The Most Reverend

Bevan Meredith
Archbishop of Papua New Guinea
ChurchAnglican Church of Papua New Guinea
SeeNew Guinea Islands (1977–1995)
In office1990–1995
Other post(s)Assistant Bishop of New Guinea (1967–1977)
Orders
Ordination1961 deacon, 1962 priest
by Philip Strong
Consecration1967
Personal details
Born14 August 1927
Alstonville, New South Wales, Australia
Died17 December 2019(2019-12-17) (aged 92)
Brisbane, Australia

Bevan Stanley Meredith (14 August 1927 – 17 December 2019) was an Anglican clergyman in Australia and Papua New Guinea who was Bishop of the New Guinea Islands (1977–1995) and Archbishop of Papua New Guinea (1990–1995).

Early life

Meredith was born in 1927,[1] the son of Stanley Meredith, who was a teacher,[2][3] and his wife Edith (née Witchard).[4]

He was educated at Towalbyn Public School in Uralba[5] and Ballina High School.[6] In 1945 the family moved to Mango Hill in Queensland.[7] Initially working on the family farm, he then became a clerk at the City Electric Light Company.[8] Meredith then became a teacher, initially at a small Anglican school called St Christopher's in Brookfield, which had been established by Fr Robert Bates, Rector of All Saints, Wickham Terrace, Brisbane.[9]

From 1948 he taught at the Slade School in Warwick,[10] before moving to Papua & New Guinea in 1954 to teach at the Martyrs School in Popondetta.[11] This was only three years after the Mount Lamington volcanic eruption which destroyed the school, and at the time it was still being rebuilt.[12]

Career

Meredith trained for ordination at St Francis' Theological College, Brisbane and was ordained deacon in 1961 and priest in 1962.[13] He served a short curacy at St Thomas', Toowong in the Diocese of Brisbane from 1961 to 1962 and then returned to Papua & New Guinea as a missionary in the Papuan Peninsula from 1962 to 1966.[14] He was then Archdeacon of New Guinea from 1966 to 1967.[15]

He was consecrated a bishop in 1967 and became an assistant bishop of New Guinea, as well as being Archdeacon of the New Guinea Islands.[16] In 1968 he was appointed an Australian Army chaplain (Papua & New Guinea then being an Australian territory).[17]

As late as 1970, Meredith was still finding communities of Papuans in the Highlands for whom Christianity was novel, and he was the first to baptise any of them.[18] In 1977 he became Bishop of the New Guinea Islands,[19] and in 1990 additionally Archbishop of Papua New Guinea.[20] He survived the volcanic eruption in Rabaul in 1994,[21] and retired in 1995. Meredith was a Franciscan tertiary.[22]

Personal life

In retirement Meredith lived in Brisbane.[23] He died in 2019, aged 92, and his funeral was at St John's Cathedral in Brisbane.[24] He was unmarried.[25] His sister Marion married the Rt Rev George Tung Yep.[26]

References

  1. ↑ "ABM: RIP Bishop Bevan Meredith, 17 December 2019". Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  2. ↑ "Slade School Teacher Going to Papua". Warwick Daily News. No. 10, 802. Queensland, Australia. 26 March 1954. p. 2. Retrieved 22 April 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ Autobiography of Bishop Bevan Meredith, (2020: privately published), p 11.
  4. ↑ Autobiography of Bishop Bevan Meredith, (2020: privately published), p 13.
  5. ↑ Autobiography of Bishop Bevan Meredith, (2020: privately published), p 14.
  6. ↑ Autobiography of Bishop Bevan Meredith, (2020: privately published), p 16.
  7. ↑ Autobiography of Bishop Bevan Meredith, (2020: privately published), p 17.
  8. ↑ Autobiography of Bishop Bevan Meredith, (2020: privately published), p 18.
  9. ↑ Autobiography of Bishop Bevan Meredith, (2020: privately published), p 19.
  10. ↑ Autobiography of Bishop Bevan Meredith, (2020: privately published), p 20.
  11. ↑ "Slade School Teacher Going to Papua". Warwick Daily News. No. 10, 802. Queensland, Australia. 26 March 1954. p. 2. Retrieved 22 April 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ↑ "Slade School Teacher Going to Papua". Warwick Daily News. No. 10, 802. Queensland, Australia. 26 March 1954. p. 2. Retrieved 22 April 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ↑ Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1973–74, 85th Edition, p 646.
  14. ↑ Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1973–74, 85th Edition, p 646.
  15. ↑ Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1973–74, 85th Edition, p 646.
  16. ↑ Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1973–74, 85th Edition, p 646.
  17. ↑ "AUSTRALIAN MILITARY FORCES". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. No. 76. 19 September 1968. p. 5235. Retrieved 22 April 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ↑ "FIRST CHRISTIANS IN THE AREA". Papua New Guinea Post-courier. International, Australia. 20 October 1970. p. 3. Retrieved 22 April 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ↑ "'Little beginning at St George's". Papua New Guinea Post-courier. International, Australia. 28 April 1977. p. 12. Retrieved 22 April 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. ↑ "ABM: RIP Bishop Bevan Meredith, 17 December 2019". Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  21. ↑ Autobiography of Bishop Bevan Meredith, (2020: privately published), p 154.
  22. ↑ Autobiography of Bishop Bevan Meredith, (2020: privately published), p 179.
  23. ↑ "ABM: RIP Bishop Bevan Meredith, 17 December 2019". Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  24. ↑ "ABM: RIP Bishop Bevan Meredith, 17 December 2019". Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  25. ↑ "The Weekly Times: Bishop Bevan Stanley Meredith". Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  26. ↑ "Anglican Diocese of North Queensland: Bishop's Bulletin January 2020". Retrieved 21 April 2021.
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