In this sermon transcript, the speaker recounts a Sunday afternoon open-air meeting in Brisbane where there were initially very few people in attendance. However, the envoy conducting the meeting, Jimmy Castles, decided to shout out loudly in the middle of the road, which quickly attracted the attention of passersby. This incident led to a successful gathering of people for the meeting. The speaker then reflects on the history and development of their religious organization, expressing gratitude for the unity and loyalty of its members. Finally, the speaker highlights the challenges faced by the Christian church in a materialistic and humanistic world and offers three points of advice for navigating these dangers.

Right from the very outset, going right back to the 1880s, Australian Salvationists have demonstrated a good deal of creative innovation. And as we've already seen, pioneered many aspects of Salvation Army service, particularly in the social area, which are now followed all over the Army world. Many of these innovations were associated with the scattered nature of the rural inland population and other geographical features which are peculiar to this country. For example, in South Australia, as early as 1884, two raw, very inexperienced land officers, wearing their red jerseys and white helmets, shaped like a fireman's helmet, and carrying their swags in a folded tent, were sent to work amongst the hundreds of men flocking to the newly discovered silver fields at the barrier ranges, now Broken Hill. They worked their way from Adelaide right up to Broken Hill. In the same year, a flying brigade, as it was called, composed of two or three officers, was probing the interior of New South Wales. In 1886, a horse-drawn van was operating from Goldman over the southern parts of this state. This was called a cavalry fort. It was the first of a series of cavalry forts, for this idea soon spread to other country colonies. When the founder was here in 1891, he commissioned two cavalry forts for evangelistic work in rural areas in Victoria. These were horse-drawn wagons in which the officers slept and carried their horse feed and so on, and conducted meetings as they journeyed through the country. What were called Salvation Outriders carried on a similar work on horseback, working from Brisbane right up through Caboolshire, Woodford, Landsborough, up towards Nambour in those early days. Perhaps I should also mention here under this heading that the cadets in 1889, a party of 28 cadets, were sent out on foot. The cadets here will be glad to know this, I'm sure. And they did 200 miles on foot throughout various parts of Victoria, conducting campaign meetings. They were called the Royal Guards. And a little later that year, another party of 30 cadets went out, and they did no less than 300 miles in the northern and western parts of Victoria on foot. And in 1889, the Headquarters Band was formed in Melbourne, and the band which is now the Melbourne South Band. Talking of travelling bands, it was in 1891 that what was called the Australian Guards Band was formed. Salvation Army soldiers, volunteers, they formed this band which for no less than six years toured Australia and New Zealand. A number two band was formed a little later, and I think it was in 1893 the two bands were amalgamated. For a while at the beginning, these bandsmen received no salary of any kind. They were provided with, their travelling was covered, and that was covered very well because they did most of their travelling on foot, which was a very economical arrangement. And their accommodation was also provided. Very often that was nothing more than a bare form in the hall, wherever they were. So their costs were minimal. But after a while, compassion was taken on them, and they were given a wage of two shillings a week. And they survived on that for quite a long time. One of the guards kept a diary, and it records that they did 7,233 miles during the course of this band's journey in Australia and New Zealand, and a great deal of that was done on foot. In 1897 what was called the Federal Band was formed. The Federation was very much in people's minds at that time. In 1900 another guards band called the Austral Guards Band, and in 1905 a women's band, the Austral Women's Band was formed, and created quite a good deal of interest as it travelled around doing campaigns. Still thinking of itinerant missionaries, about 1898 an officer by the name of Francis, but better known as Paddy Seaton, spent most of his active officership travelling over the rugged areas of northern Western Australia and into the Northern Territory. First of all by bicycle, and then with a motorbike and sidecar, and later with a T-model Ford car. And he was a real salvation nomad. Spent almost all his officership travelling over these very rugged and inhospitable parts of northern Western Australia, mainly collecting but doing a spiritual ministry as he went around. When World War II broke out, it just so happened that he and his wife happened to be in Darwin, and they immediately commenced Red Shield service in Darwin. Going back a little, in the early 1920s, two officers known as Bush Crusaders were working with a horse-drawn van all the areas of central Queensland behind Rockhampton. Another method of penetrating these thinly settled areas in the 80s and 90s were what were called camps. These were bases from which officers visited and held meetings with isolated people in the surrounding areas. Camps of railway workers, or forestry workers, all these people who were working in little isolated areas in the country. A ministry was done amongst them by these officers working the camps. The Wimmera District in Western Victoria was a notable example, and there were many others in each colony. Examples in New South Wales were Bury, just down the south coast. Kewdale, out the other side of Orange. Moorooya, also down the south coast. These were camps at which officers worked this itinerant kind of ministry. Up in Queensland, Caboolture. Bundamba, although almost nowadays Bundamba is part of the metropolitan area almost, but in those days it too was a camp. And Laveley. These were the beginnings of what came to be called Circle Corps, in which officers worked a group of outposts that were scattered around a central base. As an example, I could perhaps quote Nambour. I was stationed at Nambour in the latter part of 1925 and 1926. We had practically no work at all in the centre of the town. Not one salvationist lived in the town itself, but we were working ten or more outposts all surrounding Nambour. And my lieutenant and I usually spent Monday at the base doing jobs that needed to be done there. Then on Tuesday morning we would harness up riding horseback. He would go one way and I would go the other. Riding through the bush to visiting the people on the way and working our way towards one of these outposts where we would have a cottage meeting that night with the comrades and stay there overnight with one of the comrades and then next day cross-country again by horseback towards another of the outposts, visiting on the way, the same program. And on Thursday work our way back to the base for other work that had to be done there. And every Sunday afternoon another dash out to an outpost somewhere. These were the Circle Corps working all these outposts. Still thinking of the adaptation of circumstances, we could think of the field units. The developing use of motor transport made it easier to carry out a spiritual ministry over these vast inland areas. Field Unit No. 1 was a motor panel van commissioned in October 1936 and was operated by adjutant, now Lieutenant Colonel Alec McCarthy. He was based at Lingham and his district reached west to the South Australian border and north to the Queensland border. It took in an area of about 100,000 square miles. There was no active corps in this area, although in earlier days 13 corps had operated within this district. With the outbreak of war in 1939, women officers were appointed to this work, the first of them being adjutant, now Colonel Olive Allitt, who was a double, I'm not too sure if she was not a triple certificate, a nurse, and Captain, now Lieutenant Colonel Elmer Curtis, and they carried on this work for some time. They were linked with the Flying Doctor Base in Broken Hill by radio telephone and they were followed sometime later by Brigadiers Ruth Smith and Whittaker, who carried on a similar work in Field Unit No. 1. Field Unit No. 2 was a larger van equipped as a mobile quarters and this operated from Miles in south-western Queensland. It was staffed by married officers and they did a work out in that area, Chinchilla, Miles, out towards Charleville, and it was a similar kind of activity. If I may introduce a little bit of personal history here, at the end of 1940 I was appointed to conduct three months' campaigning up in north Queensland, assisted by a lieutenant who had been with me at the training college and three brand new probationary lieutenants, and we travelled in this Field Unit No. 2 from Rockhampton up to Cairns and back again conducting campaigns. The Field Unit was a rather top-heavy old vehicle. Caravans weren't built in those days as they are today. It was far from dust-proof. The roads were unsealed and you only needed to travel a mile or two for everything inside the van to be absolutely smothered in dust. There were five of us and only four could fit into the driving seat, which meant that we had to take it in turns for one to ride inside the van and be choked in dust. About an hour inside the van was as much as you could take, and then we would change over again and somebody else would have a turn inside the van. We also had a double-decker bunk, a wardrobe, sink and water tank and so on, plus a 44-gallon drum of petrol and all our personal suitcases and campaign apparatus. It was a bit of a conglomeration inside the van. And the sealed road petered out within a few miles of leaving Rockhampton. There was no Bruce Highway in those days. We had 272, I think it was, open creek crossings between Rockhampton and Mackay, and some of those were tidal. If the tide was in, there's a 33-foot rise and fall of the tide around that area, as some of you will know, and if the tide was in, well, you'd just have to wait till the tide went out before you could cross the creek. And to make it worse, this van was never built for that kind, those kind of roads. We had some adventures, I can tell you. Three months devil hunting in North Queensland. I could tell you a story or two about that on some other occasion. Coming back to the field units, there were no less than five of them in Tasmania, even today. In 1950, a total of 16 of these mobile units were operating over wide areas. As recently as 1954, quite a large van was commissioned outside the old training college in Livingston Road to work amongst the people who were working on the Snowy Mountains scheme at that time. Another aspect of service which, for a long time, was unique to Australia was the Flying Padre. And this, of course, is a story in itself. In 1944, Captain, now Brigadier Vic Peterson, was a Salvation Army representative with the RAAF right up along the north-western coast of Australia. And he saw the need for air transport to carry out any kind of ministry amongst the isolated communities and the station properties right up in the Kimberley and Broome and Derby, all around that area. He made the suggestion to the Territorial Commander, Commissioner W.R. Dalziel, in Melbourne. And Commissioner Dalziel was impressed by the suggestion and, just at the right time, it's wonderful how God works. You'll read the story in Barbara Bolton's book how, just at this time, Commissioner Dalziel met a lady at Red Shield Canteen in Melbourne who'd been helping them a great deal with their Red Shield Canteen services the war was on, you remember, in Melbourne. And this lady said to Commissioner Dalziel, is there anything you're wanting? And the Commissioner thought, well, here's an opportunity. He said, yes, we want an aeroplane. And it was just the right thing to say to this lady for out of it came an aeroplane. And in 1945, a Tiger Moth aircraft was dedicated in Melbourne. In the meantime, Vic Peterson had qualified as a pilot and he flew this plane up to Darwin from which base, and for quite a period, from Catherine. He maintained a ministry over thousands of miles right across the Northern Territory into the northern parts of Western Australia sometimes into the northern parts of Queensland. Vic Peterson has always been a bit of a law-runter himself and nobody knew just where he was going and what he was doing. But he did a very valuable ministry up in those parts of the world. He crashed several aircraft, one after the other and it was rather marvellous how he managed to survive each time although he did get knocked about in some of these crashes. He had his troubles with the DCA people. He was flying, he preferred an Oster plane for two reasons. The Oster plane has a very slow stalling speed which means to say you can land it on very short strips and take off on very short strips which he needed, of course, in landing on station properties. And the other feature about the Oster plane that he liked was it would run on any kind of fuel almost. It would run on ordinary motor spirit and the friendly station people would fill up his tank with ordinary motor car petrol which the Oster didn't mind flying on. But of course the DCA people said that he had to fly on aviation spirit and he was sometimes in trouble with them over that. But he really did a marvellous ministry. He carried with him a sound projector and films, his concertina, Bibles, he sold no end of Bibles in those isolated areas, other literature and he even had a folding bicycle on board the plane because sometimes you had to land a mile or two away from the station property and then he would get out his bike and put it to pieces and ride his bike in to the station property where he would have a meeting with all hands. Places where a clergyman was rarely seen. Well this service is now being maintained by Captain Hilton Morris and a similar service was commenced in this territory in 1965 with another Oster plane at Longreach covering the Gulf country and vast areas of western Queensland. When you go to Longreach you feel you've almost got into the middle of Australia but when you look at it on the map you find you're just nearly half way across Queensland and there's a vast area west of Longreach which is covered by this ministry. Captain Alf Dawkins was the first pilot to operate this service followed by Captain Lionel Parker and now Captain Merton Darby is carrying on this service. Well this has proved a very valuable service over and over again especially in times of emergency. The Postal Sunday School is another one of these aspects of army service in this country. The officers on field unit number one really began this. Allet and Elmer Curtis, they began preparing Sunday School lessons which they let at the homes, these isolated homes where there were children who were never able of course to get to a Sunday School and the demand for this service developed to such an extent that it became impossible for them to handle the volume of work travelling as they were in just really a utility, little more than that. So that in 1941 it was transferred to THQ in Sydney where these lessons are still sent out regularly to children all over the territory. A similar system was later put into operation from the THQ in Melbourne and I know from my own experience that these home company lessons are very much valued by the people in those isolated areas. Somewhat similar to this is the Outer Circle Home League. This is something else that began in this territory. During a tour in central Queensland, Mrs. Commissioner W.R. Dalziel sensed the isolation and the deep loneliness of the women in the outback. They were travelling from Rockhampton out towards Longreach and the train goes through a station there called Jericho which some people make jokes about but there was a Salvation Army family living at Jericho and every time they knew that any army people were going through on the train they were always there on the station with refreshments for them. And in North Queensland they're very accommodating, the railway service, they'd wait while you had your refreshments and have a yarn before they set off again. And so that whilst the Dalziels were touring up there they were talking to these people and felt the loneliness, how these people looked forward to somebody they could meet and talk to. And when Mrs. Dalziel came back to Sydney she set in motion the Outer Circle Home League whereby these people are linked up once a month by a letter that goes out from the headquarters here in Sydney, just a friendly little letter, and this too is very much appreciated. This idea soon spread to the Southern Territory and then to New Zealand and then to other parts of the army world. And then the Home League emblem is another thing that began in this territory. I'm reminding you of various innovations for which this territory has been responsible. The home standing on the Bible which is now the recognised emblem of the Home League in all parts of the world signifies the fact that home building is firmly based on Bible teaching and principles. This appeared first of all on a monthly stenciled Home League programme which was issued from the Sydney THQ in August 1934. The germ of the idea was supplied by Mrs. Lieutenant Colonel Albert Howard who was then the Territorial Home League Secretary and she suggested the idea to Captain, or then Captain, Lillie Sampson now Lieutenant Colonel Lillie Sampson who's quite clever at drawing little sketches and Lillie Sampson drew the first sketch of the house standing on the Bible which was stenciled on this programme. Well this idea too quickly spread to other countries. The house and sometimes the surrounding vegetation being adapted to local styles but the design is fixed and some of you will have seen Home League badges that come from all parts of the world showing the house standing on the Bible. It now appears on badges and banners as well as on tea towels, embroidered cushion covers and the like. Well that's something else and another innovation for which this territory is responsible. Before going any further, let's have a song. ...a history, efforts were made to take the gospel to the Aboriginal people. After an impassioned appeal by a full-blood Aboriginal named Pantone, Commissioner Howard, and you remember this goes back to our very early days, Commissioner Howard appointed officers who followed these nomadic people along the South Australian reaches of the Lower Murray River, really right down in the Lake Alexandrina area, almost near the mouth of the Murray River. These officers travelled in an 18-foot boat which also served as their quarters. They lived in the boat. Within three years there were no less than 100 keen Aboriginal salvationists in this area and in 1888 when Commissioner Howard made a journey to London, he took with him Corps Sergeant Major Pantone. He was the first original Australian to be seen by many people in England and his appearance in uniform and his testimony created quite a sensation. There were a number of other notable cases of conversion in various parts of Australia and many Aboriginal salvationists gave sterling witness. One who was promoted to glory from Walker up in the northern part of this state was described in the local press as, quote, the whitest man in New England. Well that's a tribute, isn't it, for an Aboriginal. For many years the Army maintained officers and work in Aboriginal settlements in South Australia at a place called Point Maclay, which is just on the southern border of Lake Alexandrina, and in Queensland at a place called Perga, just a few miles out from Ipswich. And many of these people were assisted to take their places as successful members of the community. You've possibly heard the story of one notable product of the work at Perga, the singer Harold Blair. I remember when I was stationed at West End, we arranged one night for a party of Aboriginals from Perga to come and take part in a programme we were doing at West End and at that time Harold Blair was just a young fellow in his teens and he came and sang that night in the programme and one or two others played their gum leaves and so on, but it was through their singing that Harold Blair got his start and achieved fame as a singer. But he owed a great deal, and I've heard him acknowledge it too, that he owed a great deal to the start that the Salvation Army gave him at Perga. Both these places closed down. The work in Perga closed down as far back as 1948 and the work in Point Maclay closed down in 1966. By that time the Aboriginal people, as you know, had adopted ideas that they were a little bit resistant to having white people in charge of them and they wanted to carve out their own identity and it was not becoming easy to handle these settlements and really nothing profitable was coming out of the work and so they were closed down. But it's rather a pity that that happened because we see the Aboriginal tribe being destroyed before our eyes today by strong drink and by agitators and other people who were absolutely ruining them. The Kanakas. In the 1880s and onwards, many hundreds of islanders from the New Hebrides and other groups were transported, often by very harsh and dubious means, to work on the cane fields in Queensland. It would not be exaggerating to say that they were in many cases hijacked, blackbirded, and were taken under false pretenses by people, blackbirding ship owners, who landed them in Queensland and just sold them as cheap labour on the cane fields. Well, these islanders became known as Kanakas and many of them became extremely enthusiastic salvationists and at least two outposts, a place called Bell's Gully, an outpost of the Bowen Corps, and Budram Mountain, an outpost of the Nambour Corps, were almost entirely Kanaka corps. I recall going out to Bell's Gully many years ago for a meeting amongst these Kanaka people and it was a lively, blood and fire, free and easy meeting if ever you've been in one. With a shouting and clapping their hands and marching up and down the aisle, they really enjoyed their religion, did these Kanaka people. And Budram Mountain, well, when I was stationed at Nambour, if I may introduce personal illustrations again, it was always a joy to go up to Budram where we had the Kanaka outpost. A little band, the cornet was played by Billy Muckham and his wife played the bass and all the little Muckhams played the instruments that came in between the cornet and the bass. And the drum was played by a chap called Benny Booker who used to come down the street carrying the drum on his head and his wife was Minnie Booker who went around and took the collection and the kettledrum was played by a very old fellow, nobody knew how old he was, called Billy Christie and he played the kettledrum. Well, we had our own hall there on the Budram Mountain and they were really happy meetings with these Kanaka people. I've mentioned the transportation ceased at the beginning of the century and many of these people were sent back to the islands and as I mentioned the other night, many of them of course had been Salvationists and on their return to the islands a little bit of Salvation Army witness went on in the New Hebrides for a while and an officer, I couldn't find my reference the other day but I found it today, an officer by the name of Ensign Inwood was appointed to the New Hebrides Islands in 1907 to do work amongst these Kanaka Salvationists on an island called May, M-I-I. I looked up my maps and it seems to be a small island just almost attached to the island of Espirito Santo which is so much in the news at the moment and in 1914 Commissioner Hay paid a visit to this work so apparently it was operating for a number of years. However, some of the people and their descendants remained in Australia and they were still active as Salvationists into the 1920s. And then I must mention the Chinese too. The Gold Rush in the 1850s brought thousands of Chinese people to Australia. At one time there were no less than 33,000 Chinese people in Victoria alone. The army responded to this challenge and a report from Sydney in 1886 said our first step towards the invasion of China has taken shape in the formation of a Chinese Corps. This was optimistic talk, wasn't it? This was at Waterloo. An advertisement in Chinese characters invited all to attend the first meeting on the 4th of January 1886. Captain Charles Dennis the grandfather of Major William Terracini was responsible for this innovation and Sergeant Leung Fu was announced as the translator. I've got at home a copy of the poster in Chinese characters advertising that actual meeting at Waterloo. In 1887 a Chinese officer by the name of Captain Peter Wong Yu was based in Sydney working amongst his own countrymen here and also in other parts of New South Wales and many Chinese people were converted. When Brigadier, or Captain as he was then, Dennis was moved from Sydney he was appointed to Albury and it's on record that he made an effort in Albury to link up Chinese people there. There was also quite a strong Chinese Corps at Inverel and many of you will know that in Tinga we have comrades with Chinese background. Dennis was then, because of his interest in Chinese people was moved to Melbourne and given the job of building up a work amongst the Chinese people in Little Bourke Street which continued for some time until he was appointed elsewhere. You will see on your notes that I mention now the pioneering of motion pictures and I really mentioned this the other night there's hardly need to go through this again but you've got the notes now which will be able to inform you of what happened in that connection. Moving on to think of some of the Army personalities one could spend a lot of time talking about the rugged and original characters that the Army threw up in those early days. There's not the time to enumerate them all but I hope that some of you have been reading the series of articles in the War Cry recently written by Commissioner Rusher in which he has dealt with a lot of these old time personalities but I mention one here tonight although Commissioner Rusher has also dealt with this comrade too Adjutant Tom Robertson after a wild youth he was convicted of sin while serving a sentence in Bathurst Jail on release from jail he went to the penitent form at Mudgee which was his home and soon after was taught to play the C scale on a cornet. He had a very unfortunate lapse then he was evidently selling war cries in a hotel on one occasion somebody challenged him to see whether he could drink a cornet full of beer and unfortunately he fell for the temptation and drank a cornet full of beer which was his undoing again but he repented and got on his feet once again and in due course he became a cadet in the Punt Road oh he was reformed by that time he became a cadet in the Punt Road Training Home in May 1889 and he served in no less than 40 corps appointments in 34 years of service as a field officer and then in social appointments until he retired and even after he retired he was promoted to glory in 1927 As a cadet he was called Mudgy Robertson to distinguish him from another cadet who had the same surname and somehow or other this name stuck to him all through his life inside his cap was inscribed Mudgy's Headquarters While he was a lieutenant he was inspired by hearing a circus musician to practice his cornet assiduously and he became a wizard on the cornet he developed a range of no less than five and a half octaves which included six C's I've heard him play this he could play two cornets at once and he could imitate the calls of birds and animals on a cornet it was really phenomenal he had quite a long dark beard and you would see the cornet mouthpiece disappear inside his beard and then would come these amazing sounds that he could produce on the cornet experts were at a loss to explain his uncanny skill and his amazing glissandos and arpeggios he was really a wizard on the cornet he was a tall bearded man he was something of a showman and more than a little eccentric but with all that he was a very earnest and fearless evangelist and a soul winner I don't know whether I should tell you this story but in 1924 General Bramwell Booth was here conducting our Congress meetings and just at the beginning of the Congress one of the Army's pioneers Colonel Frank Veal was promoted to glory and it was arranged for the General to conduct Colonel Veal's funeral out at the Rookwood Cemetery and because it was Congress time we were all there, we all went out in those days we went to the funerals by funeral train which went from a funeral station which is still there just around the back of Central Railway Station and we all travelled out to Rookwood in the train for the funeral and I and one or two other bright young lieutenants were travelling in the same carriage as Mudgee Robertson and we persuaded him to get his cornet out of his case he never went anywhere without his cornet and he always had his name on his cornet case, Mudgee's own and we persuaded him to get his cornet out and play us some of his cornet solos which he was doing giving us a very good exhibition of what he could do on the cornet on this funeral train when suddenly some outraged Colonel appeared in the carriage and abruptly stopped Mudgee made him put his cornet back in the case so we led him into trouble on that occasion I could tell you stories of other officers who were quite characters in their own right but there's not time for that let me mention one or two local officers Jimmy Castles he was converted in Goulburn in 1883 shortly after the Corps was opened and was sent as an officer without any training at all to Newcastle and he stopped to take part in the opening of the Waterloo Corps on the way after several years of officership he took employment which involved him in travel all over Australia promoting the sale of a very well known kitchen commodity with the rank of envoy but now very much better known as the musical mystery he would give two hour one man programs at Corps, wherever his travels took him he would give items on ten or twelve musical instruments the auto harp a jew's harp a tin whistle simple little instruments like that and he also had one or two light hearted ventriloquial items I don't know that they would go over too well today but we certainly enjoyed the musical mystery when he came to visit the Corps it was his loud shouting at an open air meeting in Cooma in the 1890's which attracted a youth and led to his conversion and that youth is now remembered as Colonel Edward Slattery who was one of the many, one by envoy Castle's unorthodox tactics if I may tell you another personal story, when I was a bandsman at West End, this goes back a long way we always had a big band out for Sunday morning open airs and a big band out for Sunday night open airs but the Sunday afternoon open air we'd only have usually about eight or nine bandsmen and we had the envoy Jimmy Castles conducting meetings at our Corps on this Sunday and it was a very sleepy, a hot steamy, sleepy Brisbane Sunday afternoon and there wasn't a soul in sight anywhere and we were having our open air meeting and this wasn't good enough for Jimmy Castles and he moved away from us a few yards and got out in the middle of the road and began to shout out at the top of his voice, Oh! Oh! Oh! and in no time at all there were heads out of windows and people running out onto verandas out into the street, we soon had people everywhere and when there were people he went on to say Oh! Everyone look first come ye to the waters, come ye and he went on and quoted the rest of the text well, perhaps the cadets here might like to try that out some Sunday another character was Jim Crocker a wild miner and a heavy drinker who was converted at Broken Hill and eventually became the best known salvationist in the city, as an envoy he maintained for over forty years the ministry of hospital visitation and during his time because he the people knew him so well, they requested that he would conduct the funeral, although he wasn't a clergyman, he was still a worker in the mines but because he was so well known as a salvationist and a pastor in this hospital visiting, he was requested to conduct the funerals and did no less than 800 800 funerals over those years, for his outstanding community service he was in 1960 honoured by the Queen with an MBE and by General Kitching with the Order of the Founder and those of you that have been to Broken Hill will know that a monument stands today in front of the Broken Hill Hospital erected by the townspeople of Broken Hill as a memorial to this chaplain on the barrier he was a rugged and outstanding character another memorial erected by townspeople to honour a salvationist local officer is in Devonport Tasmania, it is a testimony to the community service and the godly life of Envoy Franco Keefe who was another drunkard, saved by the grace of God, a wonderful trophy of God's grace, and following his conversion, lived such a life in that little town of Devonport that he became respected by all and sundry and this memorial stands there for him today another local officer I thought I would include is Envoy Shepard of Dorrigo who for many years maintained a corps at Dorrigo in the absence of any officers he too received the Order of the Founder, his influence was such that any letter just simply addressed to the good Shepard Dorrigo unerringly found its mark you might be interested to know that there have been salvationist parliamentarians right back in 1889 Mr E. W. Turner who was the MLA for Gunnedah, and his wife were both amongst the seekers of the penitent form at a meeting at North Sydney. The very next day he went into the trade and bought an army red jersey and caused great consternation and questions in the house a newspaper comment by wearing his army jersey in the House of Parliament and thereafter in his constituency his wife also donned uniform and both of them were enrolled as salvationists they had the official opening of Parliament there today it would be interesting to recall the time when a salvationist wore his army red jersey in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. Another parliamentarian was Brother A. V. Thomson of Port Adelaide who was a member of the South Australian Parliament for many years and then for a number of years a member of the House of Representatives in Canberra, representing the Labour Party, a very good salvationist. I sat with him in the House in Canberra and enjoyed his company and then of course more better known to us here in Sydney the Honourable Mr Justice Ethel Richardson whilst an active salvationist and a local officer at the Delwich Hill Corps was at the same time a member of the New South Wales Parliament and a Cabinet Minister. Let's have a course Well now we move into the present age. Since the formation of the two Australian territories in 1921 progress has been steady but less spectacular there's very little of the spectacular events of those early days to talk about in recent years the tremendous initial thrust which put the army into orbit has given way to the even beat of an efficient machine still moving towards its objective the skirmishing of earlier days has given way to a situation where the enemy is no less menacing but the battle lines are less clearly defined and that constitutes a problem for us. In some respects it has become a grim holding campaign there have been losses but there have also been solid and substantial gains as General Cootes has written instead of wasting his time deploring the current situation the salvationist of today makes his front line where he is thinking of our field work I would say from my own experience and observation that our core organisation today is at a higher level than it has ever been we have capable local officers and an increased participation of soldiers in core operations and we have a great deal to be thankful for there that our core generally speaking better organised than they have ever been. Core councils where properly conducted have proved their value as has the advisory council for Salvation Army soldiers consultative processes on divisional and territorial levels have all been expanded in recent years this is a matter that gives concern. Fewer open air meetings are now held there is of course as many of you will know a very serious decline in our open air attendances which is due even more to the fact that there are fewer open air meetings being held than it is to the fact that there are fewer people attending open airs the real difficulty is that fewer open air meetings are being held and of course present day conditions make it increasingly difficult to arrange open air meetings at places and times where a congregation can be secured. There is a real challenge to our ingenuity and our dedication there there has been a steady increase in the size and the efficiency of our musical sections but at some cost. For their weekly practices have made serious inroads into the weeknight soldiers and holiness meetings It has been a doer struggle to maintain the level of YP attendances and activities. If you were to see a graph of our YP attendances over these years there's quite a deal of fluctuation and on the whole it's been quite a struggle to maintain the levels of our YP attendances. At one time 60 to 70 percent of the children attending our company meetings came from non-salvationist homes and of course this was a very valuable field for recruitment. That situation doesn't apply today and whilst I'm not in a position now to work out figures I would say from my observation that the great majority of the people, the children in our company meetings are our own natural increase, our own children and not so many from non-salvationist homes as we once had. The Home League through the years has made steady progress. A feature of recent years has been the developing sense of stewardship and missionary concern on the part of salvationists of both territories which is reflected in substantial increases in tithing and giving for core and missionary purposes. What has happened in the last five or six years has been really remarkable and we give praise to God and thanks to our comrades. More than 100 core that were operating at the time the two territories were formed have since closed. 23 percent of these were in urban areas mainly in the inner urban areas and we think of such core as Redfern, Balmain, Roselle and these inner suburban areas. These are the type of core that have largely closed during those years. And the 77 percent of the core that have closed were in country towns and districts. These figures highlight the weakening of our strength in rural areas this being comparable of course with the drift of population to the cities. It might interest you to know that in 1880 when the Salvation Army began in Australia only one third of the total population lived in metropolitan areas. Only one third of the total population lived in metropolitan areas. In 1976 when the last Commonwealth census was taken no less than 57 percent of the total population live in five capital cities. And another 31.75 percent live in smaller cities and towns and only 11.25 percent live in rural areas. So this will highlight the fact that most Australians now are cityites. The majority of people are living in urban areas and this helps to explain the decline of our core situation in the rural areas. These losses happily have been offset by the opening and the expansion of core in the outer urban areas. Some of these now being amongst our largest core. What has happened is that many Salvationists have moved from the inner areas out into these newer suburbs on the outskirts of the cities. And this is happening in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and in fact all the cities. Some suburban core in both territories have been relocated and renamed with very good results. One feature of this period is that small core have tended to become smaller and large core larger sometimes at the expense of their smaller neighbours. And that of course is not a good thing. That our larger core really pattern themselves on transfers that come from smaller core. Thinking of our social services, during this period there has been marked development in the number and range of our social services. Both institutional and non-institutional. In 1921 when the territories were formed there were 60 social institutions in the two territories accommodating almost 4,000 persons. This year there are 124 institutions with accommodation for 6,400 persons. And I haven't included people's palaces because I don't regard them as a social service. That's a different field of service. Nor have I included institutions in Papua New Guinea in those figures. In recent years a serious effort has been made to modernise both buildings and facilities into update methods. In both territories officers have completed university courses for social degrees and many officers have undertaken other training programmes. Special features of this expanded programme include the construction of large complexes providing unit and hostel type accommodation and convalescent and full nursing care for aged people. There's been a tremendous development of our work amongst the aged people. A comprehensive programme for the treatment and rehabilitation of alcoholics and other drug dependents. You'll be familiar with the bridge programme which is a very full programme operating here in Sydney and to a degree in other parts of Australia. Also the provision of family welfare centres and other counselling services. There's been something of a run down of our work amongst children. The need for that is not so acute as it was years ago but there has been this expansion as you see of service for aged people, for alcoholics and other dependents. Having looked at that situation or before I come on to the growth rate, there's a paragraph here about public esteem and support. The formation of advisory boards, red shield appeal committees and the like has brought to our support many distinguished and influential citizens. Their backing and their skilful help has given our work a prestige greater perhaps than ever before. It's really tremendous the way in which very influential community leaders now identify themselves with our appeals and with our work and are happy to do so and we appreciate that help. It's a great challenge to us that we continue to merit such confidence and support. I remember when I inaugurated the Sydney advisory board and sat around a huge circular table in the headquarters of the Bank of New South Wales and around that table were the very top men in community and business leadership in this city most distinguished group of people and it was really moving to feel that these men who were so busy and so many irons in the fire were giving their time and their skill, their expertise to help us in the Salvation Army. Well that's been a great assistance to us. Whilst each territory, and here is something which is not so happy to report, whilst each territory has increased its soldiers role by about 50% since 1921, the growth rate cannot be considered satisfactory if you have regard to the increase in population during that period. In 1921 the total population of Australia was just under 5.5 million. At the most recent census in 1976 it was 13.5 million. So you will see if you compare those two census figures that our growth rate is not keeping pace with the population increase and very earnest attention should be given to this. It's far from satisfactory. It is of interest to note that in 1921 72.5% of all Salvationists in Australia lived in the capital cities and other main urban areas and 27.5% lived in rural areas. In 1966 87% were located in the city and urban areas and only 13% in rural areas. And the Commonwealth Government has not given us a breakdown of the 1971 and 1976 census figures which would enable me to continue, extend those figures up to date. But these statistics do point up the shift of Salvationists from the country to the cities. A little bit about Papua New Guinea. I mentioned this in brief the other day but a little bit more about it here. Following an initial survey which was carried out in 1955 international headquarters agreed to an extension of work into Papua New Guinea on the understanding that this eastern territory would staff and finance that venture. The work commenced in August 1956. The first corps established in Baroqa and a hall opened in October 57. The next year two nurses with a mobile unit commenced clinics in and around Kainan too on the eastern highlands. A hostel in Koki was opened in September 1958. Day schools were commenced at Koki and at Onamuga up on the New Guinea side again. The first Papuan cadet after training in Sydney was commissioned as an officer in January 1961. Steady progress has been maintained during the succeeding years and today there are 18 corps and 33 outposts although according to some later figures that I received the other day there are now 36 outposts. There are 39 indigenous officers plus a number of envoys in full time service as well as 8 cadets in training. 8 second year cadets and at the present time 3 first year cadets as well in training. The province has its own school for officer training as well as leadership training centres health centres, hostels and training farms. Very much is being done at the moment to expedite the training of indigenous people. It's so important the mood in the country is that we must have national leadership there as soon as it can be arranged and every effort is being made to advance the Papuan and the New Guinea people so that they will be able to manage their own work in their own country. The school work has been taken over by the administration and we are not operating any day schools there at the moment. Splendid help has been given by officers and lay workers from both Australian territories and New Zealand as well as financial and prayer support by partners over a wide area. This is our missionary concern and I hope that you are all interested in the development of the work in Papua New Guinea. Coming then to a conclusion. This brief glance over the past has shown that often with limited equipment and public backing, our pioneers have built an army of which we may well be proud. We are fortunate that during our 100 years in this country there have been no splits as in some other countries. We have today an army which is basically sound and loyal to principle and purpose. The great majority of our comrades endeavour to uphold standards and our youth is eager to espouse a worthwhile cause. What of the future? The entire Christian church today faces perilous times. We are living and working in a pervasive climate of materialistic and militant humanism. What are the dangers that threaten us? And if I may give you a little bit of sermonising here, just three points, which I hope you'll all take to heart. Cadets, officers and comrades, I see three dangers that threaten us. One, that we lose our emphasis on holy living. Our spiritual power and influence stand in direct proportion to our holiness. We must beware of the insidious infiltration of the spirit of the world and anything that would tend to cancel out the distinctives. We dare not adjust our standards to the tastes and the opinions of the current permissive age. Nor must we allow ourselves to think and speak and act like secularists. We shall never save the world by becoming like the world. The second point, the second warning, that we lose the spirit of aggression. Our organisational structure is geared for war and operates at its best under war conditions. We must never be so dazzled by the popular idea of Dayton as to imagine that we can live in a state of peaceful coexistence with evil. Or fight the good fight with only half our might. With a full programme of internal and sectional events and much reduced open air activity, corps tend, especially some of our larger corps, tend to become well-appointed social clubs instead of battle stations. Storming the forks of darkness is not a weekend hobby and our people must constantly remember that they are soldiers on active service at all times and all places. And the third danger I see, that we lose our sense of direction and elevate secondary aims to the primary position. That we become more involved with the care of bodies than with the saving of souls. There is danger if we become known to the public as a charitable welfare organisation, something like the Smith family, or a disaster emergency service rather than a religious movement. Social services must always be an expression of our evangelistic concern for our fellow man. I hope those three warnings will be taken to half by all of you. We are now custodians of the past and it is our task in the might and by the guidance of the Holy Spirit to make the future in the present. It would be remiss of me if we didn't extend words of courtesy tonight. I think Commissioner has served this very well. It's been quite a unique occasion hasn't it? Historic in many ways. And I think we've caught something of the spirit of the Commissioner as he has painted a very vivid unforgettable picture of those very important formative days of our movement here within our own country. As we stand at the threshold of our second century. I think that last verse really sums it up. Colonel, may it be that by the Holy Spirit's might we might have that desperation, that determination, that army goes zeal and energy which finds its source in the Holy Spirit. I'm sure that you would just like to express in acclamation what Commissioner Scottney has given to us out of that vast reservoir of those resources that he shared with the cadets some weeks ago of his own experience and shared most generously with us in these last evenings these last two weeks. And I'd ask you that you would receive what the Commissioner has given with that acclamation that is an expression of our sincere thanks to Commissioner. And of course to ensure that it wasn't lost, Envoy Wilbur Ford on my left-hand side has been very tentative with the tapes and we will be notifying you of the availability and the cost of those tapes recording the lectures by the Commissioner. Mr Scottney has served us well on the piano and we'd like to acknowledge that too, Mr Scottney. A lot of work goes behind the scenes as all Salvationists realise and I'd like to acknowledge just a few folks here tonight. Captain Pack who has prepared and printed the song sheets and the lecture notes. Cadet Ross and McGrath for the rolling of those films. Brigadier Reed for making available Reg Perry Remembers. The cadets who have distributed the song sheets and the lecture notes and Cadet Colin Sudley who's not with us but who has arranged those very informative and bright vocal items for each evening. I'd like to express my sincere thanks. I think it would be most appropriate if we'd rise together for prayer the benediction and to ask Commissioner Scottney if he would do that please. I think too we ought to express our thanks through Major Clark to Major Cutmore for making this arrangement. I think it was the Major's idea that these lectures should be thrown open as they have been this year. Usually they've been given just to a cadet audience but I thought it was an excellent idea in this centenary year to include others who wish to come and I've been very gratified that so many of you have shown an interest in Army history and have come. Major, thanks for your leadership of these meetings we're grateful to you and through you could we say a word of thanks to the training principal for allowing us to come and enjoy these facilities and enjoy this fellowship together. Dear Father, we feel that we have so much to thank thee for we thank thee again for those pioneers of our movement who at such cost have laid foundations on which we build today. We thank thee for their courage their love for souls, their passion and we pray Lord that something of that may rub off onto us so that we in our turn may pass it on to others and so we pray thy blessing upon all here just now, the first year cadets who commence their out training tomorrow, we pray that this may be a valuable opportunity for them and that they may put into practice perhaps some of the things that they have learned during these days and all of us, help us all to be more earnest, help us to love souls more, help us to be better evangelists ourselves. And now Lord may these talks make their lasting impression upon our heart and mind and we pray again that you will dismiss us with your blessing. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God our Father, the guidance the fellowship of thy Holy Spirit abide with us now and ever. Amen.