ROBERTSON, Hume, Rev. (1860-1921)
Assembly memorial minute 1922
The Reverend Hume James Robertson was born on the 6th June, 1860. He was the son of the Rev. J.A. Robertson, of Yarrawonga, a highly respected minister of our Church, who was honoured by election to the Moderatorship. He was settled at Mia-Mia in 1885; but his brief ministry there was interrupted by a serious accident, which laid him aside for a year. Thereafter, he was minister of Castlemaine from 1892 to 1907, and afterwards of Brighton Beach from 1907 until his death.
He made long journeys abroad, visiting especially the Holy Land, and during the great war he became one of our chaplains to the Australian Forces abroad. In this service he was raised to the rank of major, and was very seriously wounded.
Shortly after his return, he was assailed by a painful illness. After many months of great distress, which he endured with heroic fortitude, he passed away on the 8th December, 1921.
Hume Robertson was a man of very remarkable character. Perhaps his most notable characteristic was his genius for friendship. He made friends wherever he went, and retained them by maintaining friendly intercourse and doing friendly acts. His friendliness was thoroughly catholic; men of his own profession and men outside of it, and women as well as men, felt the spell of his goodwill. Besides this genius for friendship, he possessed other valuable characteristics: the gallant spirit which he bore throughout life, and which was specially manifested in his volunteering for chaplaincy service with our troops; a rich humour, which delighted his friends, and enabled him to see men and things in their true proportions: untiring industry, and a natural goodness, rooted in a deep religious conviction and religious purpose.
He attended Church courts conscientiously, giving wise counsel on large questions of ecclesiastical policy, interesting himself in the social aspects of the Church's work, and doing faithfully such work as was committed to him. With such a character, it was inevitable that Mr. Robertson should win love. He was deeply beloved by the congregations to which he ministered and they showed their devotion very plainly as occasion arose.
To all his people he was friend as well as minister, interested in all their affairs, and helpful in all their difficulties. But he also won the love of many with whom he had no professional tie. There are few men in our community whose death would be felt more as a personal loss.
The Assembly desires to record its deep gratitude to God for the gift of such a man to our Church, and for the great service he was able to render to Christ; and they offer their deep sympathy to his relatives and friends and to the congregation of Brighton Beach.
Gender
- Male