South Australian corps stages Renmarkable reunion
South Australian corps stages Renmarkable reunion
1 June 2022
Major Ross Hailes travelled from his hometown of Abbotsford in British Columbia, Canada, for the Renmark Corps reunion in the Riverland region of South Australia. He celebrates his love for his first corps in his new book A Renmark Revolution.
When Ferdinand ‘Fred’ Matulick boldly announced The Salvation Army’s presence in Renmark with an open-air meeting 124 years ago, he would never have envisaged the extent of the corps reunion that took place earlier this month.
More than 70 people linked to the former Renmark Corps returned for the two-day Back to Renmark celebration in the South Australian Riverland town, which included the launch of a book outlining the corps’ history.
The reunion comprised a ‘worship meeting’ and dinner at The Lawns Bowling Club on Saturday night 14 May, plus a special event on Sunday morning.
The special event was an open-air meeting at the site of the first Renmark Corps hall, on the corner of Para and 16th streets. Seventeen former corps members formed a band, which captured the local community's attention.
The book launched is called A Renmark Revolution, written by retired officer Major Ross Hailes, which tells the story of Renmark Corps from 1888 to 2012 when the corps was closed and moved operations to nearby Berri with a new name, Riverland Corps.
Ross travelled from his home in Canada to attend the reunion. He credits his early years growing up in Renmark Corps with giving him a love for the community, which led to him becoming an officer and serving in appointments throughout Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States before settling in Canada.
A crowd gathers at the site of the first Army hall in Renmark during the reunion weekend.
Filled with photos and news reports from the day, including stories from The War Cry, one might say the Renmark Corps was ren-markable – it was the first official church established in the town and also the first church to build a structure for worship meetings.
“At one stage around the turn of the century, it is believed that one in 10 Renmark residents belonged to The Salvation Army,” Ross said. “I was also interested to read that Arthur Pitman Corrie, first editor of The Murray Pioneer, trained as a Salvation Army officer.”
After donating a copy of A Renmark Revolution to the local library, Ross later travelled to Melbourne and presented a copy to Lindsay Cox, Manager of The Salvation Army Museum – ensuring that the story of God’s miraculous work in the town of Renmark stays a permanent fixture in the archives of Australian Salvation Army history.
A Renmark Revolution is available now from Amazon.com.au.
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