Photo: James Backhouse.
Tim Gee to give Backhouse Lecture
The Australian version of the Swarthmore Lecture is named after James Backhouse
Tim Gee, general secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC), will deliver the 2025 Backhouse Lecture next month as part of Australia Yearly Meeting.
In the lecture on 7 July, titled ‘The seed is in all: A journey through the Quaker world’, Tim will seek to summarise what he has learnt in his role with FWCC so far. Tim told the Friend that part of his lecture will include the prediction: ‘Quakers have a future for as long as God has a purpose for us, and so long as we unite with that purpose.’
In preparation for the lecture, some of the ideas were explored on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Soulsearch show, available as a podcast worldwide, as well as in the country’s Sight Magazine.
The Australian version of the Swarthmore Lecture is named after James Backhouse, a nineteenth-century botanist, who helped formalise the Quaker movement in Australia. Originally from England, James Backhouse sailed for Australia in 1831, following an inward leading to do so.
‘His journey opened his eyes to the conditions convicts were kept in,’ said Tim. ‘He also condemned the way Aboriginal peoples had been deprived of their lands. Foreshadowing modern conversations about reparations, he wrote, “heavy responsibility lies on the British nation and colonial government to make restitution”.’
The lecture will be presented from 7:30pm AEST on 7 July at the University of Melbourne, and a video recording will be uploaded on the Australia Yearly Meeting website soon after. Printed copies of the lecture are available from the Quaker Bookshop in Friends House, London.
Comments
Great choice. And ‘Quakers have a future for as long as God has a purpose for us, and so long as we unite with that purpose’ is exactly what I think, only better expressed!
By Jenniferdk on 12th June 2025 - 17:22
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