William Kelynack (22 May 1831 – 1 November 1891) was a

Cornish Australian Cornish Australians ( kw, Ostralians kernewek) are citizens of Australia who are fully or partially of Cornish heritage or descent, an ethnic group native to Cornwall in the United Kingdom. Cornish Australians form part of the worldwide Corni ...

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

minister Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

, President of Newington College, and President of the General Conference of the Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church.

Early life

Kelynack was born at

Newlyn Newlyn ( kw, Lulyn: Lu 'fleet', Lynn/Lydn 'pool') is a seaside town and fishing port (the largest fishing port in England) in south-west Cornwall, UK.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' Newlyn lies on the shore of Mount ...

, Cornwall,Walking Britain
Retrieved 28 September 2007 and was educated in

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

. He briefly taught in a private school before taking up mercantile pursuits. Aged 18, he became a local preacher and four years later entered the

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

ministry.

Australian ministry

Kelynack arrived in Sydney in 1854, with fellow

Cornishman The Cornish people or Cornish ( kw, Kernowyon, ang, Cornƿīelisċ) are an ethnic group native to, or associated with Cornwall: and a recognised national minority in the United Kingdom, which can trace its roots to the ancient Britons w ...

and minister

William Curnow William Curnow (1832 – 14 October 1903) was a Cornish Australian journalist, and Methodist minister, and was editor of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' for 15 years. Early life Curnow was baptised on 2 December 1832 at St Ives, Cornwall, Unite ...

, and he served in the Bathurst circuit until 1856, whence he transferred to Braidwood and then to

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in 1860. After appointments to Chippendale, Parramatta and

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

he served in York Street, Sydney (1865–67) and Surry Hills (1868–70). During the 1860s, Kelynack was a councillor of Newington College, a committee member of Sydney City Mission, and became coeditor of the '' Christian Advocate and Wesleyan Record'' with William Curnow. In 1870 he was transferred to Goulburn where he was district chairman and in 1874 he returned to Bathurst.

England and America tour

Kelynack returned to the United Kingdom in 1877 to visit his ailing mother. While there he addressed the British Methodist Conference and raised £3000 for Newington College. He returned to Australia via the United States of America where he addressed the students at Drew Theological Seminary and preached in New York City,

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and Chicago. During his tour, he was awarded a doctorate in divinity by the

University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a member of the University of Louisiana System and the Urban 13 association. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High rese ...

Church leadership

On his return to Sydney in 1878, Kelynack was appointed to the Bourke Street Church and two years later was elected president of the New South Wales and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Annual Conference. In the 1880s he was a general secretary of Foreign Missions and travelled widely in the Pacific, raising £6000 in funds. Kelynack succeeded

Joseph Horner Fletcher Joseph Horner Fletcher (1 October 1823 – 30 June 1890) was a West Indies-born Methodist minister of English descent and was the founding Principal of Wesley College, Auckland and the second President of Newington College, Sydney. He was elect ...

as president of Newington College in 1887 and in May 1890 was elected president of the Sixth General Conference of the Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church. He died from Bright's disease survived by his wife, Lucy, and by seven sons and four daughters.

Bibliography

* Jubilee Newingtonian 1863–1913 (Syd, 1914) * J. Colwell (ed), A Century in the Pacific (Syd, 1914) * J. E. Carruthers, Lights in the Southern Sky (Syd, 1924) * D. S. Macmillan, Newington College 1863–1963 (Syd, 1963) * P. L. Swain, Newington Across the Years 1863–1998 (Syd, 1999)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelynack, William 1831 births 1891 deaths Staff of Newington College Australian Methodist ministers People from Newlyn Australian people of Cornish descent British emigrants to Australia Wesleyan Methodists Australian newspaper editors Cornish Methodists 19th-century Australian journalists 19th-century Australian male writers 19th-century male writers Protestant ministers and clergy in Australia Australian male journalists