Peter ROBERTSON

ROBERTSON, PETER (b. Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland, 1840; d. Ipswich, Qld, 21 July 1916). Presbyterian minister.

As a young man in Scotland, Robertson was a lay evangelist, whose work included temperance advocacy and mission to the blind. The Free Church of Scotland sent him to Qld in 1874, where he completed his theological education under the Rev W L Nelson of Toowoomba, while a home missionary at Dalby. He was licensed and ordained at Dalby in 1875 and was translated to St Stephen's, Ipswich in 1887, remaining minister there (emeritus from 1911) until his death.

'A man of simple faith, genuine piety and kindly nature', Robertson was nevertheless a skilful ecclesiastical politician and was elected moderator of the Queensland Assembly (1886) and General Assembly of Australia (1907-9). He was an advocate and worker for the amelioration of the conditions of the local Aborigines before any church in post-separation Qld had done anything. Robertson was a faithful and devoted parish minister, who built up a congregation noted for its vigorous influence in the community. From St Stephen's, congregations were developed in seven other centres during his ministry.

General Assembly of Australia, Blue Book, 1916, min. 132; R Bardon, The Centenary History of the Presbyterian Church of Queensland, Brisbane, 1949

MALCOLM D PRENTIS