It was interesting to see the names that appeared on the foundation stones we identified last Sunday as part of our all age worship based on the theme of stones and rocks, stumbling blocks and potholes.
I can recall Robert Menzies, JM Young and Henry Clarnette. Thanks to all who organised, took part and attended last Sunday morning.
And I came across another significant name during the week, and there is a link with Robert Menzies. It was while I was attending a group interview of potential volunteers at the State Library. I noticed there was a picture on the wall of Irving Benson and discovered I was in the Irving Benson Room.
Sir Clarence Irving Benson (1897-1980), was one of the leading church figures in the public life of post-war Australia. Serving as Superintendent of the Central Methodist Mission from 1933 to 1967, his pulpit was open to civic leaders from Sir Robert Menzies (who appeared 32 times) to Richard Casey. His Pleasant Sunday Afternoon ministry of guest speakers and corporate worship soon became a national institution, broadcast across radio stations to an Australia-wide audience.
Knighted in 1963. A noted book collector, Benson served as chairman of the Public (State) Library (1940-66) and also the combined Public Library, Museums and National Gallery of Victoria (1942-46). And that is why there is an Irving Benson Room at the State Library.
“The Public Library is at once the product of democracy and a sign of faith in universal education as a life-long process.” Irving Benson
As a fairly socially and culturally conservative (by today’s standards) Methodist clergyman, Irving Benson may appear an unlikely defender of the library as a democratic institution. But that is the point. Benson himself used libraries to self-educate. Libraries are for all; libraries enable social and political literacy and participation. Libraries teach not what to think, but how.
Ray