Deaconess Lorna Stevenson (20 June 1922 – 19 September 2016)
Deaconess Lorna Stevenson (20 June 1922 – 19 September 2016)
Deaconess Lorna Nellie Stevenson was born on 20 June 1922 and passed away in Alice Springs on 19 September 2016.
Lorna trained as a deaconess at Rolland House in Melbourne and was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in Adelaide on 28 January 1960. She then worked as a field officer with the Christian Education Department of the South Australian Presbyterian church. She was an elder at Scots Presbyterian Church in Adelaide and a leader in combined Christian Young Adults group set up by the three churches long before they united.
Lorna went to Darwin in May 1969 as a deaconess in the Darwin Parish and in 1972 filled in at the Katherine Parish when there was a vacancy there.
Lorna was in Karratha in Western Australia with Frontier Services in 1973-74 serving with the Karratha Kamp team.
In 1976 Lorna travelled to Alice Springs and was a member of the Northern Synod Standing Committee from 1979 to 1982. She retained an active interest in the work of the Synod and frequently interrogated General Secretaries as to what was happening across our Synod and nationally.
After an overseas trip she acquired a brand new bright yellow car and moved into a new cottage at the Old Timers in 1980. Lorna maintained an active role in the local church. Every morning during the 1980s she was in the church office editing the weekly church bulletin, acting as secretary to the Centre Presbytery and was a member of a review team that visited the APY Lands. During this time Lorna also assisted in the ministry at Tennant Creek when there was no patrol minister there.
Up until her illness in 2016, Lorna would sometimes officiate at communion in the John Flynn Church if the minister was away, and took an active part in the small monthly services at Old Timers.
A long time friend, Eldrene March said of Lorna – she was a good thinker, a great typist and administrator which was a blessing to the John Flynn Church.
Rev Lesley deGrussa-Macauley was inducted into a new placement at Albany Wesley Uniting Church on 21st January 2012. It is one of the oldest churches in Albany. We wish her well in her new placement.
Rev Karyl Davison was inducted in January 2012 into a placement at Easton Community College (Western Australia) in January 2012. Deaconess Win Hilliard passed away on 2nd January 2012.
Karyl will be in placement with the Wellington Regional Mission with responsibility for Collie,Waterloo and Harvey congregations and the Eaton/Millbridge Project – being church in the community for a new housing development.
The November 2011 edition of Frontier News features an article on Alison McRae, High Country Patrol Minister in the Victorian Alpine communities. This link will open to the news – click on November (‘Returning to Country’) and scroll through to P 18 – 20. The two page article is also included here as attachments.
Deaconess Win Hilliard died January 2012. She is best known for her remarkable contribution to the Ernabella Aboriginal community, encouraging and resourcing women artists when she was the arts centre coordinator for 32 years.
Deaconess Winifred (Win) Hilliard – born 1922, died January 2, 2012 in Nowra (aged 90).
A great Australian has passed-on and her memory deserves to be treasured by all who love charity and justice. Rosemary O’Grady, Lawyer (Melbourne)
Win trained in Melbourne as a Deaconess between 1948 and 1950 and was commissioned in 1951. She had short placements at Carlton, Victoria (1950-51) and Albury, NSW (1952-54). Win was hoping to follow in her aunt’s footsteps by working as a missionary in Korea, but she was asked to go to Ernabella. This became her life’s main ministry, and she lived for 32 years in Ernabella, from 1954 to 1986. Until then, she had had no real previous experience of Aboriginal people and had only lived in large cities and towns. Yet she had an amazing ministry amongst the indigenous community at Ernabella, especially with the women.
It was the policy of the Presbyterian Church that the missionaries learnt Pitjantjatjara, so for several months after arriving, Win had instruction in the local language. She retained fluency in the language for the rest of her life.
Win took over the role of the arts centre co-ordinator at Ernabella (established 1948), and the centre remains the longest continuously running aboriginal arts and craft organisation in Australia.
For the first 28 years of the arts centre, artists worked almost exclusively spinning and weaving wool, and making hand pulled floor rugs incorporating the distinctive Ernabella designs (anapala walka). Win introduced different media, always with an emphasis on the quality of production. In particular, she introduced batik into Ernabella in the late 1960’s, enabling the women to translate traditional art and designs onto fabric and thus setting up a profitable business. It quickly became a signature art form for Ernabella. The batik technique has more recently been adapted for ceramic pieces made in the ceramics studio at Ernabella (opened 2003).
Win’s background made her the ideal person to teach the women various arts and crafts, with her training including two years learning various art and craft techniques at the Presbyterian Ladies College which she did as part of her deaconess and missionary training. She was able to demonstrate various arts and crafts to the women so they could experience them and choose what they wanted to do. Specialists and practitioners were brought to Ernabella to teach the finer aspects of the arts and crafts and to resource the women and help them develop their techniques.
ABC photo for 60th anniversary celebrations
Of her time in Ernabella, Win reflected:”I love that I’ve had the great opportunity of living and working with the Aboriginal people in Australia. It’s a privilege that has been shared with others who have lived with the Aboriginal people – in every case you’d find they’re grateful to have been given that opportunity to live with these people and learn to understand their point of view.”
Win was able to travel to Ernabella to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Ernabella Arts in 2008. (Also ABC report here).
During her 32 years in Ernabella, Win was able to gather a remarkable collection documenting many aspects of Ernabella’s history including the church and school. The most significant components of the collection are the many examples of art and craft including batiks and other decorated fabrics, children’s drawings, paintings, and various other wooden implements and carvings. Read more about the National Museum Deaconess Hilliard collection here, Deaconess Hilliard Collection and the book written by David Kaus about the collection.
As part of Win’s contribution to the religious life at Ernabella, she illustrated lessons and stories with her distinctive drawings. Similarly, her drawings were used on Christmas cards which were sold as a way to raise funds for Ernabella.
Win was also a very competent photographer, and with her keen sense of history, was able to photograph many aspects of the life at Ernabella, the physical surrounds and flora, and the women and their art. In 1963 she was awarded a certificate of excellence in the Kodak International Colour Picture competition!
Win’s contribution to the life at Ernabella was recognized in being incorporated into the local social organization and given the name, Awulari. She was awarded an MBE in 1977 (Member of the Order of the British Empire) and a medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1989.
Win wrote several publications including the book The People in Between, published in 1968.
Her nephew Peter, a mechanic, also spent most of his life at Ernabella and is now retired in Alice Springs.
Win’s memorial service will be held prior to her burial at Ernabella, . (For more information, contact Win’s nephew Grant Hilliard on 0415 432 431 or email her niece Susan) .
Win Hilliard was one of our diaconal pioneers whose life and ministry and we celebrate her remarkable life!
(additional information about the Ernabella arts sourced from Tjukurpa Pulkatjara: The Power of the Law by Ananguku Arts, and from the National Museum article – link provided in article above)
Other related links:Nyukana (Daisy) Baker, Ernabella artist, who refers to Win when she travelled with her to a workshop to develop her skills in weaving and tapestry.
On Saturday January 14th at 2pm, Aimee Kent will be ordained as a Deacon in the UCA. The service will be held in the Christian College’s new Auditorium in Wagga Wagga and will be followed by afternoon tea.
Aimee will be inducted into her placement in Goulburn on the 22nd Jan at 4pm at Victoria Park. She will be doing community development for the Uniting Church, including the formation of a new faith community/congregation.
(from Queensland Synod minutes, October 2011)
Margaret Mary Henderson was born in Inverell, New South Wales, in 1950. Although Margaret initially wanted to be a policewoman when she left school, she actually obtained work as a bookkeeper for a solicitor, a job which she thoroughly enjoyed.
As a young lady she attended the local Methodist Youth Fellowship in Inverell. Margaret gave her life to Jesus at a Billy Graham Crusade in Inverell. (The crusade was actually in Sydney and relayed by landline to the local town hall.) This decision precipitated a significant involvement in the worshipping life of the local Methodist congregation. In this context she sensed the call of God on her life for some sort of ministry.
In 1971, as a young 20 year old, Margaret set out for Brisbane to commence studies at a college which seemed to her to have a dual purpose. On one hand it was called the Matrimonial Training Centre and Bridal School of which, to quote Margaret, “I was a dismal failure.” On the other hand, it was the Methodist Training College and Bible School at which “I had a bit more success”. She was not a dismal failure at the first college. When she candidated as a deaconess, she believed God’s call meant the single life for her.
Deaconess Margaret Henderson was ordained in 1976 in the Albert Street Methodist (Uniting) Church. Throughout nearly 35 years of ministry, Margaret served in Canberra, Redcliffe, Stafford, Hamilton, Clayfield College, Kedron, Glasshouse Mountains, Childers, Gympie, Mary Valley, Jandowae and Cooroy/Pomona.
Ministry for Margaret was complemented by two passions – reading and rugby league. She came to Queensland as a passionate Blues and Parramatta Eels supporter. Somewhere along the journey allegiances changed to the Maroons and the Broncos.
Ministry for Margaret was tested and refined by illness; in particular, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which flared up in her life several times over thirty-five years of ministry. It soon became obvious to everyone that chronic fatigue was unable to restrain Margaret’s love for people and her ability to connect with her people when she shared in worship. Her signature was her famous ‘bag of tricks’, from which she produced all sorts of gadgetry from football magazines to mobile phones and even Cadbury Roses which she freely shared to make her messages come alive and be remembered.
And while everyone was blessed by her ministry in worship, it was her deep compassion for the people she visited and cared for, that will always be remembered most. Margaret had the ability to brighten a room by her presence. She was a wonderful encourager, and a most sympathetic listener – and there was something very genuine in the way Margaret would share her faith, as it was grown from the fertile soil of her own hardships and life experiences. About three years ago Margaret was diagnosed with cancer and died on 14 September 2010. Again her ministry was tested and refined.
During the two year period leading up to her death, she continued to care for her people through phone calls and letters. Even in her final days she maintained a precious ministry with some who were going through very difficult times.
At her funeral service a friend said, “Life for Margaret had gritty, uncomfortable aspects, yet she transformed her circumstances through her outlook, humour and faith”. God used her response to transform lives.
We conclude this memorial minute with the gift of a prayer written by Margaret.
Today, I stood on Holy Ground.
I listened as someone shared their heartache.
Today, I was privileged to be taken into the depths of another human being.
Father, at times there are no answers to give.
Just love in the silence.
The silence where you restore our spirit.
A trickle of light peeps through and again we have hope.
O Father, as I stand on Holy Ground help me to take off my shoes of judgment, criticism, fear, self- centredness and open myself to the abundance and beauty of YOU.
Rev Christa Megaw was ordained on August 21st, and continues her work as International Mission Officer in the SA Synod
Rev Naomi Rosenberg is concluding her placement in Southern Yorke Peninsula and moves to Adelaide where Marty is taking up a placement as Minister of the Word at Sunset Rock UC.
Rev Dr Murray Muirhead is the Resource Worker for the Northern Regional Council of Congress (NRCC); the Aboriginal wing of the Uniting Church in the Northern Synod. Murray oversees all aspects of strategic planning, administration and finance for NRCC and provides “on the ground” community development and training support to remote Aboriginal communities associated with NRCC in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands (APY) in SA, the Kimberley region of WA and in Arnhem Land.
