Australian Dictionary of Biography

Winston O'Reilly, c.1979-1982

Uniting Church Assembly archives

Winston D’Arcy O’Reilly (1913–2000), Methodist and Uniting Church minister, was born on 27 April 1913 at Roseville, Sydney, second of three children of New South Wales-born parents Lillian Edith, née Brasnett, and her husband Henry D’Arcy O’Reilly, draper. Winston’s parents were committed Methodists, who owned a general clothing and accessories store, Whitchell’s, at Chatswood. He attended Gordon Public School, but his education was disrupted by illness. Feeling insufficiently prepared for senior high school and receiving disappointing results in the Intermediate certificate, he persuaded his parents to allow him to leave North Sydney Boys’ High School at the age of fourteen, later gleefully claiming to have ‘escaped’ Latin to work for a builder’s labourer (O’Reilly 1996). Following a bout of serious illness, he was then employed in his father’s shop.

In March 1930, on the cusp of turning seventeen, O’Reilly sailed for England, as a companion and carer for J. M. Thompson, a disabled man who was a patient of his aunt, the medical practitioner Susie O’Reilly. The trip was transformative for the teenager: the poverty he observed, and the experience of meeting English migrants on the return voyage, seem to have stirred in him an abiding concern for community welfare and social justice. For the manner in which he took charge of some thirty unruly Barnardo’s boys on board, the poet (Dame) Mary Gilmore gave him a letter of appreciation plus a gift of two pounds. Even before leaving for overseas, however, he had decided to enter the Methodist ministry.

Back in Sydney, O’Reilly resumed his education. Attending night school at Hornsby Coaching College, he qualified for matriculation, preached a trial sermon, and was accepted as a candidate for the Methodist ministry. He enrolled in an arts degree at the University of Sydney (BA, 1935), which he combined with pastoral work and theological studies at Leigh Theological College, Enfield. Concerned that he had spread himself too thinly in his undergraduate studies, he sought to overcome what he described as a ‘quality’ deficiency (O’Reilly 1996) in his education, going on to complete two master’s degrees at his alma mater (MA, 1937; MEd, 1963), as well as a diploma of social studies (1961).

Practical Christianity was O’Reilly’s lifelong credo, his career having two distinct phases. In the first he served in several Methodist circuits, beginning as a theological student in the Picton‒Tahmoor area and then as a probationer at Malvern Hill (1936–37). Following his ordination in 1938, he married Victorian-born Rotha Doreen (Dorn) Doyle (d. 1974) at the Methodist Church, Roseville, on 25 March 1939. He ministered at Coonamble (1938–41) and Peak Hill (1942–44), and was appointed a chaplain fourth class, Royal Australian Air Force, on 5 March 1942, serving part time at the RAAF station at Parkes until his appointment was terminated on 16 September 1944. During his early ministry he had witnessed the poverty that the Depression inflicted upon families and communities, and distinguished himself by his ability to respond quickly, practically, and wisely to the needs of ordinary people. A founding member and chairman (1949–57) of the New South Wales Council of Social Service, he helped to establish—and was the first president (1956–57) of—the Australian Council of Social Service. In 1977 he was appointed OBE.

The second part of O’Reilly’s career was largely in ecclesiastical administration. While still a young man, his leadership, initiative, and administrative skills had caught the attention of the New South Wales Methodist Conference, and he moved quickly into senior organisational positions. Aged thirty-two, he was appointed assistant secretary to the Home Mission department (1945–48). He then became, in succession, assistant principal of Leigh Theological College (1949–59); principal of Methodist Ladies’ College, Burwood (1960–64); connexional secretary of the New South Wales Conference (1965–73); and president of the New South Wales Conference (1969). Between 1975 and 1977 he was president-general of the Methodist Church of Australasia, the last before church union.

From 1974 to 1977 O’Reilly was executive officer for the Joint Constitution Commission of the Uniting Church, where he coordinated preparations for the union of the Congregational, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches. With the lawyer Harold Julian, he was instrumental in drafting the constitution of the Uniting Church and facilitating the passage of the enabling legislation for the new church in each of the State parliaments. His experience on the commission and his encyclopaedic knowledge of the church made him a wise choice for the first general secretary of the Uniting Church Assembly (1977–79) and its second president (1979–82). As president he saw his role ‘as primarily pastoral’ (Walker and Walker 2007, 60). He proved himself a good listener and encourager as he sought to ‘calm troubled waters’ (Uniting Church in Australia 2001, 137) and build community, and was known for his patience and flexibility with respect to church regulations. When dealing with legal matters he would advise that the needs of the people must come first. In 1996 he told the journalist Graham Downie that although the church needed ‘regulations as a guideline, that guideline must not be a rope that chokes you’ (O’Reilly 1996).

A warm and patient man, O’Reilly ‘had a great fund of stories and … an infectious laugh’ (Wood 2000). He wrote three booklets: A Man and His Mate ([1945]), The Kingdom Has Come (1947), and Christian Marriage and the Family (1951), as well as numerous articles for the Methodist, which he also edited from 1969 to 1973. For fifteen years he wrote a weekly column called ‘Religion and Life’ for the Sun-Herald. A supporter of the ecumenical movement, he was president of the New South Wales Council of Churches (1967–71) and vice chairman of the Australian Council of Churches (1979–82). He also served as a member of the presidium of the World Methodist Council (1975–80).

After his term as president of the Uniting Church, O’Reilly retired from ministry. On 2 April 1976 at the Methodist Church, Pymble, he had married Nancye Ruth Hains, née Cottee, a secretary; she had two children from a previous marriage. The couple lived at Chatswood, Carlingford, and Belrose. He continued to serve on various boards, including those of Burnside Homes for Children, North Parramatta, and Wesley Gardens, Belrose; was involved in establishing the Centre for Ministry at North Parramatta; and did relief ministry at Campbelltown, North Ryde, Forestville, and Harbord. Survived by his wife and the daughter and two sons of his first marriage, Elizabeth, Robert, and Geoffrey, he died on 16 January 2000 at Wesley Gardens, and was cremated. His funeral service was held at Turramurra Uniting Church.