George TULLOCH

TULLOCH, GEORGE (b. Fetlar, Scotland, 7 Dec 1878, d. Perth, WA, 29 Aug 1946). Presbyterian minister and evangelical leader.

Tulloch was born into a devout Christian home. 'There lay the springs of his instinctive turn for theology, his marked evangelical fervour and his tenacity and vigour in defence of the truth as he saw it' (Fight the Good Fight:25). These traits were to mark Tulloch's long and fruitful ministry in three states of Australia and were to come to the fore in his life long struggle against 'modernism' within the Presbyterian church, which was to peak in Tulloch's opposition to the teaching of the Rev Prof Samuel Angus of St Andrew's College, Sydney.

While completing his education in Edinburgh, Tulloch came into contact with Andrew Stewart, who had visited Qld in 1899 and was familiar with the pressing need for men in the Presbyterian church there. Tulloch responded to the call for help, and with finance from Stewart entered the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow to receive the first half of his formal theological training. This marked the beginning of a life long identification by Tulloch with the Bible College movement and the evangelical faith.

Tulloch arrived in Qld in 1901 and began work as a home missionary in Laidley. The congregation experienced a period of spiritual prosperity under his ministry. The following year Tulloch moved to Hamilton and in 1903 he went to Dalby where he was to stay for nearly nine years. In 1905 he married Grace Mitchell, eldest daughter of the Rev David Mitchell of Park Church, South Brisbane. Despite the pressure of pastoral ministry (Dalby had seventeen preaching places) Tulloch completed his theological studies through the Home Missions course, ordained 1910. From 1911 to 1916 he served in Charters Towers.

Tulloch then served in Goulburn, NSW 1916-23. During these years the Presbyterian church was debating the issue of union with the Methodists and Congregationalists. In 1919 Tulloch and Angus stood together opposed to union, although for very different reasons. Tulloch showed in several debates in the State General Assembly that he was the equal of any other member—even pro-union giants like Andrew Harper and Ronald Macintyre (q.v.). At the parish level Tulloch was instrumental in founding Presbyterian Ladies College Goulburn and was noted in his pulpit work as an energetic, able, evangelical preacher.

In 1923 the 'Mother Church' of WA Presbyterianism St Andrew's, Perth, called Tulloch to be its minister. In Perth Tulloch made 'a name for himself as a faithful pastor, a forceful preacher and a fearless champion for the truth' (Fight the Good Fight: 13). He was to excel in all of these qualities over the next 23 years. St Andrew's had had several short ministries before Tulloch arrived but almost immediately the church began a period of rapid growth.

Tulloch quickly assumed leadership of the conservatives within the Presbyterian church and throughout the 1920s he was to speak out for the 'old paths'. This was to bring him into conflict with those who advocated the 'liberal' evangelicalism of Harper and the increasingly influential Angus. Tulloch served as moderator of the General Assembly in 1927, the first of four (1936, 1939, 1944) occasions he filled the chair. St Andrew's continued to grow throughout the 1930s as Tulloch identified himself with the wider 'fundamentalist' movement in Perth. He gladly served as the first president of the Perth Bible Institute and he held this position until his death in 1946. This complemented his involvement with the BFBS and his great interest in the work of the Australian Inland Mission. The Angus case reached a peak in the late 1930s, especially in the 1936 General Assembly of Australia which met in Sydney. Tulloch as moderator of the West Australian Assembly in the same year spoke out against a lack of honesty and consistency in the church, clearly referring in critical terms to Angus. These sentiments guided Tulloch as he sought to lead the move to deal with Angus at the General Assembly of Australia in Sydney. In 1939 when the General Assembly of Australia met in Melbourne Tulloch was again at the forefront of the efforts to discipline Angus.

Tulloch now assumed the position of an elder ecclesiastical statesman. St Andrew's was the largest Presbyterian church in WA and a centre of evangelical Christianity. Tulloch stayed active to the end of his ministry asserting maintaining and defending the truth as he saw it. Tulloch became ill in the early part of 1946, resigned from St Andrew's on 30 June and preached his final sermon from Ephesians 2:7,8 on 25 Aug. The following morning he was taken ill and died four days later.

The congregation erected a tablet to his memory in St Andrew's which in part reads: 'His labours were abundant, always characterised by steadfast zeal, wise counsel, and forthright integrity. His evangelical fervour, his fearless Protestant leadership his consistent advocacy of all good causes ensure his memory in a circle much wider than the bounds of this Parish and state.'

Fight the Good Fight. In Memoriam Revd George Tulloch, E.D. (Perth, 1946) (pamphlet, Battye Library)

STUART M BONNINGTON