Current and past residents joined with friends of John Flynn College at James Cook University on Saturday for the official opening of the Aubrey Baker Room at the college.
The room was named in recognition of Reverend Aubrey Baker who oversaw the establishment of the college between 1966-1968, and was opened and dedicated by his son Reverend David Baker (Moderator for the Uniting Church Queensland Synod), college chair Reverend Bruce Cornish and college principal Michael Bongers.
During his speech Reverend Baker said his dad spent a lot of his time investing in young people.
“When the opportunity came up for him to be part of the college he was very keen to be involved,” he said.
“The fact that it’s now used as a study room would warm his heart.”
He said Aubrey was brought up on a small dairy farm near Gayndah and his early life revolved around family, community and church.
“During his career dad opened a lot of gates to the west, he served as a minister at Longreach and Barcaldine in the 1960s, in the 1970s he oversaw the development of the church in rural Queensland and from the 1980s up until he retired he was a patrol padre in stretch of the state reaching from Charelville to Birdsville.
“Dad always had a profound respect for the people of the West, he said they were the salt of the earth and worthy of all of our support.
“He said that he learned a lot about god from them.”
Aubrey Baker passed away on February 24, 2016, just short of his 91st birthday.
At the time of the establishment of the John Flynn College, he was the chairman of the Northern District of the Methodist Church.
A mural unveiled at the opening of the room details in Aubrey’s own words how important the establishment of the college was to him.
“By far the biggest responsibility during my three-year term in North Queensland was in relation to the John Flynn College within what was to become James Cook University.
“At the (Methodist) conference when I was appointed chairman, an agreement was made with the Presbyterian Church that we would erect a residential college on campus.
“This was to break new ground for a church-operated college in that it was to be co-educational, and in our planning we made provision for women students as well as men.”
“The college was going to cost us over $100,000 to build – and that was a lot of money in those day.
“We had a good approach to this: the Anglicans and Catholics were building university colleges too, and so we had a joint appeal to the business people, and then we had separate appeals to our own people.
“We invited Sir George Fisher, the Chairman of Mt Isa Mines, to launch the appeal in Townsville, which was done with a great deal of ceremony.
“All the important people were there enjoying a a meal together, and then Sir George made his speech.
“Fortunately, no one had to talk about the $130,000 target because in the course of his speech he told us that his parent company Mt Isa Mines, would be pleased to give $100,00 to the appeal over five years, and the associate company, Copper Refineries, would give $20,000, which didn’t leave much for the rest if we’d kept to the $130,000 target.”
Fundraising continued through 1966 with the building work commencing in 1967, the college opened to receive its first students in February, 1968 with the official opening taking place on June 29, 1968.
