By Eleanor Wilson
Bunyip priest Ken Parker has dedicated over 50 years to the Anglican Church, travelling across Victoria to spread the Christian message and enhance the communities he serviced.
Yet he said it came as a surprise to find out he was a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
“When I first had some contact from the Governor General’s office, I thought it was probably to do with giving a reference for someone else,” he said.
Rev Parker has been priest-in-charge at St Thomas’ Anglican Church in Bunyip for the last seven years.
He travels from his home in Mornington several times a week to give services at the church and the nearby Hillview Bunyip Aged Care.
He first became familiar with the small town eight years ago, when he lived in the rectory next to the church while undertaking a locum job in Drouin.
“I was living here and looking after Drouin and I thought ‘that church looks like it needs some care and attention’ and I said to the bishop later on, that I’d like to think that something could be done with Bunyip and she said ‘well, you’d better go and do it!’”
Rev Parker’s interest in becoming a priest started in his youth, growing up in Puckapunyal.
“I was influenced by the priest who was the chaplain at Puckapunyal and the priest who was the rector of the parish at Seymour where I went to school.
“Both of them said to me that they thought perhaps I should consider being ordained.”
He was ordained as an Anglican Priest in Beaumaris in 1970, before undertaking a three-year stint in Wangaratta.
In 1973, he undertook his first parish, in Collingwood – a five-year period he regards as one of the highlights of his career.
“It was totally different and really exciting to be living in because it was a very strong political community and it was the time of the Whitlam Government so there were big opportunities for people living in that area and a lot of wonderful changes took place in that area.”
From there, he spent almost 10 years in Gisborne – during which the devastating Ash Wednesday bushfires ravaged the area, destroying the church, surrounding properties and taking several lives.
It was that experience that helped him “grow up”.
“I found out what I was really meant to be doing and got on with the job.
“It was really quite life giving because [the residents] had developed a new courage and a new vision for what they might be and how they might function and it was good to have a role in that.
“We built a new church out of the fires which tried to express something of that new courage and that new possibility.”
In 1987, Rev Parker moved to Mornington, where he still lives today.
He spent over a decade working in several churches along the Mornington Peninsula, including Frankston and Sorrento.
While in Mornington, Rev Parker also played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Save Mornington Alliance and the 4M Network, which acted as advisory groups to ensure the appropriate planning and development of the area, to retain significant historical buildings.
He was also invested in the Friends of the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, acting as president and vice president.
Rev Parker’s nomadic nature then took him to Castlemaine in 2003, where he remained for over a decade, working in the church and taking on roles as president and vice president of the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum.
He also assisted with the settlement of Afghan refugees in the town, and established Gum Tree Services, which celebrated the stories and traditions of Castlemaine’s early settlements.
“Going to Castlemaine, I was a bit like a child discovering a huge box of chocolates and tasting this one and tasting that one, because there was so much there that stimulated me and that I could connect with: the history, the wonderful creativity of the place, the art gallery.”
Art, history and church all interconnect for the reverend.
“Art connects in fairly closely with what I do and who I am.
“More than a hobby, I use art to express quite often what I’m exploring or thinking.
“From time to time I unsettle my congregation by bringing pictures into the story and not always do they find that easy.
“But I like to make the connection with art, because I learnt very early on in my ministry that while I could use words, a lot of my communication tended to be boring if it was just rational.
“Whereas I thought in pictures and so if I could use pictures, I might get my point across more effectively.”
Rev Parker’s self proclaimed “eccentric” approach to his ministry is evident throughout the small church he has invested so much of the last seven years to.
Displayed behind the church pulpit where he gives his sermons is a wooden ornament emboldening the word ‘imagine’.
“I think the gift of imagination is one of the things that makes us truly human.
“I try to use my imagination when I’m preparing a sermon and I try to get people to think imaginatively, not to be pedestrian or rational in their thinking, but to bring their imagination to bear.
“What I love most is that the Christian story isn’t necessarily about being good, I think really it’s about being fully human and that always excites me, when I can get that message across and people respond to it.
“I think being fully human means that we do explore the depths and we’re stretched in our understandings of who we might be and how we might relate to each other.
“So that is probably what drives me.”