FRASER, William, Rev, B.A. (1861-1948)
Assembly memorial minute, 1948
William Fraser was born at Bendigo on the 28th of May, 1861. He was a true son of our Victorian Church, his father being Mr. Lachlan Fraser, a foundation member of St. Andrew’s, Bendigo. Will Fraser was educated at the Gravel Hill State School, under Mr. J. P. Wilson, later Dr. Wilson, headmaster of the P.L.C. Here he became dux of the Bendigo State School and won a valuable Government Scholarship, to pass on to the Corporate High School, from which he matriculated with honours and won the Waverley Prize, as well as becoming Dux of the School. For one year he studied teaching within St. Andrew’s College, and thereafter for two years was teaching, until he entered the Bank of Victoria. After one year, however, he responded to a call to the ministry, and in 1882, he went into residence at Ormond, completing an Arts Degree and then a theological course in 1888. During sessions at the Hall he took part in the home mission work of young causes at Burnley and Malvern. He was ordained and inducted into his first Charge in 1889, at Woodford.
In three years, he was translated to Scots Church, Ballarat, where he laboured for eleven years. He accepted a call to Ascot Vale and was there inducted in 1903. At Ballarat he became convener of the Victorian Foreign Mission Committee, which office he held for seven years. A ministry at Ascot Vale revealed Mr. Fraser to be a man of great versatility. He was appointed convener of the Board of Missions until 1920.
In 1915, he volunteered as a Chaplain in the Forces, to serve for three months at Broadmeadows; thence as a transport chaplain to Egypt and England; as well as chaplain upon a Hospital transport back to Australia. In 1916, he was back again in Egypt, attached to the 14th Australian General Hospital, and then, the following year as chaplain, with the Field Ambulance of the 3rd Light Horse in Palestine.
Being welcomed home among his people at Ascot Vale, he was called to the Moderator’s chair in 1920. In 1925, he resigned with the intention of retirement and went to Tasmania. However, when the people of Evandale called, he surrendered that idea, and on the 28th May, 1926, when inducted into Evandale, he entered into another 16 years of strenuous and most profitable witness. The Tasmanian Church had recently ventured upon its first separate missionary cause in the New Hebrides, on the island of Epi, and received from the rich experience of the minister at Evandale wise and progressive counsel. In 1929, he again went into a Moderator’s chair, this time, of the Island State Assembly. The historic charge of Evandale was greatly blessed by the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Fraser, during its centenary year.
In 1942, on 31st July, he resigned and was appointed emeritus in 1943. Throughout a distinguished career, Mr. Fraser was a faithful and wise Presbyter. His influence beyond his Church and parish work reached many who accepted him with gratitude and respect, as guide and friend. His life had long outspanned the fourscore. Just before Christmas he was admitted to St. Andrew’s Hospital, very weak in body, and passed quietly away, on New Year’s Day of 1948, at the age of 88.
To Mrs. Fraser, a lady of strong Christian character, whose loving friendship and courage have been a source of strength, the Assembly extends sincere sympathy.
Gender
- Male