Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Tuesday 9 August 1921, page 8


CONCERNING PEOPLE.

The 'mister for Home and Territories .(Mr. Poynton) jvas a passeneer for tilelDourne by the express on Monday. Few names were better known in Con gregational Church circles in South Australia than that of the Rev. Joseph RobertSon. M.A. who died at Strathfield, New South Wales.on Sunday. Though born in

London, to all intents and purposes he was an Australian in the truest sense of the term. His parents, who were Scots, be-longed to that section of the kirk which followed the lead of the famous Dr. Chalmers, in what is called ''the disrup-tion of the Church of Scotland". The family migrated to Queensland, but- removed to Sydney. On leaving school, Mr. Robertson entered the office of the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royai Mail Company, where he spent five years in the shipping department. While thus engaged he attended a meeting of the Juvenile Foreign Missionary Society, in the Old Pitt Street Congregational Church, under the presidency of the Rev. John Graham. At that meeting an address by the Rev. James Chalmers, the veteran New- Guinea misisonary, so influenced his mind and heart, that he decided to devote himself to missionary work. He studied and retained his clerkship at the same time and graduated in 1873, and M.A. in 1S77. On leaving college and university he was called to the pastorate of the Congregational Church, Hawthorn, a suburb of Mel-bourne. where he spent three years, and

where he married Mies Catherine Ross Wilson, the step-daughter of the principal of Camden College. In the beginning of 1877, Mr. Robertson went to the Auckland Congregational Church, where he remained for 10 years. When the Congregational Union of New Zealand was formed. Mr. Robertson was elected the first President. In 1886 he returned to Sydney as minister of the Petersham Congregational Church. At Petersham the church was very soon enlarged and completed, at a cost of over £4,000 including the erection of a verv fine organ. When the Rev. W. R. Fletcher resigned the pastorate of the Stow Memorial Church, some of the members favoured the idea of sending to England for a suitable

successor, but the major part of the church thought that the men brought up and trained in Australia ought to be considered, and that the time had come when the poiicy of always sending to England for men to occupy the best positions should be modified. The outcome was that Mr. Roberteon came to Adelaide. He remained with Stow Church for 14 years, and then transferred to Clayton Church. That waa in April, 1804. Next a call came from Ipswich. Queensland, in 1909 and he responded to it. During the farewell ceremonies at Clayton Church, mention was made that connected with the church of which he was to take charge - one of the best associated with Congregationalism in the Commonwealth — were iour other ministers, a school of 600 children. 60 teachers, and a number of mission schools. While at Stow Church Mr. Robertson had wiped off the church debt of £4,500, and in his

stay at Clayton Church he had disposed of the debt there. Not only had he done that, but he had added materially to the membership of the church, which was larger than it had ever been before. Eight years were spent in Oueensland, and then Mr. Robertson went back to Sydney— first to Randwick, and next to Redfern. He has left a widow and a family of five. Three of hia sons saw active service, and the youngest, Major S. Beresford Robertson, was one of the first to land at Gallipoli, where he was killed. Chaplain T Gordon Robertson, B.A., was for a time the only Australian chaplain available on Gallipoli. At an investiture by His Excellency the Governor-General, in the baillroom of the State Government House, on July 28» decorations were conferred upon Companions of the* British Empire. Among those who received the decoration was Mr. Lancelot EHdin de Mole, ^whose war iwort (says The

Sydney Daily Telegraph) in connection with the famous tank has -brought him fame. Fresh from his recent unsuccessful fight with the British. _ Government to secure recognition of his chum to the invention of the tank, he met the GovernorGeneral. . But it was, Lord Forster who was nervous 'this time. He dropped the decoration, and the ceremony was held up ?while the keen and brainy-faced Mr. de Mole waited for the cross. Mr. de Mole is a son of Mr. W. F. de Mole, of Renmark, and a grandson of the late Mr. J. Eldin Moulden, solicitor, of Adelaide.

Mrs. Elizabeth Conrad, whose death occurred on Sunday was born at -St. Austell, Cornwall. Over 60 years ago she came to South Australia with her uncle, who was in ill health and compelled to reside in a more congenial climate. In 1863 she married the kite Mr. Leopold Conrau. and for more than 50 years they were happily united. 'The family consisted of six sons and two daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad made, an extensive trip to England and the Continent in 1905. Mrs. Conrad was an enthusiastic member of the Soutn Australian Cornish Association for many years, and she became endeare»\ to many by her kindheartedness and generosity in helping those in need. \ The members of the literary 6taif of The Register assembled at the office on Monday afternoon to bid ' well to Mr. J. A. K. Tonkin, prior to his departure fromAdelaide to jcpa. the reporting staff of The Daily News, in Perth. Mr. Tonkin was handed an inscribed goldmounted fountain pen from his office colleagues. In making the presentation, Mr. Robert Burns (associate editor) -referred to-,- Mr. Tonkin's efficient work on the staff and to his war service, and -his remarks were supported by Messrs. E. Whitihgton (chief of staff) and R. T. Foster (sub-editor of The Jour* r.al). Mr. Tonkin appropriately responded. -A correspondent writes:— Keswick Mili-tary Hospital witnessed on Wednesday night last the passing of one of the hero-ines of the great war, in the person of Staff Nurse Edith N. Reed, A.N.S., A.I.F. The nurses were not in the public gaze as were the soldiers and sailors engaged in that world-shaking strife, but their patrio-tism and devotion to duty were worthy of being held in lasting remembrance, and many of them laid life itself on the altar of their country's service. Miss Reed was engaged in the Adelaide Hospital when the call came. She received a nurse's training in that institution, passing her examina-tion with honours and winning the gold medal. She was accepted for military ser-vice in 1917,and sent to India to assist in the 31st Welsh Hospital at Deolali. In 1918 she was sent for a brief time to an

Egyptian hospital, and then to England to the Australian General Hospital at Dart-ford. In May, 1919, she returned to Aus-tralia, and was appointed staff nurse at Keswick. In the end of the following year the complaint that ended a life full of goodness and with the promise of great usefulness, began to manifest itself. The doc-tors were long puzzled at the nature of the disease. Possibly the seeds of it were sown in the heat and filth of Indian cities. But it gradually sapped her intense energy, and although Sister Reed met it with the most stubborn will to live, she at length succumbed. Miss Reed's father was well known in Terowie as a successful business man and a grazier. Her mother was a member of the well-known Jacka family. Both have joined the great majority. Her brother William was a gunner in the artillery— 2nd Division of the Australian Army —and her brother-in-law, Mr. Whittle, of Pinnaroo (sergeant-major) was in the infantry, 48th Battalion. They enlisted early in 1915. Mr. Whittle was severely wounded and invalided home earlier but Mr. Reed completed his four years' of army service. One of her uncles is Sir Stanley Reed, editor of a leading Indian newspaper, and at his home in the hills the nurse was able to snatch an occasional much-needed furlough. The funeral took place on Saturday afternoon at the North Road Cemetery, and was conducted with military honours. The Rev. Jeffrey Brown, pastor of the Davey Street Congregational Church, Hobart.' has Teceived a call to the church at Summer HiU. 'Sydney. It ia stated that he will accept it. -Mr. Thomas Leahy, roanasrinz director of the Joadga (New South Wales) bhale Petrol Oil Company. Limited., arrived in Sydney on Monday, to arrange W the. f^111pany e first shipment oi oil to -delaide.

THE LATE REV. JOSEPH ROBERTSON', 'M.A.

THE LATE REV. JOSEPH ROBERTSON', 'M.A.

MBS. .Sl'S.Y'S-\VH DAI/OUM, ol Oarrondown. Hindmaish. who celebrated her 100:h birth anniversary oa Monday.

MBS. .Sl'S.Y'S-\VH DAI/OUM, ol Oarrondown. Hindmaish. who celebrated her 100:h birth anniversary oa Monday.