A new book telling the story of Anzac chaplain Walter Dexter was launched at Better Books and Foods in Cooranbong on March 15. As the book’s title suggests, Sailor, Soldier, Vicar, Farmer narrates Chaplain Dexter’s adventurous and many-faceted life as a later-in-life Anglican priest who was assigned to Australia a few years before the outbreak of World War I, in which he served as a chaplain with Anzac troops for the entirety of the war.
Author Dr Daniel Reynaud is Emeritus Professor of History at Avondale University and inaugural Visiting Historian at the Anzac Memorial in Sydney’s Hyde Park. His previous book—The Man the Anzacs Revered, published in 2015—told the story of Anzac chaplain William McKenzie. In contrast with McKenzie, Chaplain Dexter lived his post-war life in relative obscurity as a failing farmer and country clergyman, but remains the most decorated chaplain in Australian military history, receiving awards for bravery on the battlefields of both Gallipoli and France.
“Anzac religious history in general—and the history of the chaplains in particular—is widely unknown and it shouldn’t be,” Dr Reynaud explained. “About one in four of the Anzacs were active Christians, so their stories can and should be told. And the chaplains, in particular, played such an important role in terms of soldier morale, and no-one exemplifies that more than Chaplain Dexter with the work he did for their emotional, spiritual and physical wellbeing.”
Dr Reynaud has a history of researching and writing on Anzac spirituality over more than 20 years, with a number of books and academic publications on aspects of Anazc life and faith. As part of the research for this new book, he had access to many of Chaplain Dexter’s letters, as well as the opportunity to interview one of Dexter’s sons, who has since passed away. But as a history teacher, Dr Reynaud is quick to remind his readers that “history isn’t about the past, it is an attempt to explain the present.”
After its initial launch with family, friends and colleagues, Sailor, Soldier, Vicar, Farmer will be released more widely on March 31 in the lead up to Anzac Day, with a public book launch planned at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on April 21.
“Anzac is our most important national narrative,” said Dr Reynaud. “It is the one we use the most to identify who we are and stories like this help us recognise that this history matters to me, because here is a life richly lived, well lived, with such a commitment to service.
“As a chaplain and a cleric, Dexter could have said that his work was only the spiritual lives of the soldiers, but he knew understood that if he cared for the whole of the soldiers’ experience, they would take him seriously when he spoke about faith. And I think that is a template for us.”
Sailor, Soldier, Vicar, Farmer is available now from Adventist bookshops in Australia and New Zealand, or online at <https://adventistbookcentre.com.au/sailor-soldier-vicar-farmer.html>.
