History archives - Churches of Christ Australia | NSW & ACT

The Australian Christian Standard – 1880s

The Australian Christian Standard Digital Archive Decade: 1880s Issues: 1885-1889 Volumes:(*Issued monthly, not weekly). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that some issues in this volume contain images, quotes, and names of deceased persons; and language reflective of historical times, culture and attitudes. 1887 (Vol. II) Issue 1 Issue 2 Issue […]

The Australian Christian – 1890s

The Australian Christian Digital Archive Decade: 1890s Issues: 1890-1899 Volumes: I- II Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that some issues in this volume contain images, quotes, and names of deceased persons; and language reflective of historical times, culture and attitudes. Coming soon: Issues 1-50 for: 1899, 1897, 1896, 1895, 1894, 1893, […]

The Australian Christian – 1900s

The Australian Christian Digital Archive Decade: 1900s Issues: 1900 to 1909 Volumes: III to VIII Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that some issues in this volume contain images, quotes, and names of deceased persons; and language reflective of historical times, culture and attitudes. 1909 (Vol. XII) Issues #19-51 to come. Issue […]

The Australian Christian – 1910s

The Australian Christian Digital Archive Decade: 1910s Issues: 1910 to 1919 Volumes: XIII to XXII Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that some issues in this volume contain images, quotes, and names of deceased persons; and language reflective of historical times, culture and attitudes. 1919 (Vol. XXII) Issues #1-51 to come. […]

The Australian Christian – 1920s

The Australian Christian Digital Archive Decade: 1920s Issues: 1920 to 1929 Volumes: XXIII to XXXII Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that some issues in this volume contain images, quotes, and names of deceased persons; and language reflective of historical times, culture and attitudes. 1929 (Vol. XXXII) Issues #1-51 to come. […]

The Australian Christian – 1930s

The Australian Christian Digital Archive Decade: 1930s Issues: 1930 to 1939 Volumes: XXXIII to XLII Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that some issues in this volume contain images, quotes, and names of deceased persons; and language reflective of historical times, culture and attitudes. 1932 (Vol. XXXV) #1-51 to come. […]

The Australian Christian – 1940s

The Australian Christian Digital Archive Decade: 1940s Issues: 1940 to 1949 Volumes: XLI to XLIX Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that some issues in this volume contain images, quotes, and names of deceased persons; and language reflective of historical times, culture and attitudes. 1949 (Vol. XLIX) Issues #1-51 to come. […]

The Australian Christian – 1950s

The Australian Christian Digital Archive Decade: 1950s Issues: 1950 to 1959 Volumes: LI – LIX Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that some issues in this volume contain images, quotes, and names of deceased persons; and language reflective of historical times, culture and attitudes. 1958 (Vol. LVIII) #1-51 to come. […]

The Australian Christian – 1980s

The Australian Christian Digital Archive Decade: 1980s Issues: 1980 to 1989 Volumes: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that some issues in this volume contain images, quotes, and names of deceased persons; and language reflective of historical times, culture and attitudes. 1989 (Vol. 92) Issue 1 Issue #2 Issue #3 Issue […]

The Australian Christian – 1990s

The Australian Christian Digital Archive Decade: 1990s Issues: 1990 to 1999 Volumes: XC-XCIX (90 to 99) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that some issues in this volume contain images, quotes, and names of deceased persons; and language reflective of historical times, culture and attitudes. 1999 (Vol. XCIX) Issue Issue #2 […]

CCNSW Annual Conference Booklets

THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN NSW & ACT ANNUAL CONFERENCE BOOKLET COLLECTION The churches of Christ in NSW & ACT has a rich archive of Annual Conference Booklets and Conference Minutes. About this Collection: The Churches of Christ in NSW & ACT Annual Conference Booklets were produced to support the yearly gathering of churches in […]

Enmore Tabernacle archive

We are currently scanning objects from the Enmore Tabernacle archive. Given the high volume of material for this church (and other churches in our network) scanned documents and objects will be slowly added to over the coming months. Centenary and Jubilee Souvenir Booklets Enmore Tabernacle Centenary, 1886-1986 (Full booklet) Enmore Tabernacle Centenary, 1886-1986 (Short booklet) […]

Historic Governance archive

We are currently scanning copies of our original and historic Church of Christ NSW governance papers. These will be added to over the coming months. 1915 Constitution of the Conference of Churches of Christ in New South Wales

Newtown archive

We are currently scanning objects from the Newtown archive. Given the high volume of material for this church (and other churches in our network) scanned documents and objects will be slowly added to over the coming months. Newtown Minute Book, Officers Meetings (1883-1885)

Rockdale Church archive

Collection: Rockdale Church of Christ Historical Archive Church opened: 1887 Summary: This digital collection comprises the historical papers, photographs, and operational records, for the Rockdale church of Christ. Items of interest include: handwritten documentation; details about the original church plant, contracts for the purchase of land upon which the original Rockdale church of Christ building […]

South Kensington archive

We are currently scanning objects from the South Kensington archive. Given the high volume of material for this church (and other churches in our network) scanned documents and objects will be slowly added to over the coming months. South Kensington Silver Jubilee souvenir, 1907-1932

The Boys From OZ: The Life and Labours of T. H. Bates

The story of Thomas Herbert Bates (1843–1925), compiled and written by Dennis C. Nutt. The Boys From Oz – Thomas Herbert Bates

Stephen Cheek – the Invasion of Bream Creek

Bream Creek in Southeast Tasmania is one of Australia’s prettiest and most historic places. From its highest ridge, known as the Ragged Tier, gullies run down towards Marion Bay, giving glimpses of the rugged coastline. In the bottom of one of these gullies lies the creek from which were drawn the fish which gave the scattered community its name. These days, many of these gullies are filled with vines which support boutique wineries. It is an idyllic place. Stephen Cheek, gazing out towards the south end of Maria Island in February 1879 recognized its beauty and its darkness.

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Henry Marcus Clark – Bound to Rise: the Life and Legacy of an Entrepreneur

Henry Marcus Clark was born in Lancashire, England, in 1859. He migrated to Australia in 1880. He lived briefly with his uncle in Melbourne but travelled overland to NSW combining droving with visits to the goldfields at Parkes and Hill End en route. Around 1882 he arrived in Sydney and took up employment in John Kingsbury’s drapery store in Newtown.

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Charles Thomas Forscutt – Women’s college educator and entrepreneur

Charles Thomas Forscutt was born in Edwardstown, South Australia in 1857 to Samuel Thomas Forscutt and Emma Blackeby. Charles, ‘CT’ to his friends, became known for establishing a boys’ and then a ladies’ college in the new suburb of Bexley/Rockdale

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E.J. Hilder – A good and faithful servant

Every so often there comes along an individual with an eye for detail and a precision of thought that is quite outstanding. Such a person is a wonderful asset to any organisation. In the church that individual becomes the very capable administrator, the secretary extraordinaire: E. J. (‘Jack’) Hilder was such a person.

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The day of the winemaking – early years at Elizabeth Street Church of Christ

Every Sunday hundreds of “brothers” and “sisters” across Australia go about the task of preparing the communion table for Sunday worship. They are often un-thanked for this, but their labours uphold a ritual central to the liturgy of Churches of Christ. Done with devotion, the preparation of the table is itself an act of worship.

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John Strang – the strange case of John Strang

John Strang was one of several British evangelists who came to Australia in the nineteenth century to assist in the establishment of churches. After short ministries in Britain, he accepted an appointment in 1874 to the remote township of Strathalbyn, in South Australia. Strang returned to England in 1876 but was sufficiently encouraged by what he saw in Australia to return in 1878. However, worn out by the relentless pace of short ministries, he sadly became disillusioned. This is his story.

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Thomas Gabriel Alexander Bagley – first minister at Chatswood Church of Christ, NSW

Local church anniversaries always raise the question of when, in human terms, they began. Does it begin when two or three “gather together in His name” or when the first communion service is held, or when it becomes self-sufficient or when it is admitted to some denominational association? In 2014, Chatswood Church of Christ celebrates its centenary. But it had a history before 1914.

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William Henry (Harry) Boswell Palmer – and his Fellowship of Suffering

The Dardanelles campaign, of which the Gallipoli landings formed a part, was strategically brilliant but an operational disaster and a great human tragedy.

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George Carslake – and the churches of the frontier, Narrabri, 1912

This paper tells the story of the establishment of a church in Narrabri, New South Wales. It speaks to the dedication, devotion and determination of pioneers George and Gracie Carslake. It outlines how the friendly little church established in their home later built a chapel and secured the appointment of evangelists.

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Charles and Hubert Gould – Brothers in Arms

Whenever the word Gallipoli is mentioned most Australians think of the landings at Anzac Cove where soldiers of the Australian New Zealand Army Corps came ashore in the Dardanelles on 25 April 1915. The name Krithia means nothing, but it was here where Australian soldiers won their first battle honours. Krithia is a village in the south of the peninsula about six kilometres from Cape Helles. It was at Cape Helles where the main British and French Forces landed in the campaign against the Turks.

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Oswald John Goulter – from Narrabri to Nanking: missionary and prisoner of war

Oswald Goulter was challenged to become a missionary after hearing H.G. Harward preach on the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) at Colac, Victoria. He later came into association with Churches of Christ through a house church started by George and Gracie Carslake at Narrabri NSW in 1911. After hearing in his youth stories about the Boxer Rebellion, China was his chosen destination for mission service.

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For Service of our Soldiers – Four World War One chaplains: Walden, Forbes, Cuttriss, Proctor

War has been variously defined. Douglass Jerrold said of it: “What a finelooking thing is war? Yet dress it up as we may and feather it, daub it with gold, huzza it, and sing songs about it, what it is nine times out of ten but murder in uniform.”ii Napoleon’s view was that it was “a trade of barbarians—the whole art of which consists in being the strongest on a given point.”iii His great rival, the Duke of Wellington said, “Take my word for it, if you had seen but one day of war you would pray to Almighty God that you might never see such a thing again.”iv Shakespeare has Mark Antony say, “In these confines, with a monarch’s voice, cry ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war.”v The Great War proved all these assessments to be true.

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William John Crossman – a Life Well Spent

The first half of the twentieth century is characterised by a Depression bookmarked by two World Wars. A significant number of Churches of Christ ministers acted as military chaplains during the wars, some serving in both. Some did not return. Others, like G.T. Walden OBE, won imperial honours and still others, like A.E. Forbes DCM, Dan Wakeley MM and W.J. Crossman ED, won military honours. Some were home-based and ministered to the troops on home soil. Churches of Christ have a proud history of military chaplaincy and a more detailed discussion on military chaplains must wait for another time. This is the story of the life and ministry of one of them.

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Eliza Davies – Dedicated to Her Pupils: an appraisal of the life and work of Eliza Davies

Christian pioneer, Eliza Davies, twice visited Australian in the 19th century and established schools in New South Wales and South Australia. She had almost folk heroine status among the Churches of Christ, but efforts by this writer to have her autobiography, The Story of an Earnest Life, republished in both Australia and the U.S.A. were singularly unsuccessful. The publishers saw it as sanctimonious and self-indulgent.

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Charles Cole – Builder of Aged Care and Community Services

Born in Queensland in the year of the outbreak of the First World War, Charles (“Charlie”) Cole was the youngest of a family of ten children. His father, Edward, migrated from England at the age of 18, purchased a property near Mt. Whitestone, and met and married Catherine, the daughter of a local German family.

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Mark Collis – The Boy from Oz: Preacher, Fundraiser, Negotiator

As Churches of Christ gradually spread across Australia in the late nineteenth century, there developed an urgent need for trained ministers. Initially, ministers came from England from whence some members had migrated but when the supply of ministers from that source dried up a request was made for assistance from the United States.

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Noel Flint – a Courageous Exponent of Practical Love

A country lad, Percy Noel Flint was born at Cowra on 2 October 1921. His childhood was rather difficult. He grew up in an unhappy family, suffered at the hands of the priests and nuns of the Convent School that he attended, worked without wages in the family transport business from the age of 14, and at 16 years of age lost the sight in his left eye in a painful accident that would cause difficulty for the rest of his life.

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Albert Griffin – Whatever happened to Albert? The life and legacy of Albert Griffin

One hundred years ago the story of the conversion of Albert Griffin and his work in setting up the first Church of Christ in Sydney would have had wide appeal to church members. This story seemed to exemplify Stone-Campbell ideals in relation to the authority and accessibility of scriptures, the role of the Holy Spirit in the conversion, and the obligations of the believer in respect of discipleship. Griffin worked energetically to establish a church, but after an auspicious start dropped from sight. What happened? This monograph traces the latter years of Griffin’s life and evaluates his legacy.

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Andrew Mackenzie Meldrum – Evangelist, fossil collector and explorer

Enmore (Sydney) Tabernacle has had many remarkable preachers. One of the most remarkable was Andrew MacKenzie Meldrum. Andrew was an adventurer, academic and anthropologist. He was an effective evangelist and a successful businessman.

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Thomas Ernest Rofe – Strive to do well

Many within Churches of Christ will have cause to be grateful to the legacy of Thomas Ernest Rofe. Little remembered today, Rofe is one of the few members of churches of Christ in NSW & ACT whose story is in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. But his story is probably there for all the wrong reasons.

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David Walter Mansell – a Fruitful Life

David Walter Mansell was born on 17 March 1930 to Christian parents when the Great Depression was applying its vice-like grip to the nation. His father, Walter (“Wally”), was a bricklayer and a very devout man cast in the Victorian era mould: strict in moral expectation but with a kind heart. The home in which Mansell grew up included, from an early stage in his life, children who were not his siblings: they were foster children whom the Mansells sought to help. Many of them were socially and emotionally damaged.

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Alf Bourne – a Life Full of Meaning and Service

Alf Bourne was born in Petersham Hospital on 25 October 1915 to Frederick James Bourne (1870–1942) and Sarah Ann Bourne, neé Taylor, (1885–1981). His four younger siblings, two boys (Frederick and Edward) and two girls (Marj and Irene), were all born at home in Edwin Street Tempe. The home was a small four room dwelling built by Frederick, which was extended each time another child was born into the family. He was baptised at St Peter’s Cook’s River Anglican Church on 12 December 1915.

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Barry Allen Rice – Pastor to Pastors

Barry Rice was born at Box Hill, then an outer suburb of Melbourne, on 21 August 1940 to Horrie and Millie Rice. When his father enlisted during World War II, because of his orchardist background, he was initially employed harvesting fruit but was then deployed to the Northern Territory, and Millie returned to Castlemaine to be near her family. Towards the end of the war the family moved to Harcourt.

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May Ashwood – an Inspirational Woman of Innovation and Impact

We remember May Ashwood best for commissioning and financing Ashwood House Aged Ladies Nursing Home in 1938 in Pendle Hill as a memorial to her mother. However, May Ashwood made a significant, longlasting contribution to Churches of Christ by stewarding her great wealth for Christ. Her contribution to our movement was comprehensive and visionary, demonstrating the diverse roles played by women of faith in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

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Rosa Lavinia Tonkin – Pioneering Missionary to Shanghai, 1901

Rosa Tonkin was the first Australian Churches of Christ missionary to Shanghai in 1901, uplifting Chinese women and girls from poverty to promise.

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Clara Babcock – the first Female-ordained Churches of Christ minister

Hear the story of 19th century trailblazer, Clara Celestea Hale Babcock, the first ordained female Churches of Christ minister who baptized 1502 people, held four church pastorates and was in high demand up to the day before her death.

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Mary Thompson – 40 years’ Pioneering service to India

After receiving ‘the call’ at the 1891 Inter-Colonial Conference, Mary made a 40-year commitment to Zenana Mission – serving women living in Harda and Dhona, 419 miles north-east of the India capital.

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Gordon Stirling – Service, Inspiration, Friendship

Historical Digest is the quarterly journal of the Australian Churches of Christ Historical Society and it’s the ideal place to share stories of our movement. What kind of stories? Stories which strengthen us as disciples, stories which bring chastening awareness of our past and cast light on our future path, stories which unite us in the much bigger story of God’s life-changing love – they are all part of Historical Digest. You’re invited to send your photos and stories for publication or archiving – church histories, anniversary celebrations, biographies of people who made a difference, histories of objects, rituals and ideas in Churches of Christ.

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Bruce Armstrong – a Man Born to Lead

Bruce Armstrong, passionate supporter of the Western Suburbs football team and Woolwich Bible College graduate, ministered to the Caringbah, Belmore, Greenacre, Toowoomba churches from the 1960’s to the 1980’s. As Director at the Department of Christian Education, he was an innovator and champion for youth outreach, engagement, and education. Bruce was also an energetic leader as Ministry Coordinator for NSW Church of Christ (forerunner to the role of Executive Ministry Director).

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Chapel in a Day – Preston Church, Victoria

Recently I was asked what draws me to study Churches of Christ history and why I spend so much time in such an obscure field.

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Victories of a Century

On the shores of Port Jackson in 1788, Governor Phillip established the first British settlement in Australia. Although the Chaplain, Richard Johnson, provided opportunities for Christian worship for new settlers, he was given little encouragement by those in authority.

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Characteristics of the Churches of Christ

The family of churches known as Christian Churches, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Churches of Christ grew out of an early 19th Century movement with origins in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Today there are congregations related to this Christian World Communion in more than 178 countries.

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