This Issue of the Australian Friend continues and deepens the concerns of the March Issue: Mysticism, poetry and Social Action. However there is one strong third element in this issue and that is the place of ‘Community’ in our Quaker tradition. This is perhaps best exemplified in Tim Gee’s wonderful preview of his Backhouse Lecture for 2025 in which he challenges some stereotypical views of Quakerism and celebrates the community role of song and singing in the lives of many Quakers past and present, and especially in his own life and family. As he concludes

I imagine my Welsh dissenter chapel-going ancestors smiling at this Quaker descendant of theirs unable to keep from singing. Perhaps that’s part of it. But song has long been a part of Quaker life. I’m glad to be part of sustaining it.

Community is also the central them of Kaye Wright’s wonderful celebration of her socially challenged neighbour. Kaye invites us into the light that she helped create around her neighbour for a time and concludes with a real wish that his healing might continue and a real appreciation for what this human being, despite his dysfunction, can bring to the world.

This issue is also gifted with some wonderful celebrations of some of the most precious contributors to Quaker outreach and to the widest Quaker community in the last few years:  Jackie Perkins and Helen Bayes.

Jackie, who sadly passed away suddenly this year, had an extraordinary life dedicated to her Quaker Service Australia work, especially with communities in Cambodia, India, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and First Nations Australians. For Jackie, development work was not just about economic progress but also about human dignity. Ending poverty and achieving food security were key drivers, but she was equally passionate about human rights, social justice, and gender equality. The bottom line for Jackie was her love of all the people she served. In her own words ‘my lasting memory will be the faces and voices, the vibrant clothing, the wonderful smells of the cooking, the singing and laughter, and the delight in the faces of project participants in showing what changes they have made.’

Helen Bayes is one of our longest serving Friends and one of the pioneers of our Silver Wattle Quaker Retreat Centre. This account by Dorothy Scott gives a vivid picture of Helen’s earliest days in the Quaker centre near Manchester UK where she grew up and then a rich and detailed account of all the ways in which she followed her Quaker leadings in her work in Australia and beyond. She is a Friend certainly worth knowing, both in the clarity of her leadings and the range of the communal causes she followed.

To these celebrations of the expansion of Quaker communities, Bruce Henry adds his review of a new novel The Year of Living Rainbow, by Sue Parrit.   Set in Brisbane in the early nineties, this is a book about relationships, families, grief, fears, love and companionship. The book focuses on a beautiful, evolving lesbian relationship in the context of a conservative, unforgiving society.

In continuing the themes of Mysticism, poetry and social action, this issue builds on Noël Staples’ articles on his experiences of Grace in the March issue of the Australian Friend. Here is a refreshingly honest picture of someone’s direct experience of grace in their life, in the context of real social and personal difficulties.

Reg Naulty in his review of Peter Ackroyd’s new book The English Soul beautifully summarises the rich and diverse traditions of English spirituality covered in a masterful survey from the Mysticism of Julian of Norwich through to the Puritans, the Quakers and High Anglicans.

Michael Griffith then leads us through a reflective week of poetry held at Silver Wattle in which poetry is celebrated as an art form that can lead to personal wholeness and that is also the glue that can help foster community; as indeed it did during this special event.

Social Action in this issue is presented first through Quaker poet Andrew Brion’s powerful poem ‘Reflection: Cascades Female Factory, Hobart’ which laments the social injustice of imprisoning women in Hobart early in the 19^th Century.

Judith Pembleton’s article, ‘Health Care Inequities for transgender and gender-diverse people in Australia’ is a study of how gender diverse people face inequities in the Australian medical system. This is a social justice issue that could involve more Quaker input. There is a clear lack of education for many health care professionals in this area of human experience. The article recommends that our meetings give more active support to gender diversity and more support to LGBTIQA organisations.

Finally, Harold Wilkinson’s article ‘Quaker Peace and Legislation Committee: Expanding Peace Activities’, shows how, as a direct outcome of the Jan de Voogd funds, the work of this committee was able to be more directly involved with federal members of parliament. Questions were raised about the Australian arms trade, about whether selling weapons to countries who may be involved in human rights abuse was being legitimised; as a result the transparency of Australia’s arms exports became a clear focus. So now the issue of defence permits has made it to the draft work plan of the government, a major achievement.

Michael Griffith (editor)  caustfriend@quakersaustralia.info