In November 1995, Rev Graeme Bucknall died at the age of 85. He was remembered for a variety of roles he had played within the church - as a parish pastor, a visionary leader in the home mission department of the Presbyterian Church, a leader in the Uniting Church, and as a padre in the central Australia. Prior to his death, Rev Bucknall completed the text of a book containing stories of pioneers in central Australia and some of his reflections on the isolation and the role of the padre. His wife, Jean, arranged the launch of the book at West Hawthorn Uniting Church on 24th November 1996.
The great communication companies would very much like us to think that they helping people to conquer the distances. They are providing the links that enable people to communicate. Bucknall, however, portrays people as conquering the distance with very little technology. Some of them had nothing more than a horse or a buggy. Others had old cars, held together with pieces of wood and wire.
The book tells the story of the people who conquered the distances through their rugged determination, through their resilience in the face, often, of tremendous odds. They conquered the distance, and the loneliness, and the droughts, through their adaptability and flexibility, and sometimes through sheer hard work. He tells of neighbours who struggled under very difficult situations to assist a sick person.
The book listens openly and candidly to the stories, some of which portray a roughness that shows that stories have not been re-written to make a good book. It does not romanticise the outback or its people, nor gloss over the crudity of life. It listens not just to the men, but also the women and children, the stayers and the sojourners.
It is a sociological book, with little sociological comment, but a great deal of sociological material. It has historical value in the materials it has recorded.
There is a theological underpinning to the book, although not explained at length. In this, the book is deeply personal and strongly reflects Graeme Buckanll’s own conviction that ‘theology must be learned and understood in the midst of living situations’.
The book itself is an illustration of a principle enunciated in a paragraph on the last page.
Our experience also confirmed my conviction that theology must be learned and understood in the midst of living situations and in the wilderness and solitary places. Unless you listen, as a trusted friend, to their hang-ups, their hopes, and their mistakes, you do not understand what the compassion of Jesus meant to the ordinary people of his day, and you have failed the test. Man cannot set the parameters of the compassion of ‘the other than man’. And with this declaration, this Padre has defined his and his wife, Jean’s privileged role. It was an experience in human understanding that enriched our lives through the friendships we shared - without preference for race or creed.
The book has been published by the Historical Society of the Northern Territory and is available from the CRA for $18 including postage.
Philip Hughes
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