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‘Women
who made a Difference’ - Project Completion
After many months of work, we are now in the final
stages of our project celebrating the life and work of Queensland
Baptist women. We have 24 entries for the book and they are now
being edited and prepared for publication.
We will make plans in the next few weeks for a function to launch
the book in the first part of 2009. This will be an opportunity
for contributors, family members and all those interested to
meet together and share in the event. It is appropriate that
it will be launched in the same year as Queensland is celebrating
the 150th anniversary of its separation from NSW, since women
have played such an important part in the life of the state,
and in our denomination. It is also the 400th year of the Baptist
movement!
The women selected for the book cover the entire period of time
that Baptists have existed in Queensland. The first was born
in 1837 and the last one died in 2005. They include the first
Baptist missionary from Queensland, two World War I Nursing Sisters,
the first female optometrist in Queensland, the founder of a
prominent girls’ school, “the Stamp Lady” who
raised thousands of dollars for missionary work by processing
used postage stamps, and the wife of a prominent South Brisbane
bus company proprietor. There are also other missionaries, housewives,
pastors’ wives and a deaconess who was a former missionary
to indigenous people.
The project was launched at a function on Sept 21, 2007 held
at Clayfield Baptist Church which was addressed by Ros Gooden
of GIA. In her address she highlighted the significant contribution
made by Queensland to Baptist mission work.
The book will be a companion volume to the earlier book by
Rev Mel Williams, “Cameos of Baptist Men in 19th Century
Queensland” which featured very prominent people such as
James Swan, the Kingsford and Grimes families and T.B. Stevens.
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24th Annual General Meeting, 8 November 2008
Secretary's
Report
2008 has seen continued interest in our history by people
in Baptist churches throughout Queensland. In 2005 we celebrated
the 150th anniversary of the first Baptist church in Queensland
with the launching of a new history of Baptist work in Queensland,
entitled Pressing On with the Gospel. A major consideration now
is the 150th anniversary of the setting up of Queensland as a
separate State in 1859; 2009 will also be the 150th anniversary
of the Ipswich Baptist Church, the first Baptist church to be
established in the new State. Another anniversary will be celebrated
as well—400 years since the establishment of the Baptist
movement.
There has been little change in the membership of the Society,
but we look forward to further interest, as more people realise
the importance of discovering and remembering our Baptist heritage.
Most of our members are of more mature years, and there is a
need to inspire more of our young people to take an interest
in our historical roots, as one way of reducing the pressure
to follow the latest fads in church life and worship.
Officers elected at the Annual meeting in November, 2007 were:
President: Mr Eric Kopittke; Secretary/Treasurer: Dr Ken Smith;
Publications Officer: Mrs Rosemary Kopittke.
As mentioned in our last Annual Report, as part of our celebrations
for 2009 we are compiling information about the work of Baptist
women from Queensland. We have discovered a large number of Baptist
"Women Who Made a Difference", in the wider society
as well as in Baptist circles. The results of the (still continuing)
research are being edited by David Parker, and a book covering
many aspects of the contribution made by women to life in Queensland
will be published in 2009.
One new initiative has been the establishment of a prize for
an essay on some topic involving Baptist history. The inaugural
recipient of this was Darren Clark, who, at our last Annual Meeting,
was presented with a cheque and honorary membership of the society
for one year. It is anticipated that this will be an annual event,
and look forward to a presentation at the Annual Meeting in 2008.
One important area in which little progress has been made is
arrangements for the long-term management and care of Baptist
cemeteries. There are a number of these in Queensland, and they
form an important part of our heritage.
There are still many areas of Baptist life and work in Queensland
where a consolidated work would be helpful, and it is hoped that
as we have celebrated the 150th anniversary of the opening of
the first Baptist church in Queensland, more people will be encouraged
to look to our heritage and unearth the many treasures which
may be lying around in our many Churches, all too often forgotten
and unappreciated. We need to continue to impress on people the
importance of keeping accurate records of events, and preserving
them in some permanent form, so that in the future people will
be able to look back and be encouraged by our successes, as well
as giving thought to reasons for any lack of success.
As we move forward into a new year, we look forward to continuing
the work of recording and analysing our history, so that, aware
of what has gone on in the past, we may take note of our errors,
and preserve and remember the good things, to the glory of our
Lord.
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