New home for old brass

Adventist Heritage Centre receives Eric B Hare’s cornet

Sonja Larsen
Public relations assistant
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

A cornet that belonged to Seventh-day Adventist medical missionary and storyteller Eric B Hare now has a new home in the Adventist Heritage Centre.

The instrument may date back to 1902, reports descendant Phil Hare, who donated it to the centre. This is the year Eric’s father Robert ended his tenure as editor of The Bible Echo and Signs of the Times. The publisher of the periodical, Echo Publishing Company, had its own brass band.

Robert (1858-1953), one of the first converts to Seventh-day Adventism in New Zealand, served predominately as an evangelist in Australia. He and his family were musically talented, often touring as a five-piece band. Robert played tenor on the clarinet while his wife, Henrietta, played the organ. Eldest son Reuben played bass on baritone, Eric soprano on cornet and daughter Ruth alto, also on cornet.

Adventist Heritage Centre curator Rose-lee Power describes the cornet, which Reuben also owned, and a saxophone that may have also been Eric’s as “an amazing find considering most people discard items of no personal value without considering whether they have historical value to the church. Reuben and Eric were pioneers, advancing the message of Christ’s soon return across the world. These battered instruments have a story to tell. We will treasure them.”

Gwen Wilkinson, the academic registrar at Avondale and a great-niece of Eric, says she and her family see the cornet as having great meaning. Gwen’s husband Steve Sleight, who plays trumpet, cleaned and played the cornet before its donation to the centre. He describes its tone as being clear and mellow.

Remembered affectionately as “Dr Rabbit,” Eric (1894-1982) served as a missionary in Burma and as a departmental director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, eventually at its worldwide headquarters. However, he is best known as a teller of children’s stories. He wrote prolifically, including the books Clever Queen, Curse-Proof! Fulton’s Footprints in Fiji, Jungle Heroes, Jungle Storyteller and Treasure from the Haunted Pagoda.

Email [email protected] if you know of or have artefacts, documents, magazines, photographs or recordings that may be of interest to the Adventist Heritage Centre. The centre is located on Avondale College of Higher Education’s Lake Macquarie campus.