ARTHUR STACE
Growing up in a family of alcoholics, Arthur Stace expected nothing incredible to come of his life. His mother, father, brother and sister all sunk into the bottle, affording their habits by running a brothel. Arthur himself landed in jail on numerous occasions, until one day whilst in search of free hand-outs of food he attended a church service. He ended up giving his life to Jesus, and experienced a complete transformation. However, Arthur felt called by the Lord to do greater things. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph in 1965, Stace recounts the moment he heard it whilst at the Burton Street church in Darlinghurst: “The preacher shouted, ‘I wish I could shout Eternity through the streets of Sydney. Eternity! Eternity!’ and his words were ringing through my brain as I left the church. Suddenly I began crying and I felt a powerful call from the Lord to write ‘Eternity’. I had a piece of chalk in my pocket, and I bent down right there and wrote it. I’ve been writing it at least 50 times a day ever since, and that’s 30 years ago ... I think Eternity gets the message across, makes people stop and think.” On New Year’s Eve of 2000, Arthur’s one-word message gave glory to God on the world stage. From the chalk scrawlings on humble pavements, it now blazed in flames across the face of the famous Harbour Bridge in our city, Sydney. In Arthur’s own handwriting it read ‘Eternity,’ and ushered in a brand new millenium for the generations to come.
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