So Few Souls To Save

Above: Hastings pier.

By Lance Hodgins

In the scene above, there are several prominent Hastings landmarks, notably the jetty and the doublestoried hotel. In the top left corner, the building with a steeply pitched roof was the place of worship for followers of the “Reorganised Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” who were frequently, and loosely, referred to as Mormons.

We are not “Mormons”

In November 1885 the Latter Day Saints came to Hastings. They were a reorganisation of a church unfavourably known as the Mormons of Utah and they repudiated the charges of impurity levelled against them and disclaimed all connection with the Mormons. Their speaker CS Burton held two services in the Athenaeum (the Hastings hall) which attracted large audiences. Those in attendance felt that his discourse was of an earnest and scriptural tone and, surprisingly, derived from the Bible alone – “the sort which might have emanated from any evangelical preacher.”

The Latter Day Saints did believe that Joe Smith was a prophet and that the book of Mormon was an inspired writing, but they maintained that this should not render their case hopeless, as it doubtlessly did with many people. The argued that the days of intolerance and persecution were surely over and replaced by a willingness to accept other men’s opinions.

Nevertheless, Burton’s group was regarded by some as a “sect” and was clearly chasing only converts and money. Some of Burton’s doctrinal points seemed to be quite different from their evangelical interpretation and a healthy debate was predicted.

The Salvation Army was revitalised in 1886 and regular sessions were being held by captains Spargo and Spicer in the Athenaeum and the Wesleyan church . The “Salvos” had been in decline for some time due to a shortage of leadership, and people had looked elsewhere for divine inspiration – including the new Reorganised Church of the Latter Day Saints.

A Hastings branch of the Saints was founded with eleven members and they began holding regular services in the Athenaeum - Sunday school in the morning and services in the afternoon. Burton was earnest and zealous in his viewpoint which appealed to many and an increasing number of locals were being converted and baptized. Fishermen Evan Jones was an elder and Ashton Woolley became a priest and together they presented a service devoid of noise and gesticulation in a very respectable manner which inspired confidence in their listeners. They also visited Somerville where their services were well received.

Above: Latter Day Saints elder Ashton Woolley Below: The Latter Day Saints church in Hastings

Why Hastings?

At the time there were altogether about 200 “Mormons” in Victoria – and a goodly proportion of them seemed to be living in Hastings! This concentration had its origin twenty years earlier when a Church missionary called Glaud Rodger, a Scot who had lived in America, landed in Hastings and preached to a full house. He then spent eight weeks in the area but made very few converts.

At that time, however, Rodger did establish contact with Ashton Woolley and Evan Jones, both of whom were well-respected in the district. Their influence on the community was significant and when Elder Burton came to Hastings twenty years later he found that he had a ready-made audience.

As a result it led to one casual observer remarking that “the fisherfolk of Hastings were mainly Mormons.” This was, of course, an exaggeration - but it did hold a grain of truth. The faith seemed to appeal to them and it was thought that perhaps those long hours at the tiller gave them ample time to think about religion and other “isms”. Whatever the reason, over the short course of a decade, the Latter Day Saints had obviously attracted those who were not particularly tied to a denomination and were ready for something new.

That the Saints had come to stay was obvious in 1888. They built a magnificent new church in Salmon Street to the design of a missionary Thomas Smith who had just returned from the Society Islands. It was of wooden construction with a distinctive high pitched roof similar in style to those he had seen in the South Pacific.

The erection of the church was followed by a three-day conference to which delegates came from far and wide, making it clear that this little village had become the seat and stronghold of a new faith.

Mormons and several wives

Everyone was talking about the Mormons and, not surprisingly, their stance on polygamy. The Latter Day Saints explained it in a purely biblical historical manner, starting with Adam and ranging from Genesis to Revelations. Nevertheless, the topic was set to arouse widespread debate.

When Elder Burton was replaced by the Rev Thomas Smith - no relation to their prophet – the people received a preacher of much power and learning. Smith wasted no time in distancing his church from the Mormons and their polygamy. He stressed that they were a “re-organised” church, and that both the Book of Mormon and the Bible provided clear arguments against polygamy.

Still to be convinced, the local policeman studied up on the bigamy law and strode onto the pier to deliver his own lectureonly to find that there was nothing to worry about. The fishermen’s wives assured him that they would not be happy sharing their men. As one buxom convert put it: “The creed is good enough to play with, but the customs are a different matter altogether and we have nothing to do with those. Surely you don’t think we’re that foolish!”

At the conclusion of the 1880s, Hastings - that quiet little spot with its small population - was remarkably well-off for religious ministration. Weeks after the Saints church was built, the new Roman Catholic church opened in January 1889 in Victoria Street, a few doors along from the Incigneri home where mass had been conducted regularly for some time.

Above left: the Reverend Percy Edwards and family

Above right: Latter Day Saints Elder Cornelius Ammon Butterworth

There were also worshippers in the Church of England, as well as Wesleyans, Presbyterians, and a sprinkling of Brethren and Salvationists.

As one local observed, “So many denominations for the cure of so few souls is rather embarrassing.” Which raised the basic question: were the people of Hastings so good that they had so many churches, or so bad that they really needed that many?

Five years later …

In September 1895 the streets of Hastings were at fever pitch. Every street corner had an orator and people were gathered in small groups debating ideas. The topic? – RELIGION - and more specifically the Mormon faith. Open discussions rapidly developed into arguments and when a stone was thrown at one of the debaters, it served only to arouse passions further.

It had been a hectic month. A letter in the local press from Edward McGurk, a local Somerville farmer and councillor, attacked the established churches for “being envious – or something equally despicable – of the success of the Latter Day Saints.”

He singled out the Church of England as being particularly annoyed, as they had persisted in calling them “Mormons” of Utah when in fact they saw themselves as “Latter Day Saints” of Iowa. As such, they claimed that they did not approve of polygamy, and they did not ask their adherents to shun the other churches but offered an open door to everyone to come and discuss things.

McGurk predicted that when many Protestants realised this, they would only be too happy to apologise to the Latter Day Saints. He claimed that some people were so incensed at their own church’s “trickery” that they converted to the Saints in protest, and on any given Sunday it was quite common to see half a dozen new members being “dipped” in the Warringine Creek.

The Reverend Percy Edwards arrived in Hastings in May 1895 to take up duties at Holy Trinity and delivered his inaugural sermon to over 200 people. It soon became clear to him, however, that he had walked fair and square into a gathering storm.

His concern reached the point where he decided to call in support and the Reverend Villiers-Reid of Korumburra, a renowned academic and public speaker, was invited to Hastings. Reid gave a lecture in the hall on “The Origin and Continuity of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints”, and followed it up with one entitled “Mormonism, Its Errors and Dangers”.

Reid spoke for an hour to a packed house before inviting any rebuttals. In the audience was a Mormon elder, Cornelius Butterworth, who announced that he was not prepared for a debate but had booked the hall for the following night and would rebut everything then.

The two men agreed to meet in two weeks’ time. For the townsfolk of Hastings, Friday September 27 1895 could not come around too soon for the “title fight” between Reid and Butterworth on the chosen subject: “Is the Book of Mormon of Divine Origin”.

The debate

A huge crowd waited outside the Athenaeum. Half an hour before the appointed time, the doors were thrown open and the surging crowd rushed in and within ten minutes the hall was packed from ceiling to floor with many left standing outside. W Baldwin JP of Frankston was in the chair and at precisely 8pm he opened the meeting, urging everyone to seek the truth rather than just gain a victory.

Elder Butterworth opened the debate. He claimed that the Book of Mormon did not replace the Bible but merely confirmed it. He explained that the descendants of the tribe of Joseph had reached America, and the discovery of their records there by Joseph Smith had been predicted in the Book of Isaiah. With the guidance of God, Smith had been able to translate the metal plates which had confounded the experts.

The Reverend Reid was then introduced and drew roars of laughter when he produced two feathers and announced that last night he had been visited by the angel Gabriel who left two feathers from his wings. After all, he said, he was just as likely to receive a vision as was Joseph Smith.

The Book of Mormon was meant to replace the Bible, but to Reid it was “nothing but a clumsy, ignorant fraud foisted on the credulity of foolish people. For instance. it contained references to priestcraft which had only existed in modern times and there were even two quotations from Shakespeare!”

Reid turned to the audience and asked them if they had heard one iota of proof from the other side, and the reply was a resounding “No.” The Chairman asked for a show of hands for and against the Book of Mormon as being of Divine Origin and eight hands were held up for, and a forest of hands against. Proceedings were then closed and the audience dispersed, but for hours afterwards there were little knots of amateur orators busily discussing the subject.

The Church of the Latter Day Saints continued to grow throughout the 1890s. Messrs Woolley and Jones held services in their new church where they were joined by members of the Butterworth, McGurk, Grayden, Mackie, Carmichael and Kippe families.

Footnote

The Reorganised Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints continued to flourish in Hastings until 1952 when the building was relocated to Logan St, Frankston. Twenty years later most of it was demolished and replaced with a modern structure.

The front porchwas saved and stored on a property in South Cranbourne, from where it was retrieved and restored in recent years. It currently sits in the grounds of the Hastings-Western Port Historical Society (pictured right).

This is an extract from “Fish Town – Hastings, the First Fifty Years”. Copies of the book are available from the author Lance Hodgins 0427 160 892 for $30 plus postage if necessary.