Community & Business
29 April, 2025
Historic family Bible presented to St. Andrew's Anglican Parish
St. Andrew's Anglican Parish Pittsworth has accepted guardianship of the Whittaker-Bailey family's historic Bible which has been a sacred part of the family's legacy for more than a century.
On Palm Sunday, 13th April, members of the Whittaker-Bailey family gathered at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church for a blessing of the historic Bible and other Books of Worship presented to the Parish.
In April 1905, the Bible was gifted to Samuel Whittaker and Rosa Fannie Bailey on the occasion of their wedding.
They passed the Bible on to their son Samuel Richard Whittaker, who in turn, passed it on to his only daughter, Audrey Warfield.
Mrs Warfield has been caring for the Bible since 1973.
“The Bible had a special, sacred place in my grandparent’s home,” she said.
Because of the fragility of the Bible, a wooden case was created to maintain preservation of the historic item.
When Mrs Warfield, and her husband Ray, relocated from Pittsworth to Toowoomba, and later Taigum, the Bible was offered to their son, Rev. Wayne Warfield.
However, the transport of the Bible to Rev. Warfield, who is an Anglican priest and Police Chaplain in Perth, posed some issues.
Instead, a suggestion was made to give guardianship of the Bible to St. Andrew's Anglican Parish Pittsworth - a place where their family had such strong ties since immigrating to Australia in the late 19th Century.
The Whittaker and Bailey families were devout Church of England believers and worshipped at their local church, St. Mary’s in Southbrook.
The Bible's original owner, Samuel Whittaker, was Superintendent of the Sunday School for many years, a member of the Parish Council, Church Warden and a Synodsman.
In his Last Will and Testament, Samuel Whittaker bequeathed money for the erection of a stained glass window, in memory of the Whittaker and Bailey families, at St. Mary’s Church.
Others also contributed to supplement the final cost.
When St. Mary’s closed its doors in 1996, the window was re-located to St. Andrew’s Church in Pittsworth.
"Our family agreed it [Bible] should stay in the Parish where the Whittakers and Baileys worshipped, especially with the significant connection between it and the family's stained glass window," Mrs Warfield said.
The presentation was even more profound for Mrs Warfield, as the 12th April would have been her 73rd wedding anniversary with her late husband Ray.
Her children were in attendance with the exception of Rev. Warfield.
Both the Whittaker and Bailey families have ancestry ties to Ireland and England.
Richard Whittaker, who was born in Tipperary, Ireland, sailed to Australia on the Montmorency in 1860.
Richard and Fanny Bailey sailed from England aboard the Winefred in 1873.
Upon arriving in Australia, both families settled in the Eton Vale area.
The Whittaker’s farm Willmount was near Green Hills and the Bailey’s farm Collingbourne was further down from where Southbrook now is, on the Wyreema Road.
Mr and Mrs Warfield visited the cottage at Willmount, which was being used as a storage shed, before it was relocated in 1997 to a Pioneer Village in New South Wales.
“There were still some of the original shamrocks brought out from Ireland, growing under the verandah, where the cattle couldn’t reach to eat them,” Mrs Warfield said.
Among the Books of Worship presented to the Anglican Church was the Book of Common Prayer gifted to Fanny Crook, Mrs Warfield's grandmother, on her wedding day in 1869.
The book would have accompanied her from England to Australia on the Winefred.
Other books presented were a Church Psalter and Hymn Book and two Holy Bibles, which were all in the possession of descendants of the original Whittaker and Bailey family immigrants.
The inscription inside the family Bible reads: ‘This book was given to Mr and Mrs S. Whittaker, by their Uncle James Whittaker, in honour of their wedding at St. Luke’s Church Toowoomba on April 26th, 1905’.
