Children’s Epistle

As part of the Children’s Program at the Australian Yearly Meeting in Melbourne, we spent time with the older young people playing games and also learning about Quaker practice. Some fun things we did were playing the card game Sleeping Queens, running around outside playing games like tag and red rover. We also went on some excursions, such as going into the city for rock climbing, visiting the Gembrook retreat centre and going to a nearby oval to play soccer. Dancing became a theme throughout the week, with some of the JYFs and kids teaching a dance to a popular song Gnarly, and the concert item being a dance created by one of the children that was taught to the meeting. We also learnt about activism by attending a vigil at the American Consulate against their military support of Israel and a NAIDOC week march, which ended with food and music. 

Quakers Australia July Yearly Meeting 2025 Final Epistle

To Friends Everywhere,

Victorian Friends warmly welcomed us to Yearly Meeting July 2025 at University College Melbourne under clear blue midwinter skies. We were thrilled to meet each other face to face once again, to feel embraces and hear familiar voices. Those Friends unable to be with us in person could choose to join us online to socialise with each other and participate with much of our timetable at this hybrid Yearly Meeting. We shared the campus, a former women’s college, with the national Youth Choir some of whom sang for us at lunchtimes.

Colin Hunter Junior was to give a welcome to Wurundjeri country within the Kulin nation but illness prevented him from giving a full ceremony. Chris Hughes, convener of our First Nations Peoples Concerns Committee added an additional acknowledgement of Country during the first formal session.

The State of the Society Address by Jill Parris was presented on the first day. Accompanying images from nature and stories of local Friends illustrated how Testimonies emerge in action around us all the time.

A range of Friendly Schools on Sunday offered Friends the opportunity to explore themes of ‘positive peace’ in word, thought and action. Home Groups met either in the morning or evening each day for sharing experiences and getting to know each other. Later in the week Share and Tell sessions revealed the wealth of interests, knowledge and experience that Friends possess on a vast range of topics.

At each YM we hear a Summary of Epistles from around the world and this year Elizabeth Shield shared insights from many yearly meetings together with illustrations reflecting their words.

Peace and Earthcare sessions brought vivid stories of Friends’ work around the country to mitigate and transform issues facing regions and localities and the planet. They used strategies of education, lobbying, discernment, to support concerns familiar to many, in the spirit of informed care and bold action. Every week since 1997 Friends have gathered in a central Melbourne mall for a silent vigil in support of First Peoples of Australia. This Monday’s numbers swelled with extra Friends. A large gathering of old and young Friends held a peaceful vigil outside the United States Consulate with banners created by Friends of all ages.

We looked forward to the visit of Tim Gee, the General Secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation. His Backhouse Lecture for 2025 on the theme ‘the seed is in all’ drew on his wide experience of worship in Quaker meetings around the world. Raised in the tradition of English Quakers, Tim spoke warmly of being in programmed meetings which included song, dance and scripture-based language. ‘The spirit links both traditions’, he said. Tim’s discovery that the Epistle of James reflected Quaker faith and practice showed us that much-loved sayings from the past originate in this Epistle. Tim encouraged us to share more widely how our faith has made our lives different and better: ‘In a world of conflict and change, our testimonies are the antidote’.

As our culture changes, local, regional and yearly meetings are considering ways to adapt to a more digital, secular world. Margy Jean Malcolm, our Friend from Aotearoa New Zealand, shared ways in which her yearly meeting is adapting their structures while strengthening community.

During this past year our own yearly meeting has explored ways to be more inclusive of young people, maintain our testimony to earthcare, and thrive as a community. This has rested on the skills of our clerking teams and those who offer digital technology.

Our Children have interacted across the age groups, bringing flowers from the Quaker Gembrook Retreat for our meetings, and collaborated in making peaceful games.

The future of Yearly Meetings in Australia rests with us. It is our hope that a way might open for hybrid yearly meetings to become a cherished annual event to enrich this beloved community.