Roland St John

Roland Tyrwhitt St John (16 December 1914 – 3 October 1991) was Registrar of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane from 1946 to 1974.

The diocese comprised some 300 churches and covered an area of half a million square kilometers, reaching north to Bundaberg and south and west to the State borders.

As its 'business manager' he restored its finances, improved its administration and guided it through a challenging period of expansion.

As a leading Anglican layman, his influence reached beyond the diocese to the wider Church.

Born at Boggabri NSW on 16 December 1914, 'Roley' was one of eight children of the Revd Canon Frederick de Port St John, a Church of England parish priest in rural NSW, and his wife Hannah Phoebe Mabel (Pyrke).

Roland's uncle Revd Harold B St John was also a Church of England parish priest.

Roland's younger brother was Edward St John QC MP.

Their grandfather Henry St John was a pioneer of Rawdon Island NSW and a nephew of Revd Ambrose St John, who converted to Roman Catholicism with his friend and colleague Cardinal John Henry Newman.

At the outbreak of war in 1939, he enlisted in the University Regiment.

When the war extended to the Pacific in 1941 he volunteered for the 2nd AIF and served in Irian Jaya and New Britain, reaching the rank of Captain before returning to civilian life in 1946.

At the age of 32 he was appointed by Archbishop Reginald Halse to be Diocesan Registrar, Brisbane, at a time when the diocese had been in a 'perilous financial position' for some years.

In his history of the Church of England in Queensland Dr. K Rayner wrote:

A member of a well-known New South Wales clerical family, St John brought to his new position both a thorough knowledge of church affairs and also the financial and administrative ability of rare quality.

He recognised what many businessmen on church committees had not realised, that even in its business affairs the church could not always use the same methods as commercial enterprises, because its aims were different.

"We must remember that the Church is a Church and not a business. In the long run, its success – as a Church – will depend on its spiritual strength, rather than its financial resources. If the first is healthy, there will be little difficulty about the latter."

He also held numerous community positions; among them, he was secretary of The Southport School Council and the Anglican Church Grammar School Council 1947-74; member of the National Council of Independent Schools of Australia 1970-73; secretary of the District Nursing Association of Brisbane 1966-74; and Lt, Capt (Education Officer) CMF 1955-65.

As a 'tireless church worker' he was a member of the General Synod of the Church of England in Australia 1950-74 (and its standing committee and finance committee and the long service leave board) and a member of the Anglican Consultative Council of the whole of Anglican Community 1970-73.

In accounting exams in 1952, he topped Australasia in Final Auditing with a mark of 94%.

After working at Bank of NSW branches in several country towns he was transferred to the Bank's head office in Sydney.

This implied no mandate for inefficiency in managing church affairs, and the announcement in 1956 of the complete elimination of the deficiency accounts of the diocese, which had totalled more than £40,000 in 1946, was a remarkable demonstration of the skillful handling of the financial affairs of the church by the registrar.

The Church Chronicle in 1958 reported him as 'Personality of the Diocese':

"Do our people realise the colossal job that the Registrar of the Diocese is doing? Mr. St John is always available to help Clergy and laypeople in their problems connected with the Diocese. He is Secretary of the Diocesan Council, where his knowledge and help are invaluable. The Registrar attends each meeting of the Councils and Advisory bodies of Church Schools and Institutions. He is without fear or favour. We cannot but record a mere fraction of his activities, and they are always carried out with good sense, good humour, and accurate knowledge. The Registrar also has acted as Secretary of this journal, and with his loyal staff does more than most of us realise to help forward the work of the Diocese."

Combining his financial acumen and his strong sense of vocation he also helped initiate the diocese's ambitious building program, which included expansion of diocesan schools, rebuilding existing hostels for the aged, and building new hostels.

He was also involved in the 1960s' controversy about St Martin's Hospital, in Cathedral Square, which the Church proposed to replace with a new hospital at Zillmere.

The proposal was stayed by the 'Save St Martin's' movement and went to litigation.

One of these, Spiritus Symes Thorpe, an extensive facility for the aged at Toowoomba, was opened in 1961 as an outcome of his extensive negotiations with a major benefactor.

The Diocese had long wanted to extend St John's Cathedral and knew that this would be an enormous undertaking.

An active lay churchman, he contributed to the establishment of the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia (1962); represented the diocese at the Toronto Anglican Congress (1963); and was a member of the Anglican Consultative Council.

Archbishop Halse died in 1962 and was succeeded by the conservative Philip Strong.

Tension arose between St John and Strong, as recorded by historian Dr. J C Holland: 'The Diocese had a powerful Registrar, Roland St John, and he and other outspoken leaders did not always see eye to eye with the archbishop...The resultant tension further decreased the capacity of the Diocese to respond adequately to social change and numerical decline.'

An example of their different attitudes concerned gambling.

With the Diocese's improved financial position, the 2nd stage of cathedral construction began in 1965 and was completed in 1968.

St John was actively involved in fund-raising for the construction and in its design and project management.

In 1965 the Diocesan Synod considered a motion to reaffirm its traditional ban on art unions, raffles, lotteries, and games of chance to raise funds for the Church.

Archbishop Strong lent weighty support to the motion, stating clearly that the real sin is in gambling.

In 1975 the Supreme Court upheld the Church's decision to move the hospital.

Archbishop Felix Arnott said: 'This was a very satisfactory conclusion, and was a great tribute to the efforts of our lawyers and Mr. R T St John, who was largely responsible for preparing the material'.

The old building is now a church office.

Henry St John was a great-great-grandson of the 10th Baron St John of Bletso.

Educated at Armidale High School, Roland gained the degrees of BEc (Syd) and BA (Qld) by part-time studies and was an Associate of the Australian Society of Accountants.