From the Archives: Professor Kenneth Wiltshire donates a piece of history

Professor Kenneth Wiltshire recently donated a framed picture to the Historical Resource Centre at our Kenmore Campus.

Prof. Wiltshire and his family have been dedicated supporters for generations, initiating much of the work that we do at Churches of Christ.

While on a recent visit to the museum, Prof. Wiltshire brought this significant piece of history along with him and generously donated it to be displayed with the other interesting artefacts that are in the museum collection. One of the people in the photograph is Prof. Wiltshire’s grandfather, Clive Burdeu, a prominent figure within Churches of Christ in Queensland. 

In 1950, Clive famously won an auction for a property in Spring Hill with a mere 10 shilling deposit in his pocket, which equates to about $17.50 today. After the auction, Clive quickly sourced money via fundraising events and donations to pay the full sum for the mortgage. He succeeded. When the mortgage was paid off in full, Clive and other members of the Churches of Christ Social Services Committee celebrated by burning the mortgage paperwork. The Spring Hill location was to become the first of many Churches of Christ aged care facilities to open in Queensland and still exists in serving the community today as social housing. 

Left to Right: Minister Robertson, Federal Minister for Social Services; H. W. Herman, member of Churches of Christ Social Services Committee and Elder at Albion Church of Christ; C. R. Burdeu, Director of Churches of Christ Social Services; H. W. Wiltshire, Treasurer Churches of Christ Social Services Fund-Raising Committee.

There are many intriguing tales that make up the Churches of Christ story, with a myriad of accounts recorded in journals, articles, books and photographs. There are also many unique artefacts which add to the richness of the Churches of Christ history.  These can all be discovered in the Historical Resource Centre, our on-site museum at Kenmore Head Office. The museum is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am – 3pm and is accessible to all staff and visitors to Head Office. Staff prayer meetings are held in the museum every Tuesday morning at 8am. 

We look forward to bringing you regular snippets of our fascinating history in our blog series ‘From the Archives’ where we will be sharing stories about the inspiring people who have contributed to our history and looking at some of the events which have informed our narrative as an organisation. We will also be investigating some of the weird and wonderful museum objects we have on-site. And if there is anything that you would like to find out more about, please let us know! Historical Resource Co-Ordinator Jenny Moore can be reached on 1800 193 438 or by emailing [email protected].

If you would like further reading on this historical moment go to: FLASHBACK: Churches of Christ first aged care service