Army. The chapter argued the early Army was a revival movement but due to leadership issues
failed to continue in that role from about 1890 onwards. The book also included information on Matthew
Burnett, the evangelist who was the catalyst for the commencement of The Salvation Army in Adelaide,
South Australia.
Evans, Robert ed. GEMS FROM ENGLISH REVIVALS, 1860 – 1862. Hazelbrook, Australia: Rev.
Robert Evans, 2018, 290 pp.
This compilation of works was collected from previously published biographies, memoirs or reports
from The revival. One of the sections included information and reports on the work of Rev. William
Booth.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 75

Gregory, Helen. MAKING MAROOCHY. A HISTORY OF THE LAND, THE PEOPLE AND THE
SHIRE. Nambour, Australia: Boolarong Publications, 1991, 196 pp.
The general history, using a thematical approach, focused on the Maroochy Shire, Queensland,
Australia. The Salvation Army Christmas encampment was listed with a photograph and information on
the Nambour Corps was also included.

Cover: Making Maroochy
Huth, Alison (ed.) and Smyth, Frank. IN GOD’S HANDS, THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR FRANK

SMYTH OAM OL. Maleny, Australia: Dorothy Smyth, 2012, 97 pp.
The book was written from notes made by Dr Frank Smyth OAM OL. It told of his pioneering medical
work in Papua New Guinea and life as a Salvationist. The book also contained tributes to Smyth from
former patients, medical specialist colleagues, family members as well as reference to his writing in
other publications.
Perry, Scott. 101 CELEBRATING THE OPENING OF 101 QUEEN VICTORIA STREET. THE
INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS OF THE SALVATION ARMY. London, UK:
International Headquarters of The Salvation Army, 2004, 100 pp.
The book was published for the opening of the International Headquarters of The Salvation Army and
contained a history of the property, concepts used for the development of the structure, and images of
the former and present buildings.
Short, Wilsie. A MIGRANT WITH A MISSION: BENJAMIN SHORT, 1833 – 1912. Sydney,
Australia: University of New South Wales Press, 1994, 138 pp.
With the use of primary sources such as personal diaries, letters as well as newspaper articles, the story
of Benjamin Short was told by one of his granddaughters, Wilsie Short. William Booth and The
Salvation Army is listed as the family had connections to the Booth family in the East End of London.

Cover: A migrant with a mission: Benjamin Short, 1833-1912
The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 76

Street, Robert. HEAD, HANDS AND FEET. WHAT PETER AND JESUS DID NEXT. London,
UK: Salvation Books, The Salvation Army International Headquarter, 2020, 48 pp.
The bible study focused on the events leading up to the first Easter. Under the headings of head, hands
and feet, the actions and sayings of Peter and Jesus are analysed. Each chapter gave scripture references,
questions on which to meditate and a verse of a song. Three ‘reflections in verse’ are included at the end
of the book.

Cover: Head, hands and feet
Thomson, Adam. ONE TABLE: A COLLECTION OF OUR FAMILY FAVOURITES. THE

SALVATION ARMY PROJECT 614 COOKBOOK. Melbourne, Australia: Wilkinson
Publishing, 2019, 144 pp.
The collection of recipes cover entrées, mains and desserts. The book was sold to raise funds for and
raise awareness of The Salvation Army’s Project 614 in Melbourne, Australia. It included photographs
of the food and people connected to the project.

Salvation Army History Snapshot – UK

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 77

BOOK REVIEW
THIRTEEN ASTONISHING YEARS

Reviewed by
Garth R. Hentzschel

John Larsson, Thirteen astonishing years that shaped The Salvation Army 1878 - 1890, (London,
UK: Salvation Books, The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 2019), 160 pp. ISBN.
978 1 911149 87 3,1 ebook 978 1 911149 88 02

Cover of John Larsson’s
Thirteen astonishing years

From the big bang, through the development of DNA to death and re-creation within The Salvation
Army was all covered in this new book by retired General John Larsson. Thirteen astonishing years
that shaped The Salvation Army faithfully fulfilled one of its stated aims; to “salute the courage of
the early Salvationists.”3 Both its strength and weakness is that it is a celebratory kaleidoscope of
popular short story histories of the Army between 1878 and 1890.

The 36 stories, of three typed pages and one page of an image each, cover various topics and
move quickly from one idea to another. Each of these items were originally written for the UK
Salvationists magazine and therefore published for the audience of general Salvationists and others
who work for or work with The Salvation Army. The stories included, the change of name to The
Salvation Army, notable Salvationists of the time, the rise of Army belief and practices, early Army
revivals and evangelical practices, commencement of the Army in countries outside of the UK,
persecution against the Army, the promotion to Glory of Catherine Booth and the rise of the Army’s
social work.

Reference citation of this review: Garth R. Hentzschel, “Book review, Thirteen astonishing years”, The
Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, 5, 2, 2020, 78 – 79.
1 At the time of publication of the AJSAH, the book was available from Salvationists Publishing and Supplies, London
at https://www.sps-shop.com/thirteen-astonishing-years---john-larsson-20771-p.asp.
2 At the time of publication of the AJSAH, the ebook was available as a Kindle edition from Amazon at
https://www.amazon.com.au/Thirteen-Astonishing-Years-Shaped-Salvation-
ebook/dp/B082YF4878/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=thirteen+Astonishing+Years+-
+John+Larsson&qid=1596801020&sr=8-1
3 John Larsson, Thirteen astonishing years that shaped The Salvation Army 1878 - 1890, (London, UK: Salvation
Books, The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 2019), vii.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 78

There must be praise given to Larsson for his use of referencing, which is something unique
within the library of Salvation Army popular histories. Although the references were included for the
reader’s deeper investigation, as Larsson wrote, “if you want to dig deeper into this fascinating period,
the source notes will provide the key,” such an action also assists with evaluation of the writing and
consistency of facts. While Larsson again brought to light the stories within now out of print sources,
many of these were not questioned and only four recent academic publications of historical research
were used; Glenn Horridge, The Salvation Army, Origins and early days, Gordon Moyles, Come join
our Army, and Roger J. Green, Catherine Booth and War on two fronts.

While Larsson did dig deeper on several matters, much of the new insights into Army history
has been ignored. Often overlooked is that William Booth was more conservative than authors often
portray; Larsson did however show this on two occasions. He stated at the time of the name change,
Booth “hesitated about dropping the old name entirely” and when the rank of general was bestowed
upon Booth, Larsson included that Booth wrote, “Can’t this form be altered? It looks pretentious.”4
However the celebratory genre Larsson used failed to question either the old hagiography narratives
or the newer conflict theory revisionists. The very title, Thirteen astonishing years that shaped The
Salvation Army promoted growth and therefore does not engage the claims of Norman H. Murdoch
and Glenn Horridge that the Army was not successful in the locations it was designed to work during
the 1880s, the urban slums. On the topic of female ministry, there is no engagement with Andrew M.
Eason’s work on gender inequality in the Army. On the topic of young people’s work, the failure of
earlier children’s ministry and Booth’s regulation not to commence work with orphans were also not
discussed. A common failure of the genre is that founding people who left the Army, for example
Herbert Booth and Henry Edmonds, were just listed or neglected. Earlier commencements of The
Christian Mission in the USA and Australia and arguments against leaders of the Army were ignored.
Yet to cover these issues in a three-page overview is near impossible.

Many of the stories included in Thirteen astonishing years have been told and told again, I was
first introduced to them in junior soldier lessons and my parents would use them as object lessons in
sermons. With such stories told and retold, and the many gaps appearing, should they again be
published? I believe a resounding YES! These stories need to be read and re-read not only as an
introduction to Salvation Army history, but as a reminder of our DNA! They should be repeated to
our children, read to new converts, we should talk about them when we sit in our house and when we
travel along the road, with our devotions when we lie down and when we get up. We should promote
them on Facebook and Twitter and place them in our head and in our heart until we again catch the
fire of the spirit of the Army. Therefore, all Salvationists and people working with The Salvation
Army should read the book to understand the movement. Larsson presents these stories in a clear and
simple manner, devoid of complications and easy to read. The illustrations presented gave a clear link
with the narrative and only on one occasion did Larsson stray from the years under review. The book
is a welcome addition to the genre of Salvation Army popular history. However, this should be the
beginning of understanding the movement. The faults and weaknesses of the Army and Salvationists
also need to be investigated, which will show how God used the weak and foolish things to shame
the strong and wise.5

4 Larsson, Thirteen astonishing years that shaped The Salvation Army, 6, 22.
5 1 Corinthians 1:27

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 79

BOOK REVIEW
THE ARMY AS A REVIVAL MOVEMENT

Reviewed by
Garth R. Hentzschel

Robert Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 1880 – 1914, (Hazelbrook, Australia:
Robert Evans, 2005, revised 2012), 477 pp. ISBN. 0-9756733-1-91

Cover of Robert Evans book,
Evangelism and revivals in Australia

Rev Robert Evans in his book, Evangelism and revivals in Australia claimed The Salvation Army
ceased to be a revival movement in the 1890s due to “the Salvation Army’s leadership.” He continued,
“[p]erhaps it is not a surprise that the revival came to an end when it did.”2 Many Salvationists would
be surprised and disappointed at this statement while others may agree the Army ceased to be a revival
movement but for different reasons and at a different time than surmised by Evans. While this book
contains only one chapter on The Salvation Army, Evangelism and revivals in Australia and Evans’s
collection of works gives some deeper insight into Christian revivals in the Australasian context,
albeit usually from a Methodist perspective.

Evans is well-known in Australasia for his studies of Christian revival. He established a library
that holds a large collection of publications relating to revivals.3 Evans also developed and is the site
manager for the website “Research in evangelical revivals” which houses information on the topic
including that of his own books.4 He has written widely on revivals and evangelists in Australia and
New Zealand.5 Of interest is that Evans is also a well-known author in the area of Astronomy. Before
retiring in 1998 he was an ordained minister of the Uniting Church.

It first must be acknowledged; Evans has done what Salvation Army historians have failed to
do; he has identified and researched people who were to impact the establishment of the Army in
Australia. For example, in her 2014 thesis, Jennifer Hein called for research into evangelist Matthew

Reference citation of this paper: Garth R. Hentzschel, “Book review, The Army as a revival movement”, The
Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, 5, 2, 2020, 80 – 84.
1 At the time of publication of the AJSAH, the 2005 issue of the book was available online at
https://revivalsresearch.net/docs/EvangelicalismAndRevivalsInAustralia1800-1914.pdf.
2 Robert Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 1880 – 1914, (Hazelbrook, Australia: Robert Evans, 2012), 204.
3 See the index of library books at http://revivalsresearch.net/docs/REVLIBR.pdf accessed 6 August 2020.
4 See http://revivalsresearch.net/ accessed 6 August 2020.
5 For a list of some of his books and PDF copies see http://revivalsresearch.net/books.php accessed 6 August 2020.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 80

Burnett; it was after attending one of his services that John Gore and Edward Saunders met and later

commenced The Salvation Army in Adelaide. Evans had however researched Burnett and included
links to the Army in his biography of Burnett in 2010.6 Evangelism and revivals in Australia also
covered some of Burnett’s ministry and explained that his style was similar to the early Salvation
Army.7 In other works, Evans highlighted the ministry of Henry Reed, who financed and worked with
William Booth in Christian Mission days.8 Then in Early evangelical revivals in New South Wales &

Queensland, Evans briefly discussed one of the revivals led by Mrs Robinson, the person who helped
commence The Salvation Army in Queensland, although he did not make this link.9 For each of these,

Evans should be praised by Salvation Army historians, and his research into these evangelists should

be used as a foundation from which to build a new understanding of the formation of the Army in

Australia.

While it is clear in Evangelism and revivals in Australia that Evans knows his subject matter in

the wider revival context, his years of working on the topic have given him strong underpinning

assumptions that are not always challenged in this book. Firstly, Evans believed that in the 1860s

William Booth along with the Palmers, Finney, Rev Robert Young, Brownlow North, and Reginald
Radcliffe were well-known revivalists throughout Scotland, Wales and England.10 This is not

disputed; however in the chapter on the Army, in Evangelism and revivals in Australia, Evans centred
more on Catherine and William Booth’s ministry in the UK than on the Army’s work in Australia to

build his argument that the Army was a revival movement within the colonies. There has however

been no investigation on the specific impact Catherine and William had on the southern colonies.

Evans did however later give examples of growth in the Army from different colonies, which he also

attributed to revival.

Second, Evans placed a watershed moment between the mystical revival and humanistic

revivalism squarely at the feet of Finney; post-Finney revivals he claimed were a planned and
organised evangelistic mission.11 The questions arise on the level of humanity’s involvement; how

much is God-inspired and how much can human intervention bring on a revival? Evans believed the

only methods from humanity that could encourage revival was to be diligent in prayer and for
Christians to practice a deeper level of humility, holiness and obedience to God.12 Evans was critical
of Finney’s definitions and process of revivals. His concerns against Finney in part may cloud his
judgment, even in his evaluation of The Salvation Army’s lack of ‘success’ post 1895, yet his theory

does drive the entire structure of Evangelism and revivals in Australia. Evans clearly puts to the

forefront the historical importance of prayer and the teaching of holiness, not only including these as

the first four chapters of the book but making it clearly visible throughout.
Thirdly, the author’s knowledge of primary and secondary sources relating especially to the

revivals in the Methodist church is extensive. This alone gave a great deal of insight into revival

6 Jennifer Hein, “‘Abominable yahoos’: Exploring the historical memory of the beginning of the Salvation Army in
South Australia”, (PhD diss., Flinders University, 2014), 71.; Robert Evans, Matthew Burnett. The Yorkshire evangelist,
Australia’s greatest evangelist & social reformer, (Hazelbrook, Australia: Robert Evans, 2010).
7 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 221 – 266.
8 See for example Robert Evans, Early revivals & evangelism in Tasmania, 1820 to 1890, (Hazelbrook, Australia:
Robert Evans, 2017), 150.
9 Robert Evans, Early evangelical revivals in New South Wales & Queensland, (Hazelbrook, Australia: Robert Evans,
2015).
10 It should be noted that in Evans’s introductory biography to William Booth there are some factual errors. Robert
Evans ed., Gems from English revivals, 1860 – 1862, (Hazelbrook, Australia: Robert Evans, n.d.).; Evans, Early
evangelical revivals in New South Wales & Queensland, 41.
11 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, v.
12 Evans therefore focused on the prayer unions. Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 2 – 21.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 81

movements and uncovered information that has not been recorded by other historians. It also clearly
showed the Christian landscape in which The Salvation Army operated during the time. The
information is a clear reminder that the Army was not the only group of Christians actively seeking
to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sadly, in Evangelism and revivals in Australia, when
it came to other organisations or denominations such as the Christian Endeavour Movement, The
Salvation Army and the YMCA, primary sources are lacking. The use of merely secondary sources
limited the ability to uncover new knowledge on these groups. This however may lead to questions
of accessibility, as the author is clearly able and willing to use primary sources not previously
uncovered by others, specifically from Methodism. Evans therefore may have been unable to access
with ease primary sources from these groups. The use of The war cry, for example may have given
deeper insight into the Army’s role in the revival movement in Australia; however until recently the
Army’s newspaper has only been accessible by sitting for hours on end looking into the screen of a
microfilm machine.

Fourthly, it has become common practice within research on revival to evaluate its success or
otherwise entirely on the numerical increase in church membership. Evans used this variable
throughout Evangelism and revivals in Australia despite some of his works clearly showing there are
other identifiers to measure revivals.13 In his other works the identification of revivals included the
numbers of people attending meetings, the impact of the revival on the wider community, change of
life in the individual person, increased finances given to churches, and a fuller consecration in
individuals.14 In fact, if Evans only relied on the variable of numbers, many of the revivals he
identified would not have been found.15 Evans again, in a book chapter asserted that while the
Australian colonies did not experience full-blown revivals as seen in other countries, the colonies
experienced revivals of individualistic morality which led to activism in the areas of social morality
and temperance.16 Therefore, variables other than the numerical identifier could have been used to
investigate the history of revivals in Australia.

Evangelism and revivals in Australia was divided into three sections; “spiritual foundations for
future spiritual growth”; “allied and contributing movements” in which appeared the chapter on The
Salvation Army; and “revivals and evangelism, 1880 to 1914”. The history of the prayer unions was
discussed and was interspersed with the importance of female ministry. In evaluation of the efforts
of female evangelists in the colonies, Evans stated,

These ladies enjoyed an excellent degree of success in winning souls for Christ, in promoting
Christian holiness, and in raising the level of prayer in the life of the churches. The fact that they
were females, working in an area which was normally dominated by men, did not seem to lessen
their effectiveness in any way, and may even have had a positive effect.17

Of the female evangelists, Evans covered some of the ministry of Mrs Margaret Hampson, Miss
Serena Thorne, who later married Rev Octavius Lake, Mrs Emilia Baeyertz and Miss Isabella

13 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia,132 – 133.
14 See sources in Evans, Gems from English revivals.; Evans, Early evangelical revivals in New South Wales &
Queensland, 73, 74, 85.; Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 132 – 133.; Evans, Early revivals & evangelism
in Tasmania.
15 Evans, Early evangelical revivals in New South Wales & Queensland, 110 – 111.
16 Robert Evans, “‘Collecting for revival: Library resources relating to the subject of revival,” 58 – 74 in Mark
Hutchinson and Stuart Piggin ed, Reviving Australia. Essays on the history and experience of revival and revivalism in
Australian Christianity, Studies in Australian Christianity Volume 3 Mark Hutchinson and Edmund Campton Series
Editors (Sydney, Australia: Centre for the Study of Australian Christianity, 1994), 72.
17 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 22.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 82

Leonard.18 Many of these have been ignored by historians, including those historians who have
written on Australian Christian history.

From prayer unions, Evans moved on to holiness conventions. He outlined the historiography,
definition, aims and history of the movement in Australia, including the Keswick tradition. The
history of revivals, usually from the Methodist tradition were then explored in Victoria and South
Australia from 1881 to 1884, including the Bible Christians who did not usually use evangelists for
their services. Evans stated the Bible Christians could not afford the services of evangelists and
believed each local minister was to be an effective evangelist.19

The second section in Evangelism and revivals in Australia investigated groups, who Evans
stated allied themselves to the revival movement. Of the first group, the Christian Endeavour
Movement, Evans corrected the myth of its commencement in Australia from Brisbane to Geelong.20
He followed its growth and connections to different denominations. The second group was of greater
interest to readers of this journal, The Salvation Army.

Evans first outlined the life of William Booth and expressed some difficulties with the Army’s
revival and mission work. Evans showed attracting a person to Christianity was one thing but keeping
them was another. He wrote,

But the problem of keeping the converts, building them up to a life of dedication and holiness,
and putting them to work for God, presented a major obstacle, which had defeated many others
who had begun a similar kind of work.21

Evans believed Booth had found a process that was “reasonably successful”. One-way Booth kept
new converts, Evans argued, was how the new convert was initially counselled.22

Evans next used two characteristics of revival, the change in the lives of individuals and the
numerical growth of corps and officer numbers to prove the Army was a revival movement. Yet, the
information and statistics came from the UK not Australia.23 He then went on to give some examples
of numbers of attendance or increased number of corps in different colonies to show revival in the
Australian context.

Evans however claimed The Salvation Army ceased being a revival movement. At one point
he claimed that 1895 was the high point of the Army in Australia and from then on suffered decline.
However, he also argued that leadership problems in the Army was an issue from 1890 and from this
point the Army saw decline. Evans believed the Booth family problems grieved the Holy Spirit and
led to the death of revival in the Army.24 There are however a number of problems in this chapter.

Firstly, as outlined above, it is difficult to assume Booth’s revival work in the UK automatically
meant he caused revival in the Australian context. Secondly there are errors in calling corps, “corp”
on several occasions.25 Thirdly, the claims of leadership problems from the 1890s denies the earlier
issues of leadership in Australia that caused division in the Army. Fourthly, it is a questionable
assumption to make that one family’s trouble in a church causes the Holy Spirit to remove his favour

18 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 11-16, 22-63, 75-77, 98-123.; Evans, Early revivals & evangelism in
Tasmania, 83 – 93.; Robert Evans, Emilia Baeyertz – Evangelist, (Hazelbrook, Australia: Robert Evans, 2007).
19 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 140.
20 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 172.
21 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 192.
22 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 192.
23 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 190 – 204.
24 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 201 – 204.
25 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 199.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 83

from the entire church. Fifthly, there are major issues with the claim of growth and decline in his
methodology of using statistics. Even Evans himself stated,

The Salvation Army did not appear on the scene as a separate activity in Australia until after the
1881 Census, and in many states the members of the Army were not listed separately until the
1930s.26

As many records were not available until the 1930s, these sources cannot support the claim that the Army
grew in Australia until 1890 or 1895 and then declined. Sixthly, although Evans claimed William and
Bramwell Booth caused division with other family members, he like many who used secondary sources
missed underlying matters in the Booth family. These issues are too numerous to go into detail here, but it
was not a simple case that the leaders of the Army were bad and those who left were faultless victims.
Finally, while Evans gave a chapter on higher criticism in Evangelism and revivals in Australia, he did not
investigate any internal theological, practical nor external societal changes to explain the alleged decline in
Salvation Army numbers. Of the external factors, in Australia in the 1890s there were many, for example,
Glynn and Crowley showed a decline in immigration and birth rates as a result of economic depression,27
and Clark showed the rise of the labor political ideologies caused “the collapse of religious belief.”28

The final chapter in this second section of Evangelism and revivals in Australia was on the YMCA.
Again, there is more information on the movement about the YMCA internationally than within Australia;
ten out of the 15 pages in the chapter were devoted to the movement’s work overseas.29

The third section included chapters on evangelists and revivals. Firstly, the work of Matthew Burnett
in South Australia, New South Wales and New Zealand was evaluated.30 Secondly, David O’Donnell’s
Wesleyan revivals were examined. Thirdly, Methodist revivals in NSW and Queensland were surveyed.
Fourthly, other evangelical revivalists, Rev Reuben Archer Torrey, Mr Charles M. Alexander and Dr J.
Wilbur Chapman were studied. The German higher criticism, prophetic signs of decline, and statistics of
church growth were each outlined before Evans had an evaluation of the finding of his work. In conclusion
he wrote in somewhat of a depressed outcome,

…it is certainly the case that the hey-day of evangelicalism in Australia did not achieve as much
as many people would have liked to see. There were not enough conversions to achieve a situation
where a much higher proportion of the population professed to be “born again,” and went to
church regularly. This task still faces us today, and is yet to be achieved.31

Evangelism and revivals in Australia, is a suitable book to understand the context of Australian
evangelical Christianity from 1880 to 1914. It could serve to scaffold understanding of the time in which
The Salvation Army saw its establishment and expansionism in the Australian colonies. While Evans made
some sobering claims about the decline of revivals in The Salvation Army, deeper investigations are needed.
Therefore his work could be a firm foundation to develop new knowledge of the Army as a revival
movement in the Australian context.

26 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 423 – 429. In fact, only New South Wales statistics showed The
Salvation Army separately in 1896 and then 1921 which showed growth, all other states only had separate statistics for
The Salvation Army after 1900; Queensland in 1921, and Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia
not until 1931.
27 Sean Glynn, Urbanisation in Australian History, 1788-1900, 2nd ed. (Melbourne: Thomas Nelson, 1976), 37.;
Raymond Evans, A history of Queensland, (Port Melbourne: Cambridge University, 2007), 124.; Frank K. Crowley ed.,
A new history of Australia, (Melbourne: William Heinemann, 1977), 227.
28 Manning Clark, A short history of Australia, (Camberwell, Australia: Penguin Books, 2006), 206 – 207.
29 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 205 – 219.
30 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 221 – 266.
31 Evans, Evangelism and revivals in Australia, 439.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 84

֍ NEW BOOK ֍

THIRTEEN
ASTONISHING

YEARS

that shaped
The Salvation Army

1878 – 1890

By
General John Larsson (R)

When in 1878 William Booth adopted the name The Salvation Army for the
movement he had created, an 'irresistible spiritual offensive swept over cities,
towns and villages in every direction and set the whole country ablaze'. It was
an ecclesiastical big bang of spectacular proportions and its effects soon
spread to the far corners of the globe.

The next thirteen years, which climaxed with the introduction of large-scale
social work in 1890, proved astonishing by any measure. In a series of
fascinating vignettes, the author tells the story of those years and introduces
key personalities through whom the Lord worked.

Larsson comments: 'Virtually all that the Army presently is was forged in those
first few years, and just as all Christians draw inspiration from the story of the
Early Church in the Book of Acts, so the Salvationists of today can in addition
be inspired by the amazing story of the Early Army.'

Purchase online

Book from SP&S @ https://www.sps-shop.com/thirteen-astonishing-years---
john-larsson-20771-p.asp

Kindle book: Amazon @ https://www.amazon.com/Thirteen-Astonishing-
Years-Shaped-Salvation-
ebook/dp/B082YF4878/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Thirteen+Astonishing+Years+
-+John+Larsson&qid=1582871977&sr=8-1

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 85

SOON TO BE PUBLISHED

Cuppa Tea, Digger? Salvos Serving in World War Two

To be released in November 2020 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of
the end of WWII.

A quality, hard-cover book of approximately A4 size, based on archival interviews with men
and women of the Red Shield War Services, and those who were its beneficiaries, and

contains more than 200 photographs. This fascinating tribute has been compiled by Lindsay
Cox, Manager of The Salvation Army Museum, with a foreword by General the Honourable

Sir Peter Cosgrove AK CVO MC (Retd).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 86

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 87

Come and join us

The Australasian
Journal of

Salvation Army History

is now
on

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 88

You are invited to

Salvation Army History Symposium

2022

Maroochydore Corps,
Sunshine Coast,

Queensland, Australia

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 89

A LIFE SAVING
SCOUT ASKS,

“SAY, HAVE YOU
DONE YOUR
GOOD TURN

FOR TO-DAY?
WHY NOT TRY TO
SECURE AT LEAST ONE NEW
REGULAR READER OF THE
AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF
SALVATION ARMY HISTORY?”

Illustration from The life-saving scout and guard, (London, March 1929), 37.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 90

RESOURCE AND REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Salvation Army Year Book Statistical Project
David Philpot is currently working on a website that will allow Salvation Army statistics to be
displayed as an ‘animated heat map’ which will show how the statistics change over time. This will
then be displayed on a map of the world for easy visual comparison between countries.

To develop this map the project will use data from The Salvation Army Year Book. For example,
statistics could show the number of senior soldiers for each country or territory; these will then be
animated on a global map.

Philpot is looking for people with The Salvation Army Year Book to enter this data into an online
spreadsheet. The spreadsheet can be accessed at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UJTd8yz8P-7--
2A9Y6xHKhknbn34iHb7SipoXAGPO20/edit?ts=599625c2#gid=0

A screen shot of The Salvation Army Year Book Statistics Project spreadsheet.
The instructions to enter the data are simple. For Sheet1;
1) enter your name and email for the year you enter (optional);
2) if there are any territories or other categories listed on the spreadsheet but not in the Year

Book leave the cell blank; and
3) add new rows as required.
Philpot stated, the main goal at this time is to get The Salvation Army Year Book statistics “in
electronic form (including any errors you think might exist). We’ll work out the best way to interpret
the stats (and clean out errors) at a later date.” The estimated time for the entry of data is about 2
hours per Year Book.
If you have any questions please email David Philpot at [email protected]
Update
The project now has interactive websites available which shows maps and other information on the
development and growth of The Salvation Army (please see the following page).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 91

Above is a screenshot of the webpage “Growth of The Salvation Army Worldwide since 1865”. This
can be viewed at
https://mapipedia.com/s/u/drdave/growth_of_the_salvation_army_worldwide_since_1865.html

Above is a screenshot of the webpage “The Salvation Army – Number of Corps”. This can be viewed
at https://mapipedia.com/s/u/drdave/the_salvation_army_number_of_corps.html

They webpages are best viewed on laptop/desktop rather than a mobile device. Once page is
open make sure the play button is pressed to commence the animation. The animation can also be
played at a slower rate by adjusting the “time duration (sec)” number to a higher amount.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 92

SPYING OUT THE LAND:
THE SALVATION ARMY’S EXPLORATORY TREK

TO FIJI IN 1972

Kingsley Sampson

Introduction

In October 2019, a delegation of around 70 Fijian Salvationists together with other Salvationists from
Tonga and Samoa attended the New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa Territory’s Encounter Congress
in Wellington. The expansion of the New Zealand Territory to include these three South Pacific
nations dates back to a student evangelistic trek to Fiji in 1972. Subsequently, The Salvation Army
appointed the trek’s leaders Captains Brian and Beverly McStay to commence the Army’s work in
Fiji the following year. Here is the story of the pioneering trek that set this expansion in motion.

The concept

The idea of an exploratory evangelical trek to Fiji was formally raised at The Salvation Army Student
Fellowship’s national conference held at Wallis House, Lower Hutt in February 1972. Prior to this,
informal suggestions had been made over several years about expanding The Salvation Army’s
ministry into the Pacific Islands, but nothing concrete had developed. Even as far back as 1904,
Commissioner Isaac Unsworth had visited Suva to assess the prospects for The Salvation Army in
the Pacific Islands. Nothing came of the 1904 investigative visit nor from further visits or enquiries
by New Zealand Salvation Army leaders in 1916, 1924 and 1955. Later in 1962, Commissioner
Alfred Gilliard had it written into the minutes of the Putaruru Farm Board that when profits from the
farm became available, money should be put aside for Salvation Army work in the Pacific Islands.1

Brian McStay said that it was while he was chief training officer at the Aro Street Training
College that he began to consider the idea of a ‘trek’ to Fiji drawing on members of the existing
Salvation Army Students’ Fellowship (SASF). Commissioner Dr Harry Williams, territorial
commander had appointed McStay to give oversight to the students’ fellowship and McStay had
talked over the idea with Cyril Bradwell, SASF Advisor and Brigadier Trevor Standen, training
principal about releasing some cadets for the trek. McStay also discussed the idea with Colonel Ernest
Elliot, then chief secretary and subsequently successor to Williams as territorial commander.2

McStay also said the idea of a trek to Fiji came from recalling his university days in
Christchurch when he sat next to a Fijian student, Paula Sotutu, who by now was prominent in the
newly independent nation of Fiji. McStay felt that if The Salvation Army was to move into the Pacific
Islands, then the brief gap after colonial rule was the opportune time; especially for Fiji with the
leadership of Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.3

In 1972, several factors combined to make this a propitious time to undertake a detailed
investigation of the idea. These factors included a supportive territorial commander, Williams, a keen

Reference citation of this paper; Kingsley Sampson, “Spying out the land: The Salvation Army’s exploratory
trek to Fiji in 1972”, The Australasian journal of Salvation Army history, 5, 2, 2020, 93 – 110.
1 Garry Mellsop, “South Pacific expansion Fiji”, Hallelujah, 2, 1, (November 2008), 14-15.
2 Letter, Brian McStay to Kingsley Sampson, (1 January 2020).
3 Letter from McStay to Sampson, (1 January 2020).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 93

The Fiji Islands4

Coat of Arms for Fiji

The flag of Fiji

4 The war cry, (New Zealand, 19 August 1972), 9.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 94

training college officer and graduate, McStay and the fact that there were some New Zealand
Salvationists currently living and working in Fiji.

The basic concept of the trek was that it would be a holiday with a difference; a ten-day
evangelical campaign coupled with research into social and other needs that were arising due to
urbanisation in the recently independent nation of Fiji. There would also be some time for recreation.
It would build on lessons learned in holiday evangelistic treks undertaken by student fellowship
members in the 1960s in New Zealand. A team of about 15 people was envisaged, all of whom would
pay their own way and would be expected to make separate reports for the territorial commander.

Three people key to the Fiji Trek and the eventual establishment of The Salvation Army in Fiji.
L-R: Lt. Commissioner Harry Williams, Captain Brian McStay, and Captain Beverly McStay.5
Selecting a team

Expressions of interest were invited from SASF members with the group being augmented by several
cadets with tertiary qualifications or training. People were asked to report on their teaching
experience, singing and instrumental abilities, any special qualifications they might have, for
example; doctor, movie projectionist, could speak Hindi, been to Fiji before, or experience of
puppetry etc, and status or position within The Salvation Army. They also needed references from
both a Salvation Army officer and a local officer.6

In all, 30 applications were received, and these were vetted by a local committee consisting of
Colonel Ernest Elliot (Chief Secretary), Brigadier Lavinia Benson (The war cry Editor), Captains
Brian and Beverly McStay (Training College), Captain Wesley Rabbitts (Territorial Youth Officer),
CSM Cyril Bradwell (Wellington South Corps) and Envoy Lloyd Shearman (Palmerston North
Corps). From these, a group of 13 cadets, students and graduates was selected and these together with
Captains Brian and Beverly McStay and Brigadiers Lawrence and Enid Weggery, made a team of 17
in total. The war cry reported that such was the quality of the applicants, it would have been possible
to form two teams had this been desired.7

5 Courtesy of New Zealand Salvation Army Heritage Centre & Archives.
6 The local Salvation Army corps consist of two areas of leadership, officers who are similar to the clergy and laypeople
who hold positions of leadership within the corps, local officers.
7 The war cry, (New Zealand, 1 July 1972), 10.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 95

Name Salvation Army Corps Position or special attributes
bought to the trek team

Captain Beverly McStay Salvation Army training college Leader
and Vice-president Salvation
Army Student Fellowship

Captain Brian McStay Salvation Army training college Leader

Anne Aitken Linwood Corps Teacher, vocalist

Cadet Wilfred Arnold Hamilton Corps Survey director

Jill Bennetts Christchurch City Corps Teacher, puppetry

Paul Bennetts Christchurch City Corps Teacher, pianist, puppetry

Ken Dawson Linwood Corps Teacher

Marie Janes Tawa Corps Team secretary

Cadet David Major Sydenham Corps Teacher

Cadet Donald Oliver Ashburton Corps Musical director, soloist

Patricia Richardson Palmerston North Corps Vocalist

Cadet Shirley Smith [now Wellington South Corps Teacher, piano accordion,
Shirley Thorner] statistician

Cadet Gerald Thorner Wellington City Corps Teacher, trombonist, amateur
(HAM) radio operator

Brigadier Enid Weggery The Salvation Army Territorial Photography and general
Headquarters publicity

Brigadier Lawrence Weggery The Salvation Army Territorial Photography and general
Headquarters publicity

Lyndon Weggery Auckland Congress Hall Team projectionist

Dr Edwin Whiteside Wellington South Corps Medical support

The people who made up the Fiji Trek team

In addition to the official team members, Brother and Sister Harbourne from Dunedin planned
to be in Fiji on holiday at the same time and offered to assist where needed.

Some team members brought additional knowledge about Fiji and the Pacific to the team.
Wilfred Arnold had majored in Pacific sociology, Ken Dawson had studied Fiji for a geography paper
in his BA, David Major had had school administration experience in Papua New Guinea, Patricia
Richardson had been to Fiji on a study trip and the Brigadiers Weggery had previously visited Fiji on
furlough. Furthermore, Enid Weggery was born and raised in India of missionary parents and spoke
fluent Hindi, something which would be an asset given Fiji’s Indian population.

In the lead-up to the trip, some people questioned whether the team was competent to handle
such an important task. Brian McStay says he was amazed that the question should ever be asked, but
his reply was that the team may be young in age but since when in the modern world had that been a
disadvantage to progress?8

8 Letter McStay to Sampson, (1 January 2020).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 96

The list of names of people in the official Fiji Trek Team9

The Salvation Army Fiji Trek Team in Suva10
Back row, L-R: Patricia Richardson, Marie Janes, Anne Aitken, Lyndon Weggery, Shirley Smith, Ken

Dawson, --- Jackson (in front), Enid Weggery, Lawrence Weggery, David Major,
Gerald Thorner, Don Oliver, Heather Jackson, Wilfred Arnold, Edwin Whiteside.
Front row, L-R: --- Jackson, Paul Bennetts, Jill Bennetts, Beverly McStay, Brian McStay,

local committee member Archie Seeto, his wife and their four children.

9 The war cry, (New Zealand, 8 July 1972), 16.
10 Courtesy of Shirley Thorner.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 97

Funding

The trip was funded with a small grant from territorial headquarters and every team member paid
$139; return flight $129, internal travel $10. (Usual return fare was $183.61). Commissioner Harry
Williams gave $100 personally to help officers and cadets cover their costs.11 Other financial help
came from family, friends and corps. Closer to the trek’s departure date, the corps officers at
Ashburton and Sydenham Corps’ expressed concern about trek members appealing for funds at the
same time as money being requested for corps building projects and the annual Self-Denial Appeal.
In response, Brian McStay instructed trek members not to appeal publicly for funds but added that he
couldn’t forbid team members from accepting financial support offered by well-wishers.12

Preparing for the trek

An interdenominational committee was established in Fiji to handle local arrangements and provide
liaison for the trek. This committee consisted of Sera Ravesi (Vesi), a teacher doing extra university
studies; Ken Hart (Post & Telegraph from New Zealand) who was the Wesley Methodist organist
and also played the piano accordion, Rev Joe Samy from Child Evangelism Fellowship, Rev Inkoe
Nabulivau, a Methodist minister, Archie Seeto, Suva town clerk, Don Jackson (chairperson) and
Helen Hawkey (secretary). Both Don Jackson (previously of Rotorua Corps) and Helen Hawkey
(previously of Tawa Corps) were New Zealand Salvationists working in Fiji. Jackson was employed
as an architect by the Fiji Government and Hawkey was employed in the Fiji Government Treasury.

Prayer was also requested both for soul-winning success and wisdom in the all-important
Government interviews that would take place during the trek. To this end, by the time the trek was
underway, prayer for the venture had been promised from throughout New Zealand as well as
Australia, the UK, the USA and International Headquarters in London. In addition, Colonel Ernest
Elliot, chief secretary asked all New Zealand corps to have a special time of prayer for the trek on
Sunday 20 August.

A ‘tropical’ Salvation Army uniform was devised for the trek. Men were to wear a white shirt
with red ‘S’s on the collar, dark walk shorts, white walk sox, black shoes, white bandsman’s cap, and
on occasions, a red tie. A plastic raincoat was considered essential and sandals could be included. For
women, the uniform was a white smock with red ‘S’s on the collar, sandals and/or light-coloured
shoes, white Salvation Army women’s hat together with a plastic raincoat. It was envisaged that
uniform would be worn to all official meetings and in functions where they were acting as a team.
For the rest of the time, uniform wearing was optional.

A small brass ensemble was formed with Don Jackson (cornet), Ken Dawson (tenor horn),
Lyndon Weggery (baritone), Don Oliver (euphonium), Gerald Thorner (trombone), and David Major
(Eb bass).

Puppetry was to be a major component of the trek’s outreach. Paul and Jill Bennetts sent over
plans for a puppet booth so it could be made locally and so save on air freight.13 In addition to a
‘Pacific Chorus Sheet’ of scripture choruses, 150 copies of a special song book were also printed for
the trek.

11 Email, Shirley Thorner to Kingsley Sampson, (17 April 2020).
12 Letter Brian McStay to E. R. Elliott, (24 July 1972), NZSA Heritage Centre & Archives: FIJ 002.040, FIJ 011.002
and T 2012.008.129.
13 Email, Paul & Jill Bennetts to Kingsley Sampson, (29 June 2020).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 98

Pacific Chorus Sheet Graphic
Designed by Carole Staite.14

In addition to securing passports, receiving typhoid inoculations and undertaking personal
research into Fiji, trek members attended two pre-trek workshops where planning was reviewed and
all slides and films were checked. North Island team members met at the Waikanae beach house of
Dr and Mrs Max Cresswell on Sunday 23 July from 10am to 8pm. Christchurch team members met
the following Sunday (30 July). Research papers were presented at these workshops and members
were supplied with a broadsheet with notes from the Pacific islands handbook (11th edition). Shirley
Thorner remembers being cautioned not to eat too much fresh fruit, especially if it was not already
part of a person’s regular diet and to be careful with drinking water.15

Purposes

As planning for the trip progressed, the following aims were established:

• To share the Good News of the Gospel;
• To investigate ways in which the New Zealand Salvation Army might be able to assist the new nation;
• To co-operate with Fijian Christians in the on-going work of the established churches there;
• To investigate for the New Zealand National Council of Churches, a future scheme for the housing of
needy people in Suva; and16
• On return to New Zealand, to make comprehensive reports to the Commissioner as the value of the
trek and what action, if any, the New Zealand Salvation Army might take.17

Suggestions for possible Salvation Army work to be considered included a school for under-
privileged children, a post-primary trade training centre, a youth centre in Suva City along the lines
of Salvation Army Red Shield clubs in the USA, an emergency lodge in the city, aged care in new

14 Courtesy of NZSA Heritage Centre & Archives: FIJ 002.040.
15 Email, S. Thorner to Sampson, (17 April 2020).
16 Letter, B. McStay to H. Williams, (24 July 1972).; Letter, B. McStay to W. Simpson, (2 August 1972), NZSA
Heritage Centre & Archives: FIJ 002.040.
17 Patricia Richardson, “The Salvation Army ‘Fijian Trek’”, Battlepoint, 10, 2, (December 1972), 3-5, 3.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 99

towns and New Zealand Salvation Army school teachers teaching in Fiji as part of assistance to
government schools, but also helping in local churches.18

For the National Council of Churches proposal about housing in Suva, this came about through
contacts Brian McStay had earlier had with the National Council of Churches. During a previous
appointment in Christchurch, he had served as vice-president of the youth committee.19 With regards
to post-trek reports, McStay noted that the territorial commander had “full … confidence in the
reports that will be made by team members and fully intends to act on them.”20
Itinerary
The initial plan for the trek was to spend ten days working as a team, conducting as many and varied
types of meetings as possible and meeting the people. Those won to Christ during the campaign were
to be followed-up by the inter-church committee planning the itinerary.21 The final itinerary shows
that a very full programme was planned.22

The proposed itinerary of the Fiji trek team23

18 B. McStay, “Trek briefing papers”, (13 July 1972), NZSA Heritage Centre & Archives: FIJ 002.040.
19 Letter, B. McStay to Williams, (24 July 1972), NZSA Heritage Centre & Archives: FIJ 002.040.
20 McStay, “Trek briefing papers.”
21 McStay, “Trek briefing papers.”
22 B. McStay. “Itinerary”, (13 July 1972). Later amended 30 July 1972 and further again. NZSA Heritage Centre &
Archives: FIJ 002.040, FIJ 011.002 and T 2012.008.129.
23 The war cry, (New Zealand, 19 August 1972), 9.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020. Page 100