Arrested for handing out the War Cry
Arrested for handing out the War Cry
The Regent Park hotel at the time of the controversial incident when Captain Ivan Rees was arrested for ‘disorderly conduct’ in handing out the War Cry. Inset: Publican Eric McLean (left) and Salvation Army Captain Ivan Rees (right). Main Picture: Noel Butlin Archives, Australian National University.
As a young Salvation Army captain, Ivan Rees made his mark wherever he was appointed. Never one to seek the spotlight, he sometimes unwittingly found himself at the centre of attention if various newspaper reports are anything to go by.
Ivan is best known as the officer arrested for handing out the War Cry at the Regents Park hotel in Sydney in 1951. Charged with “disorderly conduct”, later dismissed by a Parramatta Court judge, Ivan was only 30 at the time and serving as the Lidcombe Corps Officer.
He was a decorated returned serviceman, having been a Red Shield Representative in the Second World War, gaining notoriety after jumping overboard from a ship to save the lives of Allied airmen who had crashed into the ocean. But more on that later.
The newspaper article on Captain Ivan Rees’ arrest.
The Regents Park hotel in Sydney’s west was a popular drinking hole for locals. Equally popular was their local Salvation Army officer, Captain Ivan Rees, who had been collecting donations and selling the War Cry for six months. Everyone liked the captain, it seemed, except for the publican, Eric McLean.
On one occasion, the publican took offence at Ivan’s presence in the hotel and had the collecting captain arrested and charged with disturbing the peace, causing a sensation at the time. Being a returned serviceman and well-liked by drinkers at the pub, his arrest didn’t go down well just six years after the end of the war.
This, it seemed, is part of what garnered him favour with the regular pub-goers, who respected him so much that they threatened to boycott the hotel until the captain returned.
The Sun Herald reported on the incident in an edition on Sunday 12 August 1951:
Lidcombe police yesterday charged a Salvation Army captain with “disorderly conduct” at the Regents Park hotel.
The publican, Mr. Eric McLean, asked police to make the charge after the captain had gone into the hotel with copies of the Salvation Army’s newspaper, “War Cry.”
As a result of the action against the captain, angry customers threaten to place a “black ban” on the hotel.
The Salvation Army officer is Captain Ivan Rees, 30, officer-in-charge of the Army’s Lidcombe district. He has been offering copies of “War Cry” in the Regents Park area every Saturday for six months.
One of the customers, Mr. George Wirdum, of Wellington Road, Sefton, said: “We were shocked and disgusted at Mr. McLean’s action.
“This morning, the captain, wearing his uniform, came into the bar as usual, carrying his papers and a collecting box.
“The licensee later went outside to the street when he saw him. Soon afterwards, the police came in and arrested him.
“A sergeant and constable took him away in a police sidecar.”
Mr. Wirdum said that after the arrest all the patrons in the crowded bar spontaneously walked out. Shortly afterwards Mr. McLean closed the hotel.
Mr. Wirdum said the captain was well liked by the regular customers. “He is an ex-Serviceman of the last war and wears five medal ribbons on his uniform,” he said.”
Nevertheless, Captain Rees paid the £5 bond and was cleared in Paramatta Court a few days later. And when you consider his face appeared in the paper as a hero beside his accuser, you can’t help but think he, and the War Cry, got the better end of the deal.
Captain Ivan Rees ministers to servicemen at Northam AIF Camp in Western Australia in 1944 before they set sail for New Guinea during WWII.
War-time hero
Even beyond this, Captain Rees’ officership story is truly an Australiana legacy, stretching back to his time as a Red Shield Representative in the war years.
After serving in various appointments early in his officership, the captain’s health suffered and in 1943, after “a long illness”, he took two months’ leave.
His next appointment was as a Red Shield Representative, and he was appointed to Kandos Corps in NSW. In July 1944, and back to full health by now, he was appointed to Northam AIF Camp in Western Australia to help run a Red Shield Hut and minister to troops there before they all sailed out to New Guinea.
It was during a ‘sing-song’ on board the troop ship that the War Cry reports Captain Rees and his peers heard the sound of a man struggling in the water. And thus, Ivan sprung into action, attaching himself to a lifebelt and jumping overboard to save an exhausted Allied airman.
It turns out a plane had crashed in nearby waters some 10 hours earlier and, according to the War Cry article, the airman wasn’t the only survivor.
Captain Ivan Rees reflected on the independence of India and how God would move in the country in this piece from The Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative, published on 2 July 1942.
The War Cry stated:
“The sea was too stormy to allow the dinghy to be lowered, but the Red Shield Officer, with a lifebelt attached, jumped overboard and brought what proved to be an Allied airman to safety.
“Quite a time passed before the man could speak; and then he told of others who had crashed into the sea with the plane. The ship’s captain decided to search for the others, and within half an hour another airman was sighted.
“Once again the Red Shield Officer jumped overboard, this time to rescue an utterly helpless man. When he had got him roped and lifted on board, Captain Ivan Rees, the rescuer, was so spent that a man had to be lowered to assist him aboard. Night fell without yielding any trace of others, but that evening, in the captain’s cabin, the recurred men knelt as their rescuer offered a prayer of thanksgiving to God.”
Called to serve
It seems that Captain Rees’ belief in the innate dignity of every person he encountered drove much of his ministry and physical labour right from the start of his officership. Whether they were on board, overboard, or drinking a schooner, he was committed to doing all he could to show people the love of Christ.
In a newspaper column from The Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative, titled, ‘As I See It’, we get a snapshot of Captain Rees’ spiritual mindset. Published on 2 July 1942, the young captain gives insight into the events leading up to India’s independence in light of how this will impact missionaries.
He wrote:
“Methods may be to change, but the message will remain the same, and a harvest will be reaped from the self-sacrifice and toil of generations of Christians in India. It is our duty to pray that God’s guidance shall be given to all responsible for negotiations and decisions, and for grace to recognise the implications of our belief that all men are of equal value in the sight of God.”
Captain Ivan Rees would go on to become a major, retiring in 1980. He was the father of Lieutenant-Colonel Rhonda Durston, Lieutenant-Colonel David Rees and Major John Rees, also now retired officers.
Thank you to the Salvation Army Museum Australia for their assistance with this article.
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