Fighting Mac

Religious press recognises Avondale academic’s writing

The Australasian Religious Press Association has recognised the work of an Avondale academic at its annual awards night.

The judge of the Best Profile Story described Associate Professor Daniel Reynaud’s “Fighting Mac: the Anzac chaplain” as “a well-rounded, delightful and insightful profile of Captain William McKenzie.” The piece, published in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific’s news magazine Record on April 21 last year, received a bronze award in a category where the standard of entries were “equal to the best in our national press.”

Daniel, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Theology, “does a good job revealing this largely unrecognised spiritual giant within a historical context,” said the judge, who added that the “vivid, touching and sometimes humorous read about the many-faceted roles of religion in ungodly circumstances . . . made me want to learn more about the subject.”

McKenzie served as chaplain of the 4th Battalion during World War I. The Scottish-born Salvation Army officer stood for evangelism and against booze, brothels and bad language. “[His] tireless energy on the soldiers’ behalf earned their respect, while his charismatic personality won their love,” writes Daniel. “He was a born leader with a tremendous sense of humour, a childlike innocence, integrity and constant cheerfulness.”

McKenzie’s popularity reached its zenith in 1920—it would take him more than three hours to reach Sydney Town Hall from his office on Goulburn Street, just three blocks away. “People mobbed him just to shake his hand,” writes Daniel.