Rolland Busch

Rolland Busch AO OBE, also known as Rollie Busch (26 October 1920 – 19 July 1985), was an Australian theologian and Presbyterian and Uniting Church minister.^[1] He was the foundation principal of the Trinity Theological College in Brisbane from when it was formed in 1977 until 1985.^[2] He was president of the Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia from 1982 to 1985. He was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1978 Queens Birthday Honours and Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in 1984 .

Early life

Busch was born in an inner suburb of Brisbane in 1920. His father (Arthur Emil Busch) was a German migrant pork butcher, his mother Harriet (Nee Beck) had been born in Queensland. Busch grew up in Toowoomba, and got a job as a telegram boy at age 15 to help support the family during the Great Depression.^[1] His immediate family remained in Toowoomba for the rest of their lives.

Military service

Busch enlisted in the Militia in 1938 and the Second Australian Imperial Force in 1942 having been promoted to sergeant. He took part in the Battle of Milne Bay and was commissioned as a Lieutenant on 2 July 1943. He served in a signals platoon, headquarters, and movement control in New Guinea Force and was promoted to Captain before returning to Australia in March 1945 as a railway transport officer, transferring to the Reserve of Officers on 1 May 1946.^[1]

Busch was also a chaplain in the Citizen Military Forces from 1954 until he was placed on the retired list in 1981, having reached Chaplain-General in 1968 with the Australian Defence Force ranking as Major General.^[1]

Study and academia

Rollie lectured Philosophy at University of Queensland whilst also studying as an external student at Melbourne College of Divinity then at the Presbyterian Theological Hall within Emmanuel College at UQ. He was ordained on 16 February 1954. He also spent a year studying at Union Theological Seminary, New York in 1958. Busch was professor of New Testament studies in the Presbyterian Theological Hall from 1961 and in the Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian Joint Faculty of Theology from 1968. He was also principal of Emmanuel College from 1962 to 1978.^[1]

His qualifications included:

University of Queensland

BA, 1951 MA, 1954 BD, 1955

Melbourne College of Divinity

BD, 1953

Columbia University

MD, 1958

Ministry

When he was ordained, Busch was inducted into pastoral charge of St Giles’s church at Yeerongpilly in Brisbane.^[1] He was state moderator of the Presbyterian church in 1972-3 and after union of the Queensland synod of the Uniting Church 1977-1979. He was President of the Assembly for a three year term from 1982.^[1]

Convener of the Queensland Church’s department of Christian education (1960–63) and board of local mission (1970–74), Busch was State moderator in 1972-73. He played a leading role in establishing the Uniting Church (1977), and served (1977–79) as moderator of the Queensland synod. In 1979-85 he was foundation principal of Trinity Theological College, Brisbane. On 21 May 1982 he was installed as president of the national assembly of the Uniting Church for a three-year term. A leading ecumenist since the 1960s, he served as chairman (1985) of the Brisbane College of Theology.^[1]

Awards, honours and titles

Professor Theological Studies at University of Queensland in 1961

Chaplain-General of the Australian Army in 1968

Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1978

Order of Australia (AO) in 1984.^[1]

Branch Chaplain to the Order of St John of Jerusalem

Branch Chaplain to the Order of Saint Lazarus.^[1]

President of the Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia from 1982 to 1985.

Aboriginal Rights

Busch was a firm believer in Aboriginal Rights and in the right of self determination for many Aboriginal settlements. His criticism was voiced against the Queensland's Government's denial of self-determination to the Aboriginal inhabitants of Aumkun and Mornington Island ,^[1] pitting him against Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen on several occasions. The Uniting Church has continued their support of Aboriginal Rights in Australia.

Family

On 14 August 1948 at St John’s Church of England, Penshurst, Sydney, he married Evelyn Mavis Smith, a nurse whom he had met in New Guinea during the war. They had two children (Rhonda and Ian) and six grandchildren (Simon, Kirsty, Tim, Troy, Sally and Mark). Both Ian and Rhonda's Husband (Ray) have served on the boards of the UCA Queensland Synod and Wesley Hospital. None of the grand children have taken an active involvement in the church or military but instead forged very successful career paths in the business world and academia with 3 having Masters Degrees.

Personality

Busch was 5 ft 5 ins (165 cm) tall, with brown hair, increasingly silver in latter years. He had a warm personality; his face was open, engaging and quite handsome, with welcoming blue eyes. His analytical mind enabled him to see issues clearly and quickly, and on occasions he presented his point of view very forcefully. He was known for his humour: rejecting the sometimes too laudatory opinions of his admirers, he once told a colleague: `Sainthood is all right for you Christians, but I have to be practical’. He could be anything but gentle if crossed, particularly by those whose opinions or motives he held in low esteem. Nevertheless, far outweighing such human idiosyncrasies were his great gifts as an administrator, a teacher, a communicator and a leader.^[1]

References

Biography

Noel W. Wallis (2001). A Man Called Rollie.