DUNN, Andrew, Rev, B.A. B.D. (1871-1947)
Assembly memorial minute, 1948
Andrew Dunn was born in Northern Ireland at Articiare, near Coleraine, on the 27th June, 1871. He became a monitor in the village school, but with the intention of taking up teaching he proceeded to Belfast. There he acquired a great deal of success in that profession, when he heard the Call of God to the ministry. Towards that end he sat for the important Sutherland Scholarship, which he obtained. This scholarship was tenable for four years, during which he took out an Arts Degree in Ireland, attending Queen’s College, Belfast, and Magee, Londonderry. A theological course was completed at New College, Edinburgh, in two years. Having completed his studies, in September of 1901, he was commissioned by the Colonial Committee of the United Free Church of Scotland to labor in Queensland, where he arrived two months later, accompanied by his young wife, formerly Miss Shannon of Londonderry.
On the 17th of December, 1901, he was ordained by the Presbytery of Brisbane; whereupon the Home Mission Committee appointed him to Maranoa. His induction into that Charge was conducted on the 27th of August, 1902.
At the end of 1904, Mr. Dunn was transferred to Mackay. There, he gave five years of rich and fruitful ministry, and for a period from 1910 was Clerk of the Presbytery of Townsville. However, for the sake of his wife’s health he came south, to act as locum tenens at St. John’s, Hobart, for many months.
In 1910, he accepted a call to Camperdown, Victoria. By this time he had completed a B. D. Degree with the London University. While at Camperdown he served—1916 to 1922—as Clerk of the Presbytery of Mortlake. After a memorable ministry there, he was translated to Castlemaine in 1922, where for the third time he accepted a clerkship of Presbytery, from 1929 to 1931; this time within the Presbytery of Bendigo. Mr. Dunn’s ministry was continued in Sunbury, 1931 to 1937; Rokewood, 1937 to 1939; and finally in Connewarre, from 1939 to 1942, when he resigned from the active work of the ministry.
Mr. Dunn’s scholarship was recognized by the G.A.A. when he was appointed as one of its examiners.
For five years Mr. Dunn lived a widower, but constantly received the gracious care of his most accomplished daughter at their home in Torquay. Mr. Dunn’s abilities were revealed in pulpit and administrative work, while at the same time the abiding feature of his ministry will be personal contact with his people. A fine open nature made it easy for folk to confide in him, for he knew that his faith, too, had been called upon to undergo severe tests. The Gospel he preached was that by which he lived, and by which he had triumphed over disappointments and hardships. He was held in high esteem by his brethren of the ministry. His own intimate friends had a deep admiration for his selflessness and courage. Andrew Dunn was a sincere Christian Gentleman.
Mr. Dunn passed away at his home in Torquay on the 29th of June, 1947. To his son and daughter the Assembly tenders sincere sympathy.
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