John Henry Sexton OBE (2 July 1863 – 3 November 1954) was a Baptist minister in South Australia.

History

Sexton was born in

Callington Callington ( kw, Kelliwik) is a civil parish and town in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom about north of Saltash and south of Launceston. Callington parish had a population of 4,783 in 2001, according to the 2001 census. This had inc ...

, the fourth son of Alfred Sexton and his wife Grace James née Bray. He grew up in Mount Barker and studied for the Baptist ministry at Union College, was ordained in 1885, and served as minister to Baptist churches in Georgetown,

Gumeracha Gumeracha ( ) is a town in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, located on the Adelaide-Mannum Road. It is located in the Adelaide Hills Council local government area on the south bank of the upper River Torrens. At the 2006 census, Gumeracha ...

Morphett Vale Morphett Vale is a southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Onkaparinga. It is the largest suburb in the state, with a population of more than 23,000 and an area of 12.76 km2, followed by Paralowie with nearly 10,000 few ...

and

Gawler Gawler is the oldest country town on the Australian mainland in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the ...

. He was secretary (1900–03) and president (1906) of the South Australian Baptist Union, and edited the Southern Baptist from 1905 to 1907. He was for 23 years secretary of the Adelaide chapter of the British and Foreign Bible Society and editor of their monthly ''The Bible in the World'' from 1909 to 1919. He was secretary of the

Aborigines' Friends' Association The Aborigines' Friends' Association (AFA) was established out of concern for "the moral, spiritual and physical well-being" of Australian Aboriginal people from the Northern Territory and particularly South Australia. This organisation operated ...

from 1911 to 1942 and its president for several years. He arranged to have the gospels translated and printed in Aranda. He was actively involved with

Adelaide City Mission Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The demo ...

for over 25 years and its president in 1926. He was a member of the State Advisory Council for Aborigines from 1918 to 1940 and on occasion served as secretary. In 1935 he served as a member of a board called by the Commonwealth to investigate the treatment of Aborigines at

Hermannsburg Mission The Hermannsburg Mission (german: Hermannsburger Mission) was founded as the Hermannsburg Mission Centre (''Missionsanstalt Hermannsburg'') in 1849 in Hermannsburg, near Celle, North Germany, by Louis Harms. In 1977, the independent mission soc ...

and the killing of Yokunnunna, an unarmed Aborigine, at Ayers Rock (now

Uluru Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially Gazette#Gazette as a verb, gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone geological formation, formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the ...

) by Constable W. McKinnon.

Bibliography

*Sexton, J. H. (editor) ''The Classic of the Soul: an anthology'' (Adelaide, 1937) *Sexton, J. H. ''Australian Aborigines'' (Adelaide, 1944) *Sexton, J. H. ''Aboriginal Intelligence'' (Adelaide, 1946)

Family

He married Mary Annie Playford (died 1956), the eldest daughter of Thomas Playford, on 30 June 1886. Their daughter Annie served as a nurse in Egypt during World War I.

Recognition

He was appointed an OBE in January 1946.

Sources

*Suzanne Edgar, 'Sexton, John Henry (1863–1954)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sexton-john-henry-8390/text14709, published in hardcopy 1988, accessed online 16 October 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sexton, John Henry 19th-century Australian Baptist ministers 1863 births 1954 deaths 20th-century Australian Baptist ministers