Sydney James KIRKBY

KIRKBY, SYDNEY JAMES (b. Bendigo, Vic, 24 Jan 1879; d. Sydney, NSW, 13 July 1935). First organising missioner of BCA, coadjutor bp of Sydney.

As a youth Kirkby came under the influence of the Anglican evangelicalism of J C MacCullagh (q.v.), incumbent of St Paul's, Bendigo for over 40 years. Kirkby was converted under H S Begbie (q.v.) while the latter was curate at St Paul's 1899-1902. When Kirkby sought ordination, the evangelical bp of Bendigo, H A Langley (q.v.) sent him to train at MTC. In Sydney his commitment to evangelicalism was further strengthened by the teaching and friendship provided by the College principal, Nathaniel Jones (q.v.). After graduating in 1905 with a rare 1st in the Oxford and Cambridge Preliminary exams, he was ordained and served as incumbent of the Bendigo parishes of Pyramid Hill (1905-7) and Malmsbury (1907-11). In 1911 he returned to Moore College as a tutor and upon the death of Principal Jones in the same year, he became the College's acting principal. After the arrival of the new principal, D J Davies (q.v.) a liberal evangelical, he travelled to study at Durham University (BA 1912). Returning to Sydney in 1912, he again taught at the College despite his misgivings about some of Davies' theological views.

In 1914 he became the rector of the busy parish of Ryde, but found time to exercise a ministry within the wider Sydney church. He wrote for the evangelical Church Record and was the clerical secretary of the Anglican Church League (an organisation which in the early part of the 20th century attempted to unite Australian liberal and conservative evangelicals). In 1919 an influential group of evangelicals, sharing a concern about the spiritual welfare of outback Australians met in Sydney and established the Bush Church Aid Society, in association with the Commonwealth and Continental Church Society (q.v. F C Irwin). Early in 1920 Kirkby left the security of Ryde to become the founding organising missioner of the BCA, an organisation with little money and no official diocesan standing. With his base in Sydney, from 1920-1932, he travelled ceaselessly promoting BCA in many pads of Australia and England. He recruited, cared for BCA clergy, deaconesses, nurses and hostel workers and raised money for their support. Largely as a result of his efforts, bush hospitals were provided and supported by the Society at Ceduna (1925) and Penong (1927) and children's hostels were set up and staffed at Wilcannia (1921) and Mungindi (1930). An aeroplane was purchased for the missioner at Wilcannia in 1927. Kirkby also defended the infant Society in the face of opposition from those who opposed its evangelical character, notably the more militantly Anglo-Catholic country bishops.

Despite the enormous demands of the BCA work Kirkby continued to defend the evangelical cause by contributing to the church press using the pseudonym, Spermologos and by his constant preaching and pastoral ministry. In 1927 the accumulated pressure of the work broke Kirkby physically. He never fully recovered despite the efforts made by his associates to lighted his load. In 1931 Kirkby was appointed archdeacon of Camden, within the diocese of Sydney, while continuing his BCA work. He relinquished his leadership of the Society in 1932 when he became bp coadjutor of Sydney and incumbent of St Philip's, Sydney. After Abp J C Wright's (q.v.) death in 1933, he was appointed the bp administrator and once again shouldered an enormous pastoral and organisational workload. In this role he ably represented the diocese in its dispute with the government over its encroachment of cathedral land. He chaired the election synod of 1933 and while not openly involving himself in electioneering, his views about the candidates were known and influential. He rejoiced with other conservative evangelicals when the synod elected the stalwart evangelical Howard Mowll (q.v.) as archbishop. After Mowll's arrival in Sydney in 1934, Kirkby remained bp coadjutor but his failing health restricted his ministry. His untiring labours for his fellow Australian wore him out prematurely. His death in 1935 deprived the evangelical cause of one of its most devoted sons.

His contemporaries judged him to have been a humble, approachable man who was a gifted preacher, writer and administrator. His commitment to evangelical beliefs and practice never wavered despite opposition and his rise to high office in the Church of England in Australia. His most significant and enduring contribution to Australian evangelicalism was his work in firmly establishing the BCA. It continues to offer Anglican evangelicals opportunities for ministry outside their usual suburban strongholds.

D G Anderson, 'Defending an Evangelical Society and an Evangelical Diocese—Sydney James Kirkby, 1879-1935' (MA thesis, University of Wollongong, 1984); H Caterer, Australians outback: 60 years of Bush Church Aid (Sydney, 1981)

SELECT WRITINGS: These Ten Years (Sydney, 1930)

DONALD G ANDERSON