For the full table of contents and a PDF of the booklet, which includes photos, see the Parish History 1888–1968.
Clergy of St Andrew’s
During the 79 years of its existence St Andrew’s has been served by five Rectors and several other clergy in interim charge: —
- The Reverend T. St. John Pughe 1889-1891
- The Reverend Thomas Jones 1894-1918
- The Reverend Thomas Ashburner 1918-1930
- The Reverend Roy St. George 1930-1959
- The Reverend Michael A. Paxton-Hall 1959-1968
Between 1891 and 1894 The Reverend Arthur Robert Meade, The Reverend A. R. Rivers (later Dean of Hobart) and The Reverend E. P. Hood.
After the death of Canon Jones in 1918 his curate, The Reverend G. L. Hunt, took charge for three months until the appointment of Mr. Ashburner. After Mr. Ashburner’s retirement in 1930 the Reverend A. Maxwell acted as locum tenens until the arrival of Mr. St. George later in the year (1930).
In the course of the years the parish has been helped by several students from St. Francis’ College and by young priests who are now in charge of various parishes. They are
- Mr. Gordon Guy, 1937-1939, now the Reverend Gordon Guy, Rector of Holy Trinity, Mackay.
- Mr. J. A. Swan 1937, now the Reverend John Alfred Swan, Archdeacon of Lilley and since September 6, the newly appointed Rector of St. Andrew’s, Indooroopilly.
- Mr. A. S. Jull 1938, now the Reverend A. S. Jull, Rector of St. Mary’s, Redcliffe.
- Mr. Rupert Orme for a short time in 1942, now the Reverend Canon Henry Rupert Orme, Chaplain to the Royal Brisbane General Hospital.
- Mr. G. A. Lupton, now the Reverend Canon George Arthur Lupton, Rector of St. Luke’s, Toowoomba and Archdeacon of the Downs.
In 1940, the Reverend V. H. Whitehouse, precentor of St. John’s Cathedral, was kindly lent to us for a few weeks but he remained for a few years as acting rector during the absence of Mr. St. George as a chaplain in World War II; and finally for one year in 1943-1944 the Reverend H. F. Wilkins assisted. At various times since then students from St. Francis’ College have come to help and for several years different members of the Lay Readers Association conducted Evensong at St. Peter’s Church, Moggill Road.
Special mention must be made of the late Mr. T. C. Brooks who established, in 1936, the mission called the Venture of Faith in what was once the old Methodist Church and later the Loyal Orange Lodge; he kept it alive and prosperous as St. Peter’s Church until he resigned in 1942 and shortly afterwards died.
He was assisted at various times by Mr. Percy Brier, who was licensed as a parochial lay reader in 1936 and has until recently continued as such in St. Andrew’s.
Finally, very special mention must be made of the generous help given by the late Bishop Dixon to St. David’s Church, Chelmer, both before and after its separation from Indooroopilly in 1946.
In 1957, the late Canon Shand retired from St. Luke’s, Toowoomba and came to live in Sherwood and was permitted by the Archbishop to help in our parish by taking over the charge of St. Peter’s, now a fully grown church. He continued thus until forced by ill health to resign in the middle of 1963 and died in December of that year. In July of that same year Canon Cornish, recently retired from St. Paul’s, Ipswich, offered to help in the parish and carried on when Canon Shand retired.
Since the arrival of the Reverend Michael A. Paxton-Hall as rector in 1959, the parish has grown enormously and at the end of 1960 the Reverend Maurice Fox came to us as assistant curate. After serving as a deacon for 7 months he was ordained priest in June, 1961 and remained here until he was appointed Vicar of St. Paul’s, Jandowae in April, 1963. In 1966, he became Rector of St. Paul’s, Stanthorpe. He was followed by the Reverend Robert Snell — a deacon who was ordained priest in December, 1963 and remained with us until he was transferred to Ipswich in 1966. As a second assistant deacon came the Reverend Graham Ross in February, 1964, for one year.
At the beginning of 1966, the Reverend Irvine J. Scott was appointed and after two years of much appreciated help was transferred to Christ Church, Bundaberg early in 1968.
Immediately following him came the Reverend Derek Pryde as assistant priest with the Reverend Geoffrey Thomas for part-time help.
When the parish was divided in August, 1968 and Kenmore, Brookfield and Moggill were proclaimed a separate parochial district the Archbishop appointed the Reverend Derek Pryde vicar with Kenmore as the centre.
Here are a few notes about the past rectors, four of whom have now passed to the higher life; a fuller description may be found in the booklet of 1939.
First Rector: The Reverend T. St. John Pughe
He was born in Bangor, Wales, and came to Queensland as a young man. He was made deacon here in 1886 and ordained priest in 1888 at Ely, England, taking his degree of M.A. at Cambridge that same year. He was curate in charge for some months before being licensed as the first incumbent of the parish early in 1890.
In 1891, he was transferred to St. Luke’s, Toowoomba and shortly afterwards made a Canon of St. John’s Cathedral.
Second Rector: The Reverend Canon Thomas Jones
The Reverend Canon Thomas Jones — that grand old priest of our church in Queensland, was appointed rector of Indooroopilly in 1894, and died in 1918 well loved and respected by all who knew him, among them being the writer of this history.
Thomas Jones was born in 1836 at Preston in England, and educated at the Preston Grammar School. Circumstances prevented his taking a degree at Oxford but he was made deacon in Salisbury Cathedral in 1860 and came to the young colony of Queensland that same year with the newly consecrated Bishop Tufnell and five other young clergy. He was priested at St. John’s pro-cathedral in 1861 and for a while was in charge of a small church in South Brisbane — St. Thomas.
Then he went to Rockhampton until 1865 when he became Rector of All Saints’, Brisbane. After 12 years he went to New Zealand and thence to England but returned to Brisbane in 1879 and shortly afterwards was appointed as locum tenens for the Dean of Hobart. He was appointed Rector of St. James’, Toowoomba in 1881. resigned in 1890 and went again to England. On his return he was for a time assistant priest at All Saints, Wickham Terrace and then in 1894 came to St. Andrew’s as our second Rector and made a Canon of the cathedral.
Not only was he a well loved priest and a saint of God; he had a fine sense of humour and the writer of this history recalls incidents when he was met by the Canon who enquired in his deep, almost guttural voice “Well and how’s church music?” At that time the writer was organist of the City Tabernacle Baptist Church, but was living in Indooroopilly and worshipping when he could at St. Andrew’s.
Third Rector: The Reverend Thomas Ashburner
He was educated at St. John’s College, Cambridge and ordained deacon in 1888 and priest in 1889 in the diocese of Southwell.
He came to Queensland on the invitation of Bishop Webber and was appointed Rector of St. Andrew’s, Gympie in 1893. Later he became Rector of Childers, then Beaudesert, Esk and Drayton and finally, Indooroopilly where he lived and worked for 12 years from 1918 to 1930.
He retired and went to live with his son on a farm in Mount Tamborine where he died in May, 1950. He was quite a different stamp of man from his predecessor but nonetheless was well respected by his people here and elsewhere. It is said that on one occasion, he was offered an honorary canonry of St. John’s Cathedral by Archbishop Donaldson but his innate modesty would not let him accept it.
Fourth Rector: The Reverend Roy St. George
The Reverend Roy St. George is the only one of the five rectors who was Australian born.
He first saw the light of this world in Newcastle, N.S.W. in 1890; and after a few years in the commercial world he came to Brisbane to be trained for Holy Orders. The First World War interrupted his studies but he was eventually ordained priest in Brisbane by Archbishop Donaldson in 1919 and was appointed assistant curate of Christ Church, Milton, when the Reverend V. H. Whitehouse was Rector there.
He was then offered the parish of Pomona and in 1930 came to Indooroopilly, where he lived and worked — sometimes during difficult days — until he resigned in 1959. He continued to live in the parish doing occasional locum tenens work, and died in April, 1962.
The following is an extract from an In Memoriam written by Mr. Percy Brier in the Parish News of July, 1962:
‘I (the writer) was his warden for 25 years and got to know him very well. He was neither an eloquent nor a brilliant preacher, but I have heard him give an excellent sermon, and I have yet to meet a priest who administers the chalice more beautifully than he did. Further, he had, as I know from personal experience — what we could call healing hands.
He was slow in speech, and in thought, and sometimes in action; and like most of us, he had certain traits of character, that some people found difficult to accept, but behind them lay an innate kindness and a sincere reverence in the conduct of the church services.’
Further references will be made to him in the course of this history.
Fifth Rector: The Reverend Michael A. Paxton-Hall
nd Michael A. Paxton-Hall was born at Wolthamstow near London and came to Australia as a young man in 1938. He lived in Sydney until 1941 when he came to Brisbane to be a student at St. Francis College. He was made a deacon on St. Thomas’ day, 1944 and ordained a priest the following year.
He served his curacy as deacon under Canon Cornish at St. Paul’s, Ipswich, and then spent five (5) years as a bush brother of St. Paul.
His first parish was Caboolture; from there he went to Childers and in 1959 accepted this parish of St. Andrew’s, Indooroopilly.
Since he has been with us (and he came at a difficult period of the parish history) he has, with the help of his wardens, councillors and four (4) curates transformed the parish into a live centre of God’s Kingdom.
This will be realized as this story unfolds. It is not surprising that we received a genuine shock when he announced his resignation, at the end of June, 1968, because of his appointment to St. Mark’s, Warwick.
He left us early in August but before doing so informed us that our next Rector would be the Venerable J. A. Swan, Archdeacon of Lilley, who would be with us early in September.
For the full table of contents and a PDF of the booklet, which includes photos, see the Parish History 1888–1968. Alternatively, go to Chapter 5.