About Dianne Parker

Personal

Dianne Parker (nee Yates) is a Deaconess of the Presbyterian Church of Queensland now in active retirement with many years experience in parish ministry, hospital chaplaincy and aged care ministry. She is married to David Parker.

Training and Ministry

Dianne gained an L.Th through Melbourne Bible Institute in 1972 and began working with the Presbyterian Church of Queensland (PCQ) in 1973, and was accepted as a Deaconess in 1976.  She served in parish ministry in Gladstone, Toowoomba and Bundaberg before coming to Brisbane in 1986 where she initially worked half time at St Paul’s Presbyterian Church, St Paul’s Terrace, Brisbane, and half time at St Andrew’s hospital before becoming full time Chaplain at St Andrew’s Hospital.  After the Uniting Church took over the hospital in 2000 she began an Aged Care ministry to all Aged Care homes within a 25km radius of the Brisbane CBD, and to people receiving care packages, which she continued until taking early retirement in 2009.

She has continued her active membership of St Paul’s which was highly appreciated by members.

Interests and Activities

As well taking opportunities for a speaking ministry, Dianne’s interests also included family history, where the links are in UK and Ireland as well as here in Australia.

Dianne also cared for the Archives of the Presbyterian Church of  Queensland, which she began around 2006. The Archives were located at 19 Lang Parade, Milton, Queensland. This work involved accessioning new material, caring for existing records, answering questions, and writing articles on historical topics. The collection no longer exists in its original form.

 

A special interest area was evangelism in the Queensland Presbyterian church from the beginning of the twentieth century, when Andrew Stewart, a tweed manufacturer from Edinburgh, brought a team of evangelists to conduct Simultaneous Evangelistic meetings throughout Brisbane, and then other areas of Queensland.  This was the beginning of a life-long involvement between Mr Stewart and the Queensland Home Missions Department.  It resulted in around one hundred young men, mostly graduates of the Glasgow Bible Institute, being brought to Queensland. They came on the understanding that they would not marry, but serve for at least three years at which time their fare home would be paid if they wished to return. They were appointed to the more remote areas of the State where there was no accommodation for a wife or family, and wages were minimal. If they chose to stay, they continued to study for ordination to the ministry of the Presbyterian church in Queensland.  This link resulted in forging the evangelistic character of the Queensland Presbyterian church during the twentieth century. 

The main records in the collection included PCQ and congregational minutes, parish registers, Assembly documents, church and ministerial fields, newspapers, books, photographs and general files. Some of the material was digitised or microfilmed, and there were electronic and manual indexes. The historical records of the work of the Presbyterian church in aboriginal missions in the north were also contained in the Archives.

Some other projects in recent times were the 150 anniversary of St Paul’s Church and the commemoration of the centenary of the landing on Gallipoli. St Paul’s church held a special service on 19 April 2015 to mark this occasion and also to unveil the honour board from the former Fortitude Valley Presbyterian transferred to St Paul’s for safe keeping.

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