Baptisms by the Rev John Roberts

The Society has recently received a copy of the baptismal register for the Rev John Roberts, who came to the Maffra Presbyterian Church in late 1865, later moving to Stratford. Overall, he spent fifty years ministering to the people of Gippsland from the two towns, carrying out 1,240 baptisms in the process.

The Rev Roberts often travelled to Lindenow, and obviously had a close relationship with the Scott family at Delvine. In all, he performed 32 baptisms at Delvine. Some other figures are: Briagolong 94, Nuntin 38, Roseneath 14, Stratford 119, Yeerung 30.

Stratford names include Barker, Beecher, Gilmour, Hardy, Hazlett, Johnson, Keddie, Light, Little, Manning, Mitchell, Poole and Weir. Yeerung names include Bartlett, Blake, Carroll, Gray, Martin, Orchard, Sibbald, Tweedie and Walkden. Nuntin names include Stothers and Wrigglesworth.

The different makeup of the Stratford community is also shown – from 1891, itinerant families of line repairers, working for the railways, began to have children baptised. However the majority of children in Stratford were from families of farmers and labourers, with only an occasional storekeeper, shoemaker or other occupation.

The Rev Roberts was born in London in 1829, and arrived in Adelaide in 1849. He worked as a lay preacher in various Adelaide suburban missions, until being appointed to the new charge of Goolwa the following year. He remained there for ten years, but maintained strong links, often returning there for holidays. He was returning from a holiday there in December 1915, to celebrate his fifty years of continuous service to the Presbyterian Church in North Gippsland, when he died suddenly on the train at Camberwell. He had carried out two baptisms in South Australia several days previously.

After Goolwa he relocated to Melbourne, spending time at missions at Footscray and Maidstone, before moving to Stratford and Maffra in 1865. Ill-health forced his retirement from full-time ministry at Stratford in 1897, but he continued to baptise children, often the children of those he had first baptised many years before. In retirement, he lived in Maffra.

The records now held by the Society have been organised by surname, making it easy to check for those interested in their early family history. They are currently on open access in the museum as part of small exhibition on the Rev and Mrs Roberts. The portraits that form the centrepiece are on loan from the Uniting Church at Stratford, and previously hung in the Presbyterian Church at Valencia Creek.