Much has been printed in newspapers, and a lot has been said over the radio about the floods on the Darling from the Darling Downs in Queensland to where the river joins the Murray at Wentworth.

The Flood has been with us now for seven months. Here in Wilcannia, it is nine miles wide and has been so for that time, and at the time of writing we shall have it for another month.

It is very inconvenient to say the least. It has disrupted communications with the people on the eastern side of the river with consequent disruptions of parish visiting by patrols and virtual discontinuance of church services in Ivanhoe.

Recently a young man rang me from Ivanhoe and asked me if I would come down and marry him. Ivanhoe is 120 miles by road. In normal times it is quite easily reached in about three hours. However, the Flood was with us. He was not very keen on being married by the local policeman and I was the only Minister who could reach him, and that with difficulty.

I could fly, but then no one else would have been visited. So, I rang a parishioner 65 miles out on the Cobar Road and asked him if I could borrow a jeep for a couple of days.

The day arrived for our departure, as my wife decided she would also go. We soon found out that the jeep did not have any brakes. We were not left in any doubt either that they are very rough to travel in over long distances. As we had very considerable rain over the past six months, the road was terrible, to say the least. We were very glad of the four-wheel drive.

We arrived at Mrs Whitchurch’s right on dark (after two stops to visit people on the way). She was out, so we sat in the jeep for a few minutes until someone came and asked if I could pull a car out of a bog, right in the middle of the town. Ivanhoe was just one big quagmire we found, and I repeated the pulling out twice in the next couple of hours.

Our hostess arrived and we made ready for Church after tea. The mud was not at all likely to let many people venture out after dark and we found only a handful of people there. We were all glad of the opportunity to gather and worship God and give thanks for the bountiful season which we were now enjoying. The Church is small, but always there is a sense of fellowship when we sing and pray together.

Later that evening arrangements were completed for the wedding and many friends of the young couple worked late into the night to get the Church ready.

Next morning we awoke to bright sunshine. The Church was crowded with relatives and friends. Everyone was literally crammed in, like a peak hour tram in Sydney. The young couple were glad that we came, as I was also, and they started their marriage with the blessing of God.

The jeep was made ready and our last job of pulling a truck out of a bog in the main street was performed.

We were glad that we were able to go to Ivanhoe to share with some of the people the things that belong to God and to tell of the Gospel of Christ. We were also glad of the experience of what some people have to do to help others, and in that way get to know their problems and so reach into their hearts.

This excerpt comes from the March 1957 issue of The Real Australian. All issues of The Real Australian from 1920 to today can be found on our website: bushchurchaid.com.au/archive