The Australian Friend
Journal of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Australia
About
The Australian Friend is the official journal of The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Australia Inc. It has been continuously published since 1887. There are four issues per year, in March, June, September and December.
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Know Thy Friend- Helen Bayes
Helen BayesVictorian Friends celebrated the 80th birthday of Helen Bayes in a joyous gathering at the Victorian Quaker Centre in June 2024, so imagine my surprise when Helen told me she had attended...
Editorial for March 2025: Quaker Challenges to the Ways of the World: Mysticism and Social Action
The Quaker way was grounded in George Fox’s search for truth and his belief in “that of God in every man”. His path embraced mysticism grounded in silence and social action challenging the world’s...
Stan Grant. Murriyang. Song of Time.
Bundyi Sydney. 2024. P.257. 978161427909 [hardback]This book could have been entitled “Meditations.” In some ways, it is similar to the meditations of Marcus Aurelius: the homage to his father, the...
Encountering God & Further Encounters with God
Noel Staples is a member of Cambridge & Peterborough Area Meeting, UK. These two pieces never intended initially for publication were stimulated at Noel’s Quaker meeting by a Member who felt...
Dawn
Andrew Brion, is a Naarm/Melbourne poet who published his first book of poetry, Soul Moves, in 2018. Andrew attends VRM and Melbourne Central Quaker Meetings and is a member of the Quaker...
Death Came to Call
Rose Griffith is an Attender at the Hunter Valley Meeting in Mayfield, NSWDeath visited and Joe, at ninety-four was the obvious host. My father-in-law, legs and brain lost strength Almost motionless...
The Wren from Carolina
Mary Oliver (1935 –2019) was an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Being in nature was her passion and the means through which- despite many difficulties in her...
Forgiveness
Wahroonga Local MeetingI have been thinking a lot about forgiveness lately. There seem to be so many awful things happening in the world, and I feel that without a great deal of...
What is Peace?
In 2015, I remember the peace poppies starting to get about in the Queensland Regional Meeting. It was a year I tried unsuccessfully to get one hundred peace protestors to disrupt the talisman sabre...
REFLECTIONS ON THE DISRUPT LAND FORCES CAMPAIGN: MELBOURNE SEPTEMBER 2024
Introduction: It was a broad church that gathered under the Disrupt Land Forces campaign banner at Melbourne’s Seafarer’s Mission 8-13 September 2024. Our aim was to disrupt the biennial Land Forces...
QSA Notes February 2025
CASE STUDY: Training gives Chenda the courage to overcome disabilities Chenda lived a typical childhood until she fell seriously ill at age seven. With no health centre nearby, her father...
Henry Propsting (1810-1901)
Henry Propsting was a convict who became a respected Quaker and Hobart citizen.Henry Propsting was one of nine children born to Ferdinand (also known as Frederick) and Ann Propsting (nee Bispham)...
Finding Dear Friends
“Qui bene cantat bis orat” (They who sing pray twice) – St. AugustineQuakers in Australia do not regularly include singing in Meetings for Worship. Unlike many of our American counterparts, we...
So We Need a Quaker Testimony on Social Media
General Secretary, Friends World Committee for Consultation, World OfficeIn December last year, the Friends World Committee for Consultation disengaged from the social media platform...
Seekers, Attenders and Members Amongst Us: Part 1
Adrian Glamorgan, adrian@fwccawps.org Fremantle Recognised MeetingWhen attenders choose not to be members: some thoughts Attenders are seekers who come to the Meeting and stay. Regular...
Editorial
pReading the articles in this issue of the Australian Friend reminded me of my favourite Backhouse Lecture; George Ellis’ “Faith, hope and doubt in times of uncertainty”. Ellis writes that “there...
Quakers Australia Annual General Meeting
January Yearly Meeting 2025 All-ages focus Online — includes Quakers Australia Annual General Meeting Friday 17 – Sunday 19 January 2025 Save the dates now Welcome! Our focus is on creating a...
In search of Kurt Muenz
Mary Butler, South Australia and Northern Territory Regional Meeting and Alan Clayton Victoria Regional MeetingIn February 2021, our then Treasurer of Australia Yearly Meeting, Roger Sawkins,...