If you tear down the forests, you can expect trouble. And yet we go on felling trees and forests... Destroying the forests. We are caretakers of God’s world. And how we look after it is most important. My name is William Morgan. I was born in Seddon, 1915 So that makes me 107, nearer to 108 than 107. One of my earliest memories, my grandfather had a crutch to support him. I said something or did something and he chased me with the crutch. My father was a seagoing engineer. He was chief engineer on the Blue Funnel Line out of Edinburgh, I think. Mum looked after the housework I think. Four brothers and one sister. Very simple. Very happy. Pretty carefree, Pretty carefree, in a way, although my parents, being Scottish, they knew what discipline was, and we knew how far we could go and you didn't go any further, otherwise you were very quickly brought to heel. For us when World War One was over, that was passed. Yes, let's learn from the past. The mistakes that were made. Horrible mistakes that were made. But we're living now. Let's make something of it now. Make the world a better place, make people feel more humane. It wasn’t actually exactly spoken about very much in the family. But the way my father and mother lived, they showed us how to deal with people, how to treat people, how to talk to people. We moved from Seddon to Camberwell, where I suppose I was two or three. Something like that. from memory, for about four years, and then we moved back to Footscray and lived at 10 Geelong Road for about 12, 13, 14 years, something like that. Footscray in those days was known as a tough suburb. It was hard. We knew that there were many people unemployed in The Depression who were returned men [from WWI] You could hear the men going around the street, “Any rags or bones or bottle? Any rags or bottle?” And also living in 10 Geelong Road, Footscray, was right up near the Footscray Park and during The Depression, many, many men slept under the trees in the Footscray Park. Metho drinkers and all sorts of people lived in Footscray Park. Footscray Park. I know my mother was frequently asked for food by these people or something. What they really wanted was money. But she would never give them money. She would make them sandwiches or something we had, anything left over from dinner. Right. They could have dinner. But very often, after they had gone, and Mum went out, she would find the sandwich that she had made for them under the hedge in the front. But it was a tough area A tough area. It was made tougher because of the the unemployment. that was about. It was only as we came out of the Depression that life in Footscray began to change. it was a fascinating time to be alive in Footscray. In a way we were, not so much looked down upon, but we were, like other people who lived at that top end Geelong Road, I could name them. We had big houses. It was assumed that we were wealthy and we were regarded as snobs. We didn't let that worry us. We just got on and lived our life. We became involved in church activity at St Andrew’s Footscray and there was no hassles there at all. It was a very mixed congregation of workers. We had three of the Bulldogs football team who were members of the Presbyterian Church. Tommy Waye, Alf Samspon and Cheater Stevens. Saturday afternoon we followed Footscray. I follow them. I support them. Had some amazing experiences following the Bulldogs. Well, one in particular, we were playing North Melbourne at North Melbourne and my eldest brother had been in England for two years. He just had a slightest accent. You knew he'd been there but... And we were sitting in the grandstand at North Melbourne, a rainy day and surrounded by North Melbourne supporters and something happened during the game. I can't tell you what it was, but my brother said something and one of the ladies called out, “You Pommie bastard, get out of here! Get out of here!” She attacked him with an umbrella so we got out the grandstand quick and lively. Before the game there was invariably a baseball game played up the Drill Hall end of the ground, with a press box behind the pictures thing and the Hyde Street State School Band played regularly, the same piece week after week after week. I saw the last one. I was away at Shepparton when they won before. And I had a wedding that day. Didn't last very long. But my son took me into the last one we won. Great thrill. Great thrill. I went to school at Camberwell State School 666, for about four months. And then, with my younger brother, we were taken away from there and I started at Scotch College in 1924 where I spent the rest of my school days. It was a very happy place. The discipline was quite, quite strict without being restrictive. Our teachers were our friends. We never dared call them by their Christian name. They were ‘Miss’ and ‘Mr’.. If we had a party, they were invited. Not always came but they were invited. One of my favorite memories is the 1934 floods. I happened to be captain of the boats that year and we were told the River Yarra was going to flood. And about four of us spent hours tying down the boats in the shed so they wouldn't float around. But it was an old wooden boat shed and during the night the floods were so strong coming down the Yarra that the whole boat shed was just washed away. We don’t where the boats finished. They just disappeared down the river somewhere. I went up to the university. I was supposed to study for a Bachelor of Arts. I was going into the Ministry. Those days you did Arts and then you went on, did your theological training. But I made a mess of that. They often say I graduated from Melbourne University with first class honors in sport. I played rugby there. Front row, blind side, front row. But I finished up with being captain of the Melbourne Rugby team and was chosen in the all Australian University team, and had two years, 1936, 37 in the Victorian State team. Rugby. In my first interstate game we had people like Weary Dunlop playing. And of course those days Victoria was a chopping block for NSW and rugby. And I can see Weary Dunlop now in the Sydney Cricket Ground. He got the ball and started to run. He must’ve run about 50 yards. And the people tried to tackle him, but he just brushed them aside and went straight through and he scored a try. One of the only tries that Victoria ever scored, I think in those days against New South Wales. Weary was a very, very quiet man, but a very strong man and when he wanted to speak, he spoke and you listened. Of course, his actions spoke ever so much louder than his words. Al the way back then, he didn't say much, he did things. It was great to know him. As children, we went to Sunday school at St Andrew’s Footscray. And church and Sunday school were part of our life. Our whole family were involved. And then in 1933, there was a young English Commodore out here and he was talking to young people about the claims of Jesus Christ on your life. He's not just somebody you talk about, He died for you. And in about 1933, Jesus, who he was reserved for Sunday suddenly became very important and I wanted to share the story, something of my experience with other people . And I did. As I said, that’s when my mates said, “Give you six months, Bill. It won’t last”. And unfortunately, they're all dead now. And here I am still trying to talk to others about faith and Christ - not at some theological doctrine, but as a living person, a living friend. Say someone who's given me something to live for. After university experiences, I went into what was called the Theological Hall, the Presbyterian Church where, after three years, well you were thrown to the wolves. My first placement was in Clare, South Australia. It war time and there was virtually nobody there. I came back to be assistant at the Wattletree Road Malvern Presbyterian Church, married the boss’ eldest daughter, and we went to Trafalgar in Gippsland. Where I stayed for five years. Scotch Church, Shepparton, and the first full time chaplain of Scotch College in Launceston, Tasmania, and then back to the suburb of Ormond, Melbourne, spent the last 22 years of my ministry and I retired from Ormond. 1984 With society the way it has developed, the church has tried to keep pace with it and mix in with it and still be a bit different, but it hasn't been able to do it. My own opinion is that the Uniting Church is in trouble. It’s in trouble. It's not making any progress. It’s going backwards. It’s got such a big social service program, we can't operate as a church. We've got to do what the government says. Now I don’t believe the church should ever be in a position where it kowtows to government or to any other body. The church has got a certain mission to carry out. Now, I know times have changed. In my time, it was a 24 hours seven job. And you lived along side your church. If people were in trouble, they knew the minister lived there. If a stranger was in trouble, you’d say, “Oh well, you'll find help in the Church”. “Oh, where does the minister live?” “He’s got his own home somewhere else.” Some of them are now saying [they’re] not available after 5:30. But unfortunately people’s physical condition doesn't end at 5:29. They might want a minister urgently. Seven o’clock, not available. My first wife was a kindergarten teacher, an accomplished pianist, a fair tennis player. Not a... What can I say? Not one of these bubbly people that was into everything. She was quiet and just went on doing her thing. A wonderful mother to our three children. Her name was Joan Winifred Howie. She, with our third child, she became pregnant. After a while, we knew something was wrong. The doctors in Shepparton didn’t pick it up. When it was almost too late, an old doctor in Malvern picked it up. She was able to bear that child but never really recovered from it. And when our youngest child was three, she died. It was an experience one never forgets to know that your wife was sick and the doctor doesn't do anything about it until it was almost too late Yeah... I relive it time and time again. I re-married, but it’s not the same. I've been blessed with three children who, perhaps, we have grown closer together three children because I had to be father and mother to them for years and years and then, even with my second wife, I was still the one. And today it’s just wonderful. But grandchildren remind you there's something else coming up. There’s another generation coming. You’ve got to think again about what life is and how you are going to relate them to the life which you know is good and right. My second wife was a girl... someone I met in South Australia when I was there. I hadn’t seen her for many, many years. One day I was in the Presbyterian book room and this lady came up and said, “Are you Bill Morgan?”. I said, “Yes”. She told me who she was and I courted her for about six months or so. Got the three children used to the fact they might have another person in the house that they might call ‘mother’ or just... Eventually we married, about 40 years together. She's been dead now ten years. So I’ve seen both sides of married life. All the joys and thrills of it and all the sadness of losing partners. Yes. I think you only discover the strengths and the weaknesses of someone you might want to be a partner in time. There is a time for courting, there’s a time for exploring each other's weaknesses and strengths, each other's hopes and desires and fears. Something that grows close. Yes, I know there are marriages that..! And when they work, they work wonderfully. But I think they’re the exception. It’s hard to have a favorite hymn because hymns reflect certain periods, certain experiences of your life. Like I've got my funeral service arranged. I’ve got the three hymns that I want sung at my funeral. Well, the first one is to more or less to start the service. The first hymn in the service, it’s not the start. “Tell out my soul the greatness of the Lord”. We’re grateful for this life. Let's tell it out. That’s a proclamation. The second one is “Be still my soul the hour is hastening on”. Words of comfort following what's been said and so forth and the last one is a general one, “Love divine all loves excelling”. And the last one is His words of comfort to go out and live I’ve changed the first and second hymn, I think at least twice if not three times, but I’ve settled on those now.