The rainbow never sets

provide the congregation of Albion Park with a Church and Manse in accordance with their intention as expressed in their voting figures.

This motion was passed by Presbytery on 3 March 1977 in spite of the fact that Max Fox and I, together with Ron Sharp and Syd Mawby, challenged the competency of this motion, as it contravened the decision of Presbytery on 26 July 1973, which stated that South Illawarra was one congregation.

The fateful list that contained the names of eight members of the Albion Park church who had voted to remain Presbyterian, is the sad evidence of legalism and fraud. One lady had never been to church since my induction in 1973 and she had moved into a nursing home, out of the area. One was married to a Methodist and was now worshiping in that church. One lady had never intended to vote for the continuing church, and she would not claim minority rights. Another lady was now happy to join the Uniting Church. So was a couple, who would not claim minority rights. This left two members who genuinely preferred to remain in the continuing Presbyterian church, one an elderly lady, another a farmer and Elder, and active member.

My deepest hurt was the fact that the opponents of church union had used deception as their weapon, instead of coming clean. Had the people who genuinely did not wish to join the Uniting Church made a request to keep one property within the Parish, I'm sure nobody would have objected. The members who voted for union would have gladly given them one. But to try to achieve this by devious means was quite contemptible.

There was no alternative for us but to give notice that we would complain to the General Assembly of NSW against this decision.

The NSW Assembly met in May 1977. The Moderator usually asked Presbyteries during the sessions to share afternoon tea with him on a rotating basis. This was as a rule a welcome diversion from often tedious business. On the day my complaint was to be heard, the Presbytery of Kuringai was invited for tea with the Moderator. However, no one knew when it was to come before the house. It was well known that the great majority of the Kuringai Presbytery were in favour of Union. The assistant Moderator called for the next item of business at the time when all the Kuringai members were at afternoon tea. My complaint was called for, and I and Max Fox made our speeches. When news filtered through to those at afternoon tea, that my complaint had come before the house, they all came rushing back to participate in the debate. Meanwhile the Moderator had also come back to again chair the meeting. He happened to be against union, and before the vote was taken he announced:

"May I remind the brethren who have come in during the debate that it is customary in the Presbyterian church to abstain from voting, if members have not heard the whole debate from the beginning."

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