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Baptismal FontPrint Page Print this page

04-August-2013
04-August-2013
Photographs supplied by Graeme Saunders

An unnamed member of the Ladies Harbour Lights Guild gifted the Baptismal font in 1917 as a memorial to two apprentices ( Nigel Hockley and Fred Hyde)  on the "Galgorm Castle" which was torpedoed and sunk on a voyage from Argentina to Ireland in early 1917.

It is often asked by the uninitiated what do we do for our sailors? No one can answer the question so well as those acquainted with the unostentatious and patriotic work done by the members of the Ladies' Harbor Light Guild in connection with the Seamen's Church and institute. The building may be found right in the midst of all the bustle and turmoil of the Australian Wharf, at the end of Flinders-street. With the chaplain and Mrs. A. Gurney Goldsmith, the members of this Harbor Light Guild make it their business to provide there a bright, home like spot, where the men of the mercantile marine-or any other kind of sailor coming to that-are always certain of a cheery welcome ashore. 

But, complete as is every corner of the institute, no part is better equipped than the memorial chapel. This veritable sanctuary of peace sprang out of war. It was erected, at a cost of over £1100, by the members of the Harbor Light Guild, in memory of the officers and men who have given their lives since hostilities began. The fittings are entirely of Australian woods. Already the chapel holds memorials of historical interest. The altar lecturn was given in memory of Commander Elwell, who was killed at Rabaul in the early part of the war. The font commemorates two heroes-Nigel Hockley and Fred Hyde-who lost their lives at the hands of the Germans after having survived the actual torpedoing of their ship, the Galgorm Castle, off the coast of Ireland. The mother of one of these lads wrote out that her son had died as an Englishman should-fighting for the right. This noble sentiment is suitably paraphrased in the engraved inscription. Practically everything enshrined in the chapel has its own sentimental tale. The very alms salver, of beaten copper studded with agate, is fragrant with the memory of a saintly woman. The eye of the sailor is caught, and held, by a pulpit, fashioned like a ship's hull, and only a twist of rope guides the pilot up the step.
Excerpt from Leader (Melbourne),  21 September 1918.

Location

Address:717 Flinders Street, Mission to Seafarers, Docklands, 3008
State:VIC
Area:Foreign
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -37.822408
Long: 144.951305
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Religious Object
Monument Theme:Conflict
Sub-Theme:WW1
Actual Event Start Date:04-August-1914
Actual Event End Date:28-June-1919

Dedication

Approx. Monument Dedication Date:1918
Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au