The Uniting Church National History Society Biennial Conference took place at the Centre for Theology and Ministry in Melbourne from 7 to 10 June.
The theme of the conference was ‘Finding a home in the Uniting Church?’ We reflected on what it means to belong to the Uniting Church in this day and age.
Over the two days 20 papers were presented by members of the society and interested historians. These papers covered a wide variety of subjects.
There were three keynote speakers; the first was Dr Meredith Lake. She speaking on the topic ‘Why religious history belongs in a secular society”.
The second speaker was Dr Joanna Cruikshank and she gave a very interesting paper on the relationship between ‘Missions, Government and Aboriginal people in Australia, 1850 – 1970’.
The third keynote speaker was Professor Graeme Davison and the topic of his paper was on ‘Religious history for a secular age’.
The conference concluded with the Uniting Church National History Society AGM and the election of the Board of the Society.
The conference was very well organised and run and thanks must go to the William Emilsen, Judith Raftery, Rob Renton and Anne Byrne, Events Co-ordinator.
Sheena Hesse