Enthusiastic start

The Salvation Army made its first appearance in Cooma as early as 1887, when it was opened as a “station” by a Captain H.B Steven. The Salvation Army Cavalry Fort (a travelling ministry caravan) called “Aggressive” pitched its tent in the town, and, according to an article in the now defunct Salvation Army publication Full Salvation, dated 1 October 1892, it set the work going with a swing. Coverts rapidly increased in number, and under the rule of Captain Bob Jackaman and others, the fire spread, until, in Captain Armstrong’s time, we were enabled to go in for a barracks of our own, and discard the old Roman Catholic chapel which had hitherto done duty as a meeting place for our soldiers and friends. Despite such an enthusiastic start, The Salvation Army didn’t take hold in Cooma at that early stage.