Minna Lucy JOHNSON

JOHNSON, MINNA LUCY (b. Melbourne, Vic Oct 1881; d. Melbourne, Vic, 12 Sept 1962). First head deaconess in Melbourne.

Minna Lucy Simpson attended school at Ruyton in Kew (Vic) and then taught. She worked in the Victorian CMS office until her marriage with the Rev Frank Johnson in c. 1913-16; she nursed him for the few months until his death. She then studied at the Sydney Deaconess Institution (ThA 1922). She was 'set apart' or ordained as deaconess by the abp of Sydney on 29 June 1922. 'Deac Min' worked in the Sydney inner-city parish of Ultimo, before being appointed the Australian deputation secretary for the Mission to Lepers.

As a response to the 1920 Lambeth Conference resolution concerning the ministry of deaconesses, Abp Harrington Lees (q.v.) of Melbourne invited Deaconess Minna to return to Melbourne, licensing her in 1924 as the first principal of St Hilda's Training Home, for the training of deaconesses and of women missionaries. He also appointed her head deaconess (which she remained from 1924 to 1949) and granted her a licence to preach in the diocese at a time when few women were able to do so. She remained at St Hilda's as principal until 1933, but from 1927 onwards was also closely involved in the Mission of St James and St John, working there full time as their senior deaconess from 1933 to her retirement in 1959.

At the Mission, Deaconess Minna was responsible for the unmarried mothers and their children at Kedesh and St Gabriel's Homes maintaining links with many of 'her girls' for years, especially through Christmas cards. She was also responsible for organising over 1300 adoptions, and kept in touch with the new families. She travelled in her own car (unusual for a woman then) to speak to the women in the League of Mission Helpers in various parishes. She continued her link with St Hilda's by lecturing to the deaconesses in training in pastoralia from 1940 to 1947.

When she retired on 30 June 1959 after 34 years' active duty in Melbourne, she was granted Permission to officiate at St Barnabas Balwyn. Here she ministered especially to the elderly, arranging monthly lunches for them and visiting. After a short illness she died at the age of 80 and her large funeral service was held five days later at St Barnabas. It was attended by many of her 'girls', adopted families, staff of the Mission and clergy and other people from a variety of parishes.

Deaconess Minna has been described as a formidable figure: a woman of authority who commanded respect—tall, capable, determined, a stern disciplinarian, intelligent, a gifted and experienced speaker with a warm sense of humour and a single-eyed devotion to Christ. She appears to have commanded fear or love and respect among clergy and laity alike, and to have been stern but greatly appreciated by her charges in the Mission. She wore the early deaconess uniform of grey dress and cape, with a high white collar with stud, and a black velour hat that was firmly entrenched at all times, both inside and out. She was held in high regard by the younger deaconesses, and encouraged the development of the All Australian Deaconess Conference in 1940, enabling closer contact with deaconesses in other states. Deaconess Minna with her capable leadership and strong evangelical convictions was a woman forced to succumb to the social expectations of her time, but was still able to accomplish a great deal and provide a role model within and outside the church of a gifted and theologically aware woman of great energy and compassion.

Anglican (Sydney), 27 Sept 1962; Church of England Messenger, 25 Sept 1924, 9 Oct 1924, 23 Oct 1924, 15 May 1959, 26 Oct 1962; K Cole, Commissioned to Care: the Golden Jubilee History of the Mission of St James and St John, 1919-1969 (Melbourne, 1969); M Porter,Women in the Church: The great ordination debate in Australia (Melbourne, 1989); M Sturrock, The Anglican Deaconess Movement in Melbourne: an office coveted by few (BTh thesis MCD, 1989); N Tress, Caught for Life: A story of the Anglican Deaconess Order in Australia (Araluen, 1993)

BARBARA BRINSLEY DARLING