Into Enoggera camp
CANON GARLAND.
CHAPLAIN IN
QUEENSLAND
TRAINING CAMP.
FEELING that it is not desirable, in the interests of Imperial unity, to continue at the present time the agitation for Bible in schools, Canon Garland [ David John Garland ] has, at the request of the Archbishop of Brisbane [ St Clair George Alfred Donaldson ], accepted the position of resident Chaplain in the training camp for the Queensland Expeditionary Force.
“The Brisbane Courier”, in commenting on the fact, says “the appointment of Canon Garland will prove a popular one there is, perhaps, no one capable of exerting quite the same influence with our boys”.
Canon Garland, who ranks as Lieutenant-Colonel, is Senior Chaplain for Queensland.
During the South African war he was under canvas with the West Australian troops for twenty months.
“The Sydney Church Standard”, in chronicling the appointment, says: “He has the gift of speaking on the great truths of religion and morality in a way that a soldier understands and likes, and his sermons at parade services are always listened to with attention and appreciation.”
Canon Garland took up his official position on Trinity Sunday, 30th May.
– from page 8 of New Zealand’s “The Evening Post” of 9 June 1915.
PICTURED ABOVE: The Church of England chapel at the Enoggera Army Training Base, as it appeared in “The Queenslander Pictorial” insert of “The Queenslander” of 16 June 1917 (page 28). This tarpaulin, tin and timber structure was the hub from which Canon Garland could engage the raw First AIF recruits with books, games and writing paper to help foster a sense of calm, relaxation and fellowship. A sample of the typical notepaper furrnished to Canon Garland’s “Church of England Chaplains’ Department (Queensland)” appears below. This item was from a letter, dated 7 April 1918, contained in the Army personnel file of No. 3503, Private William Albert Andrew Binnie (page 18 of National Archives of Australia file, B2455).
