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that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 2 Cor 5:19

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January - March 2001

Centenary at Kempsey

On Easter Monday last Bill Hammen and I set off from Melbourne to travel to Kempsey, NSW, to join with Bob Shanney and his friends in remembering 100 years of evangelical Christian outreach to the Aboriginal people of the Kempsey area and the surrounding districts.

After the dawn service at South West Rocks and breakfast at the beach, we visited the Fig Tree Estate, a small cluster of houses for aboriginal people where we spoke to the people there and handed out Christian literature.
 

 The people here were very interested to here of the centenary celebrations as a number of them could remember some of the missionaries from the old days and they began to reminisce.

A visit to the West Kempsey Cemetery led by Bob and Georgia Shanney revealed 4 graves of missionaries who had died while serving their Lord among the aboriginal people of the area.  One of those buried there was a Miss Flora Pain.  Her headstone reads:

In Memory of our Beloved Daughter
FLORA GWEN PAIN
Missionary to Aborigines
Who Fell Asleep in Jesus
6th September 1908
Aged 27 Years
"Have Faith in God"

After laying wreaths, the reading of the scriptures and offering a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the memory of these dear saints now in glory, the small group dispersed with a real sense of awe and thankfulness for the great heritage of faithful men and women who gave their lives as living sacrifices to God that others may hear the news of Jesus saving love.

In the afternoon a small convoy of cars proceeded out of town to a place called Burnt Bridge where in the early days there had been a UAM church for the local Aboriginal community.  After the UAM missionary left the area in the early 1960's, the Government removed the small church building. Much to the dismay of the Aboriginal people.

Our purpose in visiting this site was to plant a food tree on the site where the church building had stood.  As we gathered our Aboriginal brother, Mr James Dungay, related the following story:

As a young boy he had lived with his parents in the aboriginal community just behind the church.  It was just a short walk through the trees from his place to the little church building and he would often come over with other aboriginal children at meeting time.  But being very shy, he and some of his friends would not enter the building but rather would crawl under the floor from where they could hear the music being played by Mr Hermann on the piano accordion and the bright singing.  James recalled how it was then that he had a desire to be able to play a musical instrument and to sing.  Mrs Hermann remembered well the small children hiding under the church during the meetings and we were all touched that God had revealed the fruit of past labour at such a moment of remembrance.
 

The scriptures were read by Mr Wal Shelley.  We again gave thanks and praise to God in prayer and the tree was then planted by Mr James Dungay and Mrs Hermann.

The evening saw us enjoying a meal at the Presbyterian Church, provided by the ladies of the church and was greatly appreciated after a long day of activities.  The minister of the church, Mr Trevor Woodland who had joined with us in the various activities of the day, made us all most welcome.

At the evening rally which followed, Mrs Hermann showed some slides of the work in the 50's and 60's and spoke of the times she and her late husband shared in the ministry.  James Dungay brought a testimony in song and after a message on the need for all men to hear the gospel in order to believe, (Romans 10:17) the rally drew to a close.

It had been a long day and all were tired.  It had been good to be reminded of the work of God which had gone on in years gone by.  It was a great encouragement to us all to press on in the work of making known the gospel message of the saving love of Jesus to each new generation of Aboriginal people.

CJ

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