By The Garland Collection in Formative Years — 21 Nov 2018

Archdeacon Garland's resignation

ABOVE: The Queensland Bibles in State Schools League Committee group shot for 1908. The Reverend Canon David Garland, now without a parish, a rectory or a stipend, is standing in the middle of the back row. This Royal Studio (Brisbane) photo appeared on page 12 of The Brisbane Courier of 10 October 1908. FRONT ROW: Mr. J.H. Jones; Staff-Captain Johnson, Salvation Army; Archdeacon Le Fanu; Rev. Dr. Youngman; Rev. William Osborne Lilley, Rev. R.H. Roberts, Mr. James Allan. MIDDLE ROW: Mr. A.S. Lang, Mr. J.R. Morgan, Pastor Treuz, Rev. G.E. Rowe, Rev. W.H. Harrison, Rev. A. Gillison. BACK ROW: Rev. W. Penfield-Brown, Mr. G. Page-Hanify, Rev. D.J. Garland. Rev. J.A. Bowes, Mr. G.K. Seabrook. OVALS: Archbishop Donaldson, Right Rev. Peter Robertson. Image courtesy of the State Library of Queensland Collection [Negative No. 121189]. This same photograph also ran on the front page of 1 March 1909 edition of Queensland Country Life.

IN announcing the resignation of the Parish of Charters Towers and the Archdeaconry of North Queensland in order to be untrammelled in his work for the Bible in State Schools’ League, Archdeacon Garland said:

“As you are aware, I have been the last 10 months actively engaged in the work of the Bible in State Schools League, culminating in the conduct of the first campaign which resulted in the return of 54 Members of the Legislative Assembly pledged to give the League the desired Referendum Bill.

“The second campaign has now to be conducted and carried through to a finish successfully, or unsuccessfully as the case may be.

“The work and anxiety entailed will be of such a strenuous and widely extended nature that I should be unable to be present in the parish for at least the next six months, with a probable further absence after that period.

“The responsibility of the undertaking, and its absorbing character, would render it impossible for me to exercise from a distance the necessary oversight of parochial matters.

“The churchwardens, after careful consideration, advise me that such prolonged absence would he detrimental to the best interests of the parish, and of course I cannot fail to accept such advice.

“I would add, further, that I concur in the advice which they have tendered me, believing that interests which are national in their extent should have the prior claim over those which are merely parochial.

“That I am resigning my high rank in the Church, and surrendering a fixity of tenure as well as a home, without any prospects before me when the League’s work is over, and doing so at my time of life, is a sufficient indication that I am taking the course which entails the greater sacrifice.

“It is as well to add that when I was first called upon by the Archbishop and other religious leaders to take charge of this great movement, I urged very strongly upon him and upon the Bishop of North Queensland the impossibility of carrying such a burden in conjunction with the burden of the heaviest parish in Queensland.

“It was at their request, coupled with the advice of the churchwardens at that time, that I attempted the dual task.

“Circumstances now show that it is wholly impossible to carry both loads.

“In conclusion, I assure you that I shall never forget the individual souls who have accepted my ministrations, and wish not only the Church of England, but all religious bodies in Charters Towers this gift of God’s Holy Spirit in raising the spiritual tone of the community and promoting righteousness in every department of life.”

— from page 10 of The Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Ipswich) of 18 June 1907 [also from page 4 of The Brisbane Courier of 14 June 1907.] ABOUT THE COMMITTEE

According to the organisation’s newsletter, Advocate (edited by Archdeacon Garland), the Committee comprised of the following clerics and community leaders:

President: The Most Reverend St Clair George Alfred Donaldson, Church of England Archbishop of Brisbane
Vice-Presidents: The Right Reverend Dr. Youngman, the Bishop of North Queensland, and The Reverend J. Gerrard Martin (President, Methodist Conference)
Organising Secretary: Archdeacon the Venerable David Garland
Treasurer: Mr. J.R. Morgan [James Richard Morgan]
Executive Committee (ex-officio): The Reverend Osborne Lilley [William Osborne Lilley],
The Reverend R.H. Roberts [Robert Henry Roberts],
The Reverend G.E. Rowe [George Edward Rowe],
The Reverend A. Gillison,
The Reverend W.H. Harrison,
The Reverend W. Page,
The Reverend P. Robertson,
The Reverend Dr. L.L. Wirt [Loyal Lincoln Wirt],
The Reverend W. Smith,
The Reverend E.C. Ganly [Edmund Charles Ganly],
Archdeacon the Venerable Le Fanu [Henry Frewen Le Fanu],
Major Winter [William Winter, Salvation Army],
The Hon. A. Norton [Albert Norton],
Alderman Lang [Alexander Smith Lang],
W.H. Barnes MLA [William Henry Barnes]
J.H. Jones
G.K. Seabrook [George Kenilworth Seabrook]

Correspondence was to be addressed: “The Organising Secretary, Bible in State Schools League, Brisbane.”

The Committee’s offices were located Darragh’s Buildings, Queen Street.

ABOVE: From the Queensland Legislative Assembly Hansard of 31 March 1908 was the voting outcome after the Second Reading debate on the Religious Instruction in State Schools Referendum Bill (page 436).

ABOUT THE COMMITTEE

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