George Henry COLE

COLE, GEORGE HENRY (b. Mickleham, Vic, 7 Dec 1859; d. Burwood, Vic, 11 July 1919). Methodist minister.

Son of William Cole, a selector who had come from Gloucester, England, in 1849, and his wife Elizabeth, née Comely, George Henry was a boundary rider by 13 and at 15 a bullocky. Away from his Primitive Methodist family, he slipped into dissolute ways and took to drink, but at 17 he returned to Mickleham and was converted by the powerful preaching of the Rev W H Walton. Cole felt called to the ministry but he was almost illiterate. By dint of night study he progressed from prayer leader to lay preacher and after four years renounced his selection of 80 ha and placed himself under a private tutor until he was accepted as a probationer into the Primitive Methodist Church in 1882. Ordained in 1886, he served at Sale, Murtoa, Eaglehawk, Armadale and Geelong. At Condah on 6 April 1886 he married Elizabeth Mary Cowan. She died in 1893 and on 3 April 1895 at Eaglehawk he married Mary Euphemia Marshall.

Cole became a powerful evangelist and temperance campaigner, humorous, down-to-earth yet deeply spiritual. He was know to 'pray about everything'. In 1897 he was secretary to the Primitive Methodist Annual Assembly for Victoria and Tasmania, and the assembly asked him to convert its flagging church in Lygon Street, Carlton, into a mission. He and his wife were appalled at the plight of the homeless and delinquent boys in Carlton and devoted themselves to rescue work with remarkable success. Methodist Union in 1902 enabled him to implement his brainchild - a boys' training farm where instruction in agriculture could complement spiritual reformation and general education. With funds raised from an evangelistic tour of New Zealand, Cole was able to purchase 15 ha at Tally Ho, Burwood attaching it to the Central Methodist Mission. He was superintendent in 1904-19, teaching farm work to hardened delinquents while ministering to their spiritual needs. By 1919 the farm accommodated one hundred hoys and flourished as a commercial venture. Cole died of heart disease at Tally Ho. He was survived by his second wife, and by two daughters and a son of his first marriage.

ADB 8; T W H Leavitt (ed) Australian representative men, 2nd edn (Melb 1887; C I Benson (ed) A Century of Victorian Methodism (Melb 1935); Gippsland Mercury 7 Aug 1886; Spectator(Melb) 7 May, 16, 23 July 1919

JANET MCCALMAN