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THE AUSTRALIAN CHURCHES IN THE GREAT WAR ATTITUDES AND ACTIVITIES OF THE MAJOR CHURCHES by Michael McKernan A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Australian National University February 1975 This thesis is my own work Michael McKernan Ill CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v ABBREVIATIONS vi A NOTE ON TERMS vii INTRODUCTION ix CHAPTER 1 Churches in 1914 1 CHAPTER 2 August 1914 31 CHAPTER 3 Chaplains and the A.I .P. 54 CHAPTER 4 'These Glorious Days' January-June 1915 84 CHAPTER 5 The Failure of Recruiting 106 CHAPTER 6 Priorities 129 CHAPTER 7 The Conscription Years 155 CHAPTER 8 The Chaplain the Soldier and Religion 184 CHAPTER 9 Pacifists 208 CHAPTER 10 Peace 229 CHAPTER 11 Epilogue and Conclusion 253 APPENDICES 267 BIBLIOGRAPHY 309 ABSTRACT Australian churchmen accepted war when it came in August 1914 and sought to explain it to the Australian people. Their explanation relied on the belief that God could only permit what was ultimately good. They expected the war to convince the people that faith in material progress was inadequate and hoped that they would turn to faith in God. They expected, too, that the people would learn the value of sacrifice, devotion to duty and prayer. Clergymen enlisted in the A.I.F. as chaplains, in the hope that they could teach these lessons to Australian manhood. As the war dragged on it became clear that many Australians, perhaps the majority, were indifferent to war's redemptive value. Their lives mocked the clerical prediction of reform and renewal. The chaplains found that the bulk of the troops were indifferent, even antagonistic, to the religion of the churches. Such realisations undermined the faith with which churchmen had accepted the war and encouraged conflict and division between and within the churches. This bitterness reduced even further any prospect that the clerical thesis would be fulfilled. By 1918 churchmen longed for peace. V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, J.A. La Nauze, for his interest in my work and his excellent advice. I am indebted to 0. MacDonagh who read all of the first draft and made many important criticisms and to C.M.H. Clark who encouraged me. My colleagues in the History Department have provided stimulating and entertaining companionship; I thank particularly D.H. Coward and C.N. Connolly for their interest in the thesis and G.W. Martin. My debt to librarians and archivists is obvious. Many church archivists act in a part-time, honorary capacity; nevertheless they gave me some of their valuable time to help me find documents that are not, unfortunately, well catalogued or easily located. I experienced very few refusals in my requests for help. Amongst the professionals I thank particularly Mr M. Draheim of the Australian War Memorial and Mrs L.E. Macknight of Australian Archives. During my research I endeavoured to contact descendants of clergymen who ministered during the first world war. I had hoped to unearth many more personal papers than were held by libraries and archives. While the exercise was largely fruitless I was gratified by the large number of people who replied to my letters and who encouraged me by expressing interest in my work. I thank Janice Aldridge and Lois Sims who typed the draft and Bev Gallina for the final typescript. My best thanks are reserved for my wife, Susan, who contributed more to this thesis than she realises. vi ABBREVIATIONS AA Australian Archives ACW Australian Christian World A.I.F. Australian Imperial Force AWM Australian War Memorial CM Church of England Messenger CS Church Standard FJ Freeman's Journal NL National Library of Australia PM Messenger of the Presbyterian Church of New South Wales PM (Q) Messenger of the Presbyterian Church of Queensland PM (V) Messenger of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria SDA Sydney Diocesan Archives (St Mary's) SDM Sydney Diocesan Magazine WAR West Australian Record vii A NOTE ON TERMS 'Clergyman1 and 'Churchman'. In this thesis a distinction is made between a clergyman and a churchman. The word 'clergyman' refers to an ordained member of a church. For the sake of variety, 'minister' and, where appropriate, 'priest' is occasionally substituted. 'Chaplain' refers exclusively to military chaplain. 'Churchman' is a more general word used to describe a church member, minister or layman, who took a real interest in the life of the church. I rejected the word 'Christian' as a general descriptive term because while most Australians claimed to be 'Christians' relatively few participated in organised church life. 'Protestant1. The word 'Protestant' has a dual use in the thesis. When it is contrasted with 'Catholic' it refers to the Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist churches, and, by extension, to the other 'non-Catholic' churches. When 'Protestant' is used in contrast to 'Anglican' it embraces all the churches other than the Anglican and Catholic. Few Anglicans regarded themselves as Protestants, except in the low dioceses, and many felt nearer, spiritually, to the Catholics. It would be wrong, therefore, not to point occasionally to the distinction between Anglicans and Protestants. In England the term 'Nonconformist' was used to describe 'Protestants'. The historian is warned not to use 'nonconformist' in the Australian context: 'all decently educated persons know that where there is no State Church there are no Nonconformists'.^ 'Church' and Denomination'. These are used indiscriminately or interchangeably. ^Messenger of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria, 29 November 1918. viii 'Sectarianism'. The term is used in the sense elaborated by Mark Lyons and describes any conflict between churchmen; it is not reserved to describe attacks by Protestants on the Catholic church.^ ^"Mark Lyons, 'Aspects of Sectarianism in New South Wales circa 1865 to 1880', Ph.D. Thesis, Australian National University, 1972. INTRODUCTION ix This thesis examines the reaction of Australian churchmen, ministers and laity, to the war of 1914-1918. It is one of a growing number of studies which have reconsidered the impact of war on various segments of Australian society. It seeks to contribute to our understanding of how the Australian people adjusted to the new experience of total war, and to add to our understanding of their society by examining one part of it in detail. Until recently, historians of the movement of social ideas in Australia have concentrated most of their attention on politicians, labour leaders and others of the 'ruling class'. Many, however, now appreciate that a more complete picture emerges when the area of investigation is expanded. Australians claimed to be a religious people. Their religious leaders assumed the right to speak on matters of public importance and worked strenuously to convert the people to their point of view. To ignore such activity is to reduce the size of the canvas on which the outline of Australian society will be portrayed. When war came, clergymen used the considerable resources at their disposal to explain and interpret what was happening in Belgium and France. They preached about the war, spoke of it at public meetings and wrote of it in church and local newspapers, drawing on their theology and the preconceptions they held about the war to make sense of events. An examination of these clerical ideas gives an insight into the general Australian debate and tests hypotheses other historians have made about Australia's reaction to the war. Clergymen hoped that Australia's participation, her 'baptism of fire', would have a regenerating effect on the nation. They expected that the crisis of war would allow them to wean the people from materialism and a love of pleasure and encourage them, instead, to reflect on eternal truths. In elaborating these expectations they and other churchmen expressed a large measure of dissatisfaction with the society in which they lived. They deplored the willingness of Australians to adopt the 'business-as-usual' attitude to drinking, gambling and sport. Since it was impossible to prohibit or even significantly to reduce such interests, churchmen experienced growing frustration and even anger as society refused to adopt X what they considered to be the means of improvement. Church leaders saw themselves as the guardians of public morals, as leaders of thought and as initiators of action; this thesis argues that they were rarely able to fulfil such self-appointed roles. The chaplains who served the men of the A.I.F. had the clearest proof that clergymen had only a marginal influence over the behaviour of Australian males. Some were bewildered by the fact that the indifference of their charges to formal religion did not breed the immorality they expected. Clergymen at home were unable to understand why men resisted their appeals to enlist. When they turned to conscription to 'help' men to follow the morally correct path they were troubled that the majority of the people rejected their point of view. Some even lamented their manifestly meagre influence over society. This frustration bred sectarianism, as churchmen searched for scapegoats to account for the defeat of conscription. The war, therefore, forced churchmen to examine their role in society. It also allows the historian to assess to what extent society valued the mission of the church. Thus, this thesis, although narrowing its scope to one section of society, attempts to throw some light on the motivations and aspirations of the whole society.