William McKENZIE

McKENZIE, WILLIAM (b. Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland, 20 Dec 1869; d. Sydney, NSW, 26 July 1947). Salvation Army officer and military chaplain.

Best known in Australian lore as 'Fighting Mac', William McKenzie was the oldest of seven sons of Donald and Agnes (née Callan) McKenzie, Scottish farm workers. McKenzie later declared that his devout Presbyterian parents had raised him on 'porridge, the shorter catechism and plenty of lickings'. Self-willed and disobedient as a child, McKenzie's habit of engaging in frequent punch-ups with other boys at school soon earned him his most enduring nickname: 'Fighting Mac'.

After leaving school aged 12, McKenzie was apprenticed to an estate agent until his parents decided to migrate to Australia in 1884, where they eventually settled near Bundaberg, Qld. There Mac worked first on his father's property, and later on a sugar plantation and as a jackaroo. In 1887, a spiritual crisis, brought on by a clash between the Presbyterian teachings of his childhood and ideas of an atheist friend, led to McKenzie's life-changing conversion experience. Following occasional contact with the Salvation Army in Bundaberg and troubled in spirit, 'a Voice' urged him to travel the 16 miles into town and 'find the Ammy'. He obeyed the Voice, was converted to Christ, joined the Salvation Army and began witnessing to others. Within a year, McKenzie won more than 60 people to Christ. However, his hot zeal and unconventional methods displeased his father and, when in 1889, he announced his intention to go to Melbourne to train as a Salvation Army officer, a rupture occurred between father and son that would last for 30 years.

In Dec 1889, he was commissioned an officer and posted to the Newcastle Corps, NSW. His work there was marked with success, largely because of his organisational skills, his immense energy, and his absolute fearlessness. Already approaching his mature frame of 6'2" and 17 stone, 'Fighting Mac' still relished a good scrap. On one occasion in Newcastle, a publican in front of whose establishment Mac and his little band were holding a street meeting, charged the Salvationists shouting threats of a ducking in the horse trough. In a split second, McKenzie seized his assailant and it was the publican who emerged dripping from the trough. Admiring Mac's quickness and strength, the publican became first a friend and later an adherent of the Army.

There followed postings all over Qld, including Charters Towers where in 1894, he was gaoled for disobeying a city order against blocking traffic with his open-air meetings. After a week of incarceration, during which time he broke every axe handle given him until he had to be accommodated with a cross-cut saw, strong public protests led to his release. In Toowoomba, he met Annie Dorothy Hoepper, an ardent Salvationist, whom he eventually married at Horsham, Vic, on 21 June 1899. The McKenzies had five children in quick succession: Jean who died in childhood, Donald, Colin, Gordon, and Mavis. Also in the decade before the beginning of World War One in 1914, McKenzie engaged in staff work in Brisbane and Sydney, and served as Divisional Commander for Ballarat, Bendigo, and Tas.

At the outbreak of war, McKenzie, age 44, immediately volunteered for and was accepted as a military chaplain to 4Bn AIF. He quickly made his presence felt on the troop ship, conducting church parades, prayer meetings, community sings and sports competitions. He was fond of joining in the men's recreation, especially boxing, and his big fists left many of the AlF's best fighters dazed. McKenzie landed with his bn at Gallipoli, continuing his ministry as benefactor, friend and spiritual mentor. He won many men with his keen sense of humour and by his example of practical Christianity. He ministered impartially to those of all creeds, always pointing them to Jesus. But mostly, he won them by making it his business to spend his time with them, including the hardships of the trenches. They came to revere him because he did everything possible to meet their spiritual and material needs. One Digger recalled that at Gallipoli there had been a particularly dangerous and slippery zig-zag path over some hills which was exceptionally treacherous, especially when carrying the wounded. One day they found that Mac had cut steps into the rocky slopes the whole way over the wretched journey. His life soon assumed legendary proportions, and rumours abounded that he even led charges, armed only with a shovel. When the troops begged him not to expose himself to danger, he responded: 'Boys, I've preached to you and I've prayed with you, and do you think I'm afraid to die with you?'

The Diggers described him as 'big hearted', 'incorruptible', 'considerate of the feelings of the individual', 'modest and unassuming', 'one of the bravest of the brave', and 'a friend of sinners'. Scores found Christ through his ministry, and hundreds were buried under his ministrations. The death, gore and indescribable misery affected McKenzie deeply, and he lost five stone during the Gallipoli campaign. He was awarded the MC and promoted to Lt-Col in the Salvation Army.

In France and Belgium in 1916-17, he continued to live in the trenches with the troops, often carrying the soldiers' packs when physical exhaustion beset them. He was at Pozieres, Bullecourt, Mouquet Farm, Polygon Wood and Passchendaele, and endured the brutal 1916-17 winter on the Somme. He ran canteens, organised concerts and preached to huge receptive crowds in the rest areas behind the lines. Eventually, the physical, mental and spiritual strain took its toll, and reports filtered home that he needed to be relieved. In the end the military authorities reluctantly agreed to the Salvation Army's request to order McKenzie home.

Tumultuous crowds greeted him at every state capital and many smaller cities upon his return to Australia early in 1918. He was the most famous man in the AIF and many people travelled hundreds of miles to grasp his hand and thank him for some kindness to a loved one. One mother journeyed nearly 300 miles simply to ask to kiss the hands of the man who literally had pieced together the remains of a beloved son blown to bits by shell fire in order to give him a Christian burial. Over the years, McKenzie was prominent at Anzac Day celebrations in Sydney and elsewhere. Along with Billy Hughes, McKenzie was the one man every Digger wanted to greet, and so immense were the throngs which descended upon him that such occasions often left Mac's hand raw and bleeding.

McKenzie lived in the shadow of the war for the remainder of his life: universally revered throughout the country but tormented by nightly terrors. Old Diggers continuously came to him for spiritual and material assistance, and always got it, and he continued his Salvation Army work on staff in Sydney and Brisbane. He was assigned as Territorial Commander for the Army's work in China, 1926-30; and then Commander for the Southern Territory, 1930-2, and the Eastern Territory, 1932-9. In 1920, the Salvation Army awarded McKenzie the Order of the Founder, and in 1935, he was appointed OBE.

Increasingly frequent memory lapses brought retirement on 1 March 1939, at age 69. The 'man of practical godliness', as General Evangeline Booth called him, was, in Salvation Army parlance, 'promoted to Glory' on 26 July 1947, and laid to rest in Sydney's Rookwood Cemetery.

ADB 10; A Ah Kow, William McKenzie (London, 1949); B Bolton, Booth's Drum (Sydney, 1980); M McKernan, Padre (Sydney, 1986)

ROBERT D LINDER