The Australian Friend 1982-1988
What a Joy and what a way to listen to what Friends have to say.
The opportunity came in 1982 when Ross Cooper (VRM) laid down his editorship leading to firstly David Evans and then Topsy Evans (TRM) taking over the role. The story of this latter change of editorship was a lesson in Quaker Custom. When after three Years in the role David thought it would be good to pass it on, the idea was to see if anyone in Hobart would be available and willing. No offerings came. After advising YM that we needed to look elsewhere, Margaret Hodgkin at YM asked Topsy, who said Yes. The AF stayed in Hobart for another 4 years. We treasure the bound volumes of The Australian Friend 1982-84, and 1985-88 on our bookshelves.
Our custom was for the committee to meet in our home around the dining room table. Each offering was in a manila folder with a form on the front with a table where the reviewer would indicate. YES NO and POSSIBLE It was then left to the editor to put it all together doing the layout with the very cooperative manager of the publishing firm who helped amazingly with ideas., especially for the covers.
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So many memories.
The May issue 1982 featured the Sesquicentenary Celebrations of Quakers in Australia in Hobart.
The July issue 1982 reviewed Sydney Friends by Vaughan Evans with illustrations of the four Sydney Meeting Houses by Halcyon Evans together with a Quaker Shop Historical Supplement provided by Ngaire Thorp. Clayton Bredt’s handwriting was so good we published the handwritten report of his presentation to the Chinese Christian Council as written.
The September 1982 issue featured Peace Pages with the 1662 ‘A Declaration from the Harmless and Innocent People of God, called Quakers to Charles II.’ Perhaps this could be sent again to Charles III?
The November 1984 issue has reference to two published songs by Walter Stiasny two poems by Clive Samson, Inscription for an Old Tomb and The Forest Wind.
David Evans
Being Editor of The Australian Friend 1985-1988.
Looking back at those years as Editor has brought back many memories, not only for me but my family members as well. I followed David as Editor, and my children were usually dragooned into helping on the evenings when we prepared the copies for the posting.
That was a real Family and Friends event. We received the printed papers (1000 copies) from the printer, but they still needed to be collated, stapled and addressed. That is where the children contributed most. Some loyal Friends pitched in too. We all walked around and around the dining room table, picking up the individual pages in the right order before stapling them and finally folding them with the space for the addresses on the outside.
The printed addresses were on sticky labels ready to be stuck on the individual copies and then sorted into postcode order ready for posting as required by the Post Office. In the days before modern computers this had to be done by hand.
It took us a few attempts before that amazing day when they were accepted without needing more sorting! Jubilation and relief all round!
It was a rewarding time, and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process from receiving articles to posting the end result and receiving feedback from Friends.
The children still remember those evenings preparing the AF for posting with clarity and nostalgia. What a different process now!
Topsy Evans
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