The Reverend Frederick Vicary Pratt (9 April 1870 – 25 April 1932) was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

-born

Congregational church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

minister who served as chairman of the State Congregational Unions of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

(1906–07),

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

(1909-10) and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

(1914–15). He maintained that Australians could hold their own against the world in art, scholarship and sport and believed that Australia would at some time produce a national religious reformer attuned to local conditions.

Early life and family

Pratt was born at

Petersham, New South Wales Petersham is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Petersham is located 6 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area ...

, the seventh child of William Pratt, an English-born

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

. He was educated at

Newington College , motto_translation = To Faith Add Knowledge , location = Inner West and Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = A ...

commencing in 1883 and in 1888 he won the Wigram Allen Scholarship, endowed by

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

George Wigram Allen Sir George Wigram Allen (16 May 1824 – 23 July 1885) was an Australian politician and philanthropist. He was Speaker in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1875–1883. Allen was held in high esteem. As speaker he showed dignity, courtes ...

, for general proficiency. At the end of 1888 Pratt was named Dux of the college and received the Schofield Scholarship. He went up to the University of Sydney and in 1889 graduated as a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1892 and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1897 with first-class honours in Latin and the university gold medal for logic and mental philosophy. After visiting the other colonies and New Zealand as the travelling secretary of the Student Christian Movement, Pratt studied theology at Camden College and was ordained in 1897. He married Agnes Elizabeth Waddell in the year of his ordination.

Ministry

He served as a minister at the

Katoomba, New South Wales Katoomba is the chief town of the City of Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia, and the administrative headquarters of Blue Mountains City Council. The council's understanding is that Katoomba is located on the lands of the Dharug and Gu ...

, Congregational Church from 1897 to 1907 and the

Angaston, South Australia Angaston is a town on the eastern side of the Barossa Valley in South Australia, 77 km northeast of Adelaide. Its elevation is 347 m, one of the highest points in the valley, and has an average rainfall of 561 mm. Angaston was origi ...

, Congregational Church from 1907 until 1910. He moved to Victoria as minister of Wyclif Congregational Church in Surrey Hills serving from 1910 until 1916 when he went to

Brisbane, Queensland Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. He returned to Sydney and the Vaucluse church in 1917 and Hunters Hill in 1918 before a three-year ministry in

Davey Street Davey Street a major one way street passing through the outskirts of the Hobart City Centre in Tasmania, Australia. Davey street is named after Thomas Davey, the first Governor of Van Diemen's Land. The street forms a one-way couplet with near ...

Hobart, Tasmania Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-smalle ...

. Pratt's final ministry was at the Roseby Memorial Church in

Marrickville, New South Wales Marrickville is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Marrickville is located south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the largest suburb in the Inner West Council local governme ...

from 1928 until his death in 1932. He was survived by his wife, daughter and four sons.

External links

* Neil Gunson,
Pratt, Frederick Vicary (1870–1932)
, ''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', Volume 11, Melbourne University Press, 1988. * Photograph �
Archives Office of Tasmania

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, Frederic Vicary Pratt 1870 births 1932 deaths Australian Congregationalist ministers People educated at Newington College 20th-century Congregationalist ministers