Early days

The Salvation Army blazed its way into Bathurst in 1884 with a Saturday night open-air meeting (like the one pictured right) featuring converted prize-fighter Bobby Todd from Sydney on 12 January, which attracted many onlookers. The Bathurst Times reported on January 14, 1884, that the meeting was conducted by individuals bearing a strong resemblance to London shoe blacks, attired in dark stuffy-looking coats with red facings. Following that first outdoor meeting, the Salvationists marched to Hodges Hall, described by the local newspaper as a queer spectacle. One lanky individual playing a violin; another evoking terribly discordant and despondent groans and grunts from some wind instrument … A great crowd follows the motley company. A public meeting was held in Hodges Hall on the corner or Piper Street and Bentinck Street which was attended by at least 1000 people, according to the Bathurst Times. The first Salvation Army officers in Bathurst were a Captain Smith and Lieutenant H. Stephens. Within a year The Salvation Army in Bathurst had grown in number and had sent at least one Salvationist, Sister Fanny Floyd, to the training college in Melbourne to become an officer.