Early beginnings

The Salvation Army commenced in Hervey Bay September 1974 under the leadership of Major and Mrs Robert Sutton who were the Salvation Army leaders in nearby Maryborough. The first ministry was the Home League (a Salvation Army women’s group), and the first Sunday worship meeting was held in November 1974 in the Urangan Progress Hall. Sunday School commenced in September 1975, and in 1978 the Torquay Road Hall was purchased, and was used for Sunday Worship, a thrift shop, Sunday School and Home League. 

The first Salvation Army Hall in Hervey Bay was purchased in 1991. Still being run as an outpost of Maryborough Salvation Army, the Hervey Bay ministry was then blessed by the work of Bryan and Gayle Snedden under whose leadership, for seven years, the Hervey Bay Army had grown so much that the Outpost was elevated to official Salvation Army Corps (church) status in 1996. The Hervey Bay Corps then received its first officers, Lieutenants Stuart and Donna Evans, in January 1996.