Vale Rev Duncan Harrison - 1928-2026

Generously written by Dr John Harrison. Photo: Rev Duncan Harrison, 1948.

From the age of eight to the age of eighteen Duncan Harrison was a Boy Scout, rising to the rank of Assistant Cubmaster in the 7^th Rockhampton Troop. The mantra of the Boy Scouts – Be Prepared – served him for the next eight decades.

Ordained, and inducted into the Presbyterian charge of Chinchilla in 1954, calls to St Enoch’s Mt Morgan, St Giles Yeerongpilly, and St Andrews Bundaberg followed. In 1972 he was appointed as Director of Outreach, and Assembly Evangelist for the Presbyterian Church of Queensland, and then in 1975, Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Local Mission. His initiative in promoting small group bible studies, beginning with Jesus Christ for Today saw thousands meeting in home groups. He himself wrote 12 sets of Advent and Lent bible studies in the 1980s.

He was a member of the inaugural Assembly of the Uniting Church in Sydney on June 22, 1977, a moment of great joy, tinged with sadness in leaving behind many good friends who stayed out of union. He was a member of the succeeding, not so solemn Assemblies in 1979, 1982, and 1985. He immersed himself in the foundation documents of the Uniting Church: The Faith of the Church (1959) and The Church. It’s Nature, Function & Ordering (1963) and the Basis of Union (1971). He delivered lectures on the Basis of Union at Trinity College, and coauthored “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Basis of Union” with the late Don Whebell in 1996. Duncan’s perspective on the formation and future of the Uniting Church can be viewed on the Queensland Atlas of Religion website: https://qareligion.com.au/duncan-harrison/

At the point of union, he accepted an invitation to become the full-time chair of the Presbytery of Central Queensland. Critical to his exercise of that role was the notion of pastor pastorum: pastor to the pastors. His pastoral responsibilities were extended when in 1979 he was elected to be Moderator of the Queensland Synod for 1980-1981, and General Secretary of the Queensland Synod from 1983-1988. He always proclaimed himself to be “a humble parish minister” and in 1989 he returned to parish ministry at Wellers Hill-Tarragindi.

It was not as moderator and synod secretary that Duncan’s ministry had its greatest impact. It was as chair of Central Queensland Presbytery 1978-1982, where as pastor pastorium he embodied Para 16 of the Basis of Union, in fostering the spiritual life of ministers and congregations, in the bush towns of the far west, in the sugar towns, in the fast growing industrial areas, and most notably in the new mining towns and construction camps springing up in the Bowen Basin – Dysart, Middlemount, Moranbah, Blackwater, Tieri, and then Emerald, Capella and Clermont. He was aided in this by the Synod and Assembly, personified by the late Rev Ron Elvery, and the late Rev Gray Birch, of Frontier Services. Of course, he knew about ministry in mining towns. He had been minister of St Enoch’s Mt Morgan for nearly five years in the late 1950s.

He never forgot his New Testament Greek, regularly drawing on it in his preaching. He had a lifelong appreciation of the Scottish New Testament scholar William Barclay: both Bible commentaries and prayers. He remembered his visit with Barclay in Glasgow in 1974 to the end of his life. He was extraordinarily diligent in his reading and study of the Bible. In retirement he led spiritual retreats, particularly for Ministers of the Word. His favourite book of the Bible was the Psalms, in which he found the character of God best revealed.

Duncan is survived by his daughter, Heather Johnson, and his sons John, Peter and Scott, nine grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren.