Keith Hendry a friend and Bush Chaplain
What is a Bush Chaplain? I have asked myself these past weeks. I have some difficulty trying to imagine what this role might involve. I can always create a story. But then, I can share my story of my friend Keith Hendry. A wheat and sheep farmer from Western Australia.
I first met Keith when Joan and I arrived at Elcho Island in 1969. A tall man around 6’3. well built in his mid-40’s. His curly hair thinning, a soft grey hat mostly on his head, his large hands expressive, his face scarred from too much sun. I was never quite sure what his role was on the mission. He was the go-to man. The problem solver. The fixer of broken equipment, who some years after we first met, became a Bush Chaplain, his base Tennant Creek, a small town 600 K north of Alice Springs. His chaplaincy covered the farming, mining, first nation and road maintenance families across a large expanse of Outback Australia. So, what are the gifts and skills a Bush Chaplain brings to his or her congregation? Let me give you a brief glimpse of Keith Hendry.
Shortly after we arrived at Elcho Island, I became aware of a shortage of vehicles on the mission. Staff were frustrated. Some thought their work more essential than others. Late one night, while unloading a coastal trader from Cairns, five wooden crates came off the boat addressed to Keith. They were taken up the hill to his place. This only increased the intrigue. Two days later Keith arrived at the workshop with a new 75cc Yamaha farm bike. He stepped off the bike. “This is for the workshop.” he said. Keith turned and walked off. “I need to go.” he called over his shoulder. “I have more bikes to deliver.” Dave Morris, the superintendent of the mission asked Keith, “where the new bikes came from?” “Don’t worry” said Keith, “it’s my gift to the mission.”
In the beginning
Back when Keith was at Elcho Island, he appeared at the mechanic’s workshop late one afternoon in his Land Rover. A freighter from Cairns was due to drop anchor at around 9.00pm that night. “Are you ready for the boat unloading tonight?” he asked. “Well, all the vehicles are fueled up. Runung is collecting the drivers, I expect a full complement tonight.” I responded. “So, are you going to get wet or drive a vehicle?” Keith asked. “Get wet.” my response. There was a long pause. He looked at me in the fading light. “Are you happy wading out into an incoming tide, getting wet up to your waist, a bag of cement on your shoulders?” “No,” I said. “Then let’s change this process.” said Keith, as he turned around, stepped into his Land Rover and left with a wave of his hand.
Around a week later, Keith walked into the workshop. “Got a minute?” he asked as he pushed his grey flannel hat back off his head. “Got an idea, but I need some materials to build a ramp.” I looked at Keith. “I’m too old to carry boxes of food, building materials and bags of cement through salt water. I’m thinking of building a movable ramp. Drive the front-end loader up the ramp. Attach four chains to a hook on the front of the bucket, lift a pallet out of the small barge, back the tractor down the ramp, to place the pallet on the truck, taken to the store to be sorted.” Keith paused, while I tried to take in what he had said. Then he smiled, his eyes lit up, his hat pushed back on his head. “No more wet boots Ken.” he said as he turned and left.
And so, it came to pass. Keith camped himself at the engineer’s workshop. Working with the Yolnu welders, his search for discarded metal pipe, angle iron and two wheels took him to the mission tip, plumbers’ workshop, and building sites around the mission. By the next boat unloading, a twenty-foot ramp with a timber deck sporting two retractable wheels, found its way to the beach. Positioning the ramp, the wheels raised, the ramp sat on the sand in the incoming tide. The ramp worked like a precision watch, that is, until a rope used to lower the wheels, broke. I reminded Keith of his words, “no more wet boots Ken!” His quick response, “You rarely get it right the first time!”
A guest in another’s home
Keith and Rhonda, his wife, were generous with their time. Their home, welcoming, open to all. A bible study always on the go at his home at Elcho Island. As always, Keith had his own way of preparing for his call to be a Bush Chaplain. His preparation centered around how to serve those who he would meet in their place. their home, their space, for a short time, then move on.
It was after Keith took up his role as a Bush Chaplain; he went down to Adelaide and purchased a 4-ton truck. On the back of the truck, he built a caravan size structure to accommodate himself and Rhonda. It contained a bed, shower, toilet and cooking facilities. Keith added a library with a range of books to be shared with those they met on the way. Keith had said that as a Bush Chaplain, they needed to be self-sufficient so as not to be a burden on the families and workers he came to visit and sit with. They lived independently. This enabled them to stay where they were needed, share with families in communion, baptise children and adults, listen to stories and work with the station staff to fix what was broken.
Being a farmer, Keith could weld, repair fences, ride a motor bike, round up sheep and work with the station manager or owner with their scattered staff. He could invite station hands to a meal at his place, the caravan. Sit with an isolated family, the father; a grader driver, baptize a child beside a road. To mourn the passing of a family member, a worn photo on a small table, a lit candle, words spoken, grief shared. A family separated from a loved one by distance measured in hours. To sit with a station manager’s wife so desperately missing a growing child in school down south. To share in a bible study under a night sky beside his mobile home. To be a servant to those who passed by him as their Bush Chaplain.
A new life beckoned
Keith had not always been a church goer. His wife and six boys attended a small Methodist Church in their farming community in Western Australia. On Sunday’s Keith was happy attending work on the farm and checking in on the family roast for lunch. He was a special occasions attender. He enjoyed Christmas, and Easter services, and the occasional baptism of his children or their close friends’ children. When their church could no longer afford a minister, the members asked Keith for help. He smiled as he recalled the story. “I said I would help on one condition;” he said. “Those present on the Sunday before I took a service were to provide the theme for the next service, then I prepared my service.” This gap filling preaching solved an immediate need. On occasions an ordained minister from their nearest large town would come to take a communion service.
It was during this period in Keith’s life when all was good. Rhonda, an asthmatic, became ill and was flown to a Perth hospital. Keith remained on the farm, anxious, but not too concerned. A phone call one night from the hospital and Keith was in his car headed for Perth. Arriving at the hospital, Keith found Rhonda seriously ill. Sitting beside her when Keith walked into her room, a Chaplain. He was about to leave when Keith arrived. They talked; they prayed. The Chaplain, about to leave when Keith asked. “What’s this anointing a sick person with oil. Have you ever anointed another person with oil?”
The Chaplain paused, took a small bottle from his pocket and anointed the forehead of Rhonda with the sign of the cross. The Chaplin left. Keith remained with Rhonda eventually falling asleep, to be woken by a nurse. A few days later, Keith returned to his farm. Rhonda to follow some days later. Ronda made a complete recovery.
However, over time Keith grew restless. After a conversation with Rhonda, they sold their property, tidied up their affairs in the small rural community, bought a falcon station wagon and drove to Darwin. Their two youngest boys Phillip and Stephen accompanied them. Keith began work with the Methodist Overseas Mission at Elcho Island. He was a practical man, who saw mission life through a different lens. He challenged long held ideas and brought people together.
A man of God
Keith and Rhonda retired to north Queensland. He built a home and settled down. But not for long. He sold their home, bought a big ford ute and caravan, and began travelling between Cairns and Perth. While on the road he would find time for a bible study in a caravan park.
One day while visiting my mother in Swan Hill, she told me Keith had been in town visiting the local Uniting Church Minister while on his way to Perth. A small bible study was organised as they paused to great friends on their way to visit family in Western Australia. Keith and Rhonda continued to drive between Hervey Bay and Perth for several years. On their way, they had made friends where they stayed a few days, organised a bible study, got to know the local people, then went on their way. While retired, Keith, the Bush Chaplain continued his work of bringing to people a living God.
A few years ago, Joan and I visited Keith in Hervey Bay. It was soon after the passing of Rhonda. We were soon in a conversation. “You around for a while?” he asked. “Yes” I said, “a few days anyway.” “Good. Can you take me to my local eye specialist? He’s a good friend. I must convince him not to take away my driver’s licence. My eyes are giving me trouble.” The conversation drifted. Dinner was served. “Do you want me to say Grace?” I asked. “No,” he said, “I just live Grace these days” And his face lit up. Next morning, I arrived at his unit at the appointed time. We drove down to his eye specialist in Hervey Bay. I stayed in the car. Half an hour later he emerged, a smile all over his face. He climbed into the passenger seat, looked at me and smiled. “I can continue to drive.”
Perhaps his most loved times was when he was sitting with a small group of people sharing his understanding of scripture through his bible studies. Wherever he was, be it in a church, in a caravan park, on the side of the road, there was always time for a bible study, be it one or a number. When I came to Elcho Island in 1969, Keith handed me a book. “Come join us for some lively discussion around this book.” His invitation. It was “The Normal Christian Life” by Watchman Nee.” It began with these words from Galatians; Chapter 2 verse 20. “It is no longer I, but Christ.” This was how Keith lived his life.
Ken Manson