An Army without an Officer
Less than three years after The Salvation Army began in Sydney, word had reached Orange that it had “opened fire” in Bathurst and comrades were marching the streets with a “Blood and Fire” banner. An Orange local, William Braybrook (pictured right), journeyed to Bathurst to view this peculiar group; the thought those taking part were mad as they marched and sang praises to God to the accompaniment of rotten eggs and other items not pleasing to any person. Yet it didn’t deter him from attending The Salvation Army’s nightly meeting in Bathurst, and it was there that his life was forever changed – he was convicted of the love of Jesus for him and returned to Orange with a new passion – to use the rest of his life in service to God and man. That’s how The Salvation Army began in the central-western town of Orange without an officer! William Braybrook, with the help of friends Alex Sherlock and William Smee, began holding Salvation Army meetings in an old produce store (now demolished) in Peisley Street. After some time they requested that Salvation Army headquarters send trained officers to the town, resulting in the Orange Salvation Army Corps being officially opened on 16 December 1885, with Captain Jenny Walker as its first officer.
