Australian Dictionary of Biography

Thomas Rees-Thomas (1910–1993), Congregational and Uniting Church minister, was born on 3 May 1910 at Pontard(d)ulais, Carmarthenshire, Wales, third of four sons of Thomas Thomas, master bootmaker, and his wife Sarah Jane, née Rees. The family migrated to Queensland in 1913, living at Yandina for three years and then at Blackstone, Ipswich. Welsh was the language spoken in Tom’s boyhood home and the family attended the local United Welsh Church. Educated at Blackstone State School and Ipswich Technical College’s commercial high school, he worked briefly as a bookkeeper-clerk for Gollin & Co. Pty Ltd, Brisbane.

As a teenager, Thomas joined the North Ipswich Congregational Church, where he received his call to ministry. From 1929 to 1934 he studied at the Congregational Parkin College, Adelaide, graduating with a diploma in divinity from the Melbourne College of Divinity. He served the congregation of Subiaco, Perth, from 1934 to 1941. In this period he changed his surname by a deed poll to Rees-Thomas. While studying at the University of Western Australia (BA, 1939), he developed a strong interest in psychology. On 6 February 1937 at the Trinity Congregational Church, Perth, he had married Ruby Fanny Byerley, from Adelaide. From 1942 until 1948 he occupied the pastorate of Clayton in Adelaide.

On 8 February 1948 Rees-Thomas was installed as minister of the City Congregational Church, Brisbane. He completed further studies with the Melbourne College of Divinity (BD, 1949) and the University of Queensland (MA, 1954). When he began his Brisbane ministry, the City church was located on Wickham Terrace. His provision of a counselling service from his vestry was a significant outreach after World War II. In 1959 the church moved to a new building in Ann Street. On the union of the Congregational, Methodist, and Presbyterian denominations in 1977, he became a minister of the Uniting Church in Australia. He retired in 1980. The next year his congregation joined nearby St Andrew's Uniting Church, where he was to serve as minister-in-association until his death.

Rees-Thomas had assumed leadership roles as president of the Congregational Union of South Australia (1947–48), Queensland (1951, 1959, 1964, and 1977), and Australia (1972–73). He had been a strong advocate of unification with the Methodist and Presbyterian denominations. His extensive participation in the wider ecumenical movement included the presidency (1969–71) of the Queensland State Committee of the Australian Council of Churches. He represented Australian churches at several international conferences, including assemblies of the World Council of Churches in New Delhi (1961) and Uppsala, Sweden (1968).

In Brisbane Rees-Thomas developed a strong public profile and he frequently contributed articles to the media, particularly the Courier-Mail. He published a booklet, Prayers for People We Take for Granted (1991). In a ministry characterised by social concern, his influence in the wider community far exceeded that of his denomination. An example of his extraordinary capacity to be an ally of organisations outside the church was his pastoral intervention in the 1950 strike by members of the Brisbane branch of the Australian Tramway and Motor Omnibus Employees’ Association, a service that led to his election as honorary chaplain of the union. In 1965 he travelled to Mount Isa, offering to be an intermediary in the protracted and bitter mining strike that had begun the previous year. He was active in the Inter-Church Trade and Industry Mission in Queensland and was a co-founder of the Queensland Marriage Guidance Council.

Mindful of his heritage, Rees-Thomas fostered the appreciation of Welsh culture throughout Queensland; he was president (1958–93) and a life member (1977) of the St David's Welsh Society of Brisbane. As a migrant himself, he assisted newcomers to settle in Australia. He became a foundation member of the Australian Psychological Society, and a member of the British Psychological Society and the Australian College of Education. A keen Rotarian, he was a loyal member of the Brisbane North club. At the University of Queensland he held office as a governor of Cromwell College from 1950; as a chaplain to the university, following the establishment of the service in 1968; and as a member of the senate for twenty-four years till his death. The university awarded him an honorary doctorate of laws in 1985 for his outstanding service to it and to Queensland. He was appointed MBE in 1965 and AM in 1982.

Witty, as well as jockey-size in stature, Rees-Thomas was once asked whether he was betting on the Melbourne Cup. `No,’ he replied, `it just wouldn't be ethical. I'm riding one of the horses’ (St Andrew’s Church Archives Tribute). His sporting passion was cricket. A pianist, he loved music. Sandra Thompson's portrait of him (1988) is in the City of Brisbane Collection, Museum of Brisbane.

Rees-Thomas died on 9 September 1993 while holidaying in New Zealand with his daughter. She and his two sons survived him; his wife had predeceased him in 1989. An overflowing congregation attended his funeral in St Andrew's Church, following which he was cremated and his ashes interred in the family plot in the Congregational section of the Ipswich general cemetery. One of the eulogies had been delivered by the University of Queensland’s chancellor and former deputy premier of Queensland, Sir Llew Edwards, whose family had a long association with the Thomases. Sir Llew paid tribute to `his giftedness as a pastor’ and `his effort at being the conscience and voice of compassion for the community’ (Journey 1993, 34).