The Poor Parsons
Presbyterian Clergy in Colonial Queensland
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1321816600001744Keywords:
Presbyterian ministry, colonial Queensland, 'public intellectuals', differences over Church unionAbstract
An examination of the Presbyterian ministry in colonial Queensland is a revealing exercise. It tells something of the nature of a very significant class in colonial society, the clergy, who acted as the “public intellectuals” of their age. It aids the assessment of the extent to which the Presbyterian Church remained an immigrant Scottish institution. It also provides some insights into the causes of the differences of style observable in Presbyterianism from state to state, suggesting a relationship to differences over Church union in the 1970s.
References
In other places, the writer has examined various aspects of Presbyterian history in the Australian colonies. Prentis, M. D., ‘Colonial Ecumenism: Aspects of Presbyterian Reunion in New South Wales, 1865’, Church Heritage, 1,3 (1980), pp.219–239; ‘Changes in Presbyterian Worship in Colonial Australia,’ Church Heritage, II, 1 (1981), pp.46–57; The Scots in Australia: a Study of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, 1788–1900, Sydney 1983, Ch. 10; ‘The Presbyterian Ministry in Australia, 1822–1900: Recruitment and Composition’, The Journal of Religious History, 13, 1 (June 1984), pp.46–65.
Chambers, D., Theological Teaching and Thought in the Theological Hall of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria 1865–1906, (Parkville, Vic. 1967), pp.1–5; Cameron, J., Centenary History of the Presbyterian Church in New South Wales, (Sydney 1905), pp.172–173; Bardon, R., The Centenary History of the Presbyterian Church of Queensland, (Brisbane 1949), pp.34–41.
Davis, E. D., The Life and Tilnes of Steel Rudd (Melbourne, 1968) Chs. 1 and 2.
Rudd, S., The Poor Parson (1907; reprinted St Lucia, Qld, 1968) p.1.
Waterson, D. B., Squatter, Selector, and Storekeeper: A History ofthe Darling Downs 1859–1893 (Sydney, 1972), pp.134–135.
The Poor Parson, p.54.
ibid., p.3.
‘Life Story of Colin McIntyre 1854–1935’, p.1 (by courtesy of Mr I. McIntyre, Sydney).
ibid., p.3.
Rudd, S., Duncan McClure (Sydney, 1909, pp.I-2), reprinted in The Poor Parson (St Lucia, Qld, 1968), pp. 247–248.
Angus, C., ‘Growing up on the Croft’, The Scots Magazine, May 1974, p.150.
Rudd, S., Dad in Politics (1908, reprinted St. Lucia, Qld, 1968) pp.69–70.
Putnis, P., Steele Rudd's Australia (Toowoomba, 1988), p.61; Davis, E., (ed) Introduction to The Poor Parson (1968).
Hodgson, C. P., Reminiscences of Australia with Hints on the Squatter's Life (London, 1846), p.118.
McIntyre, D., ‘His Reminiscences’, TS., p.5 (by courtesy of Mr I. McIntyre).
Bardon, R., Centenary History, pp. 214,230; Minutes and Proceedings of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Queensland, 1933.
See Prentis, M. D., ‘The Presbyterian Ministry’, pp. 5, 57–61.
For the sources of the statistics, see Prentis, M. D., ‘The Presbyterian Ministry,’ pp.56ff, and Prentis, M. D., ‘A Biographical Register of Presbyterian Ministers in Queensland 1847–1900,’ Church Heritage, 9, 2 (September 1995), pp.100–124.
Anderson, A. C., The Story of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Belfast 1965, pp.88–89. The 1859 Revival was an important influence in the formative years of many of Australia's Irish clergy.
Ibid., pp.65–67, 82. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland formally purged itself of these heterodox influences in the mid-nineteenth century.
Mackie, G. to Kinross, J., 8 May 1863, Kinross Papers, Box 4, N.L.A. The Rev. Dr A. C. Geikie disrespectfully called them ‘Paddies’.
Those of humble birth were presumably less likely to make known the occupations of their fathers.
Minister-fathers are by far the easiest to discover. The proportion was highest in Victoria.
