A life of the highest order

Lieutenant-Colonel Don Woodland's Salvation Army officership has been marked by service to those suffering unimaginable grief and despair. BILL SIMPSON profiles an extraordinary life.

Lieutenant-Colonel Don Woodland was born in China in 1937. His parents, Harry and Florence, were Australian Salvation Army missionary officers at the time.
A fifth-generation Salvationist, he was four years old when he arrived in Australia.
His family settled in Brisbane, where Don met his wife, Bernice Arnold, at West End Corps. They married in 1959 and entered The Salvation Army officer training college in Sydney in 1960.
Lieut-Colonel Woodland once told an interviewer that as a young man he had trained as a surgical footwear maker, but “gave up mending soles to try and save souls”.
An extensive period of his 40 years officership was served in chaplaincy appointments. They included the Australian Citizen Military Forces, ACT Police, Red Shield Defence Services, Rats of Tobruk Association, Australian Army Reserve, NSW Fire Brigade and NSW Rural Fire Service.
Lieut-Colonel Woodland pioneered chaplaincy in some of these services.
He was also Territorial and Divisional (ACT and South NSW) Co-ordinator of Emergency Services and Territorial Special Efforts Secretary.
With his wife, he had corps appointments at Mullumbimby, Bowen, Inala, Laidley, Helidon, Kingaroy, Sandgate, Canberra City Temple and Hurstville, was Divisional Commander (ACT and South NSW) and National Secretary.
His final appointment before retirement in 2001 was Territorial Co-ordinator for Pastoral Care, Trauma and Crisis Management.
However, he told Pipeline for an article two years ago that his commitment to God through The Salvation Army didn’t end just because he turned 65 and had to officially retire.
“[Retirement] is not the end of the road, but [just] a bend [with flexibility] ... to continue meeting people at their point of need,” he said.
He has continued to work with people in trauma, including engagement by the Seventh-Day Adventist and Lutheran churches, Lifeline, hospitals and ambulance services to assist with counselling and training.

Significant impact
Lieut-Colonel Woodland has received numerous awards, principally for his trauma work. The awards include the Order of Australia. He also has been recognised by Rotary International and various emergency services groups, and was featured guest of the television series This Is Your Life.
In a foreword to Lieut-Colonel Woodland’s book Picking Up The Pieces, published in 2006, former Australian Governor-General Michael Jeffery says: “In life, we come across characters who have a significant impact on the social condition. Don Woodland is one such person.”
Major-General Jeffery first came in contact with Don Woodland in Brisbane in 1969. The then Major Jeffery was a company commander in the 8th Battalion Royal Australian Army Regiment.
Don Woodland had been appointed by The Salvation Army to work with the regiment. He and Major Jeffery would serve together for the next 12 months in Vietnam, which was Don’s introduction to trauma counselling.
Their paths would cross several times in the following 35 years, mainly through Don Woodland’s unique ministry of trauma counselling with police, fire brigade and emergency services chaplaincy.
Don Woodland was there for people in trauma when 35 people were murdered by a lone gunman at Port Arthur (Tasmania) in 1996, 15 backpackers perished in a Childers (Queensland) hotel fire in 2000, Stuart Diver was rescued after spending several days trapped in the rubble of a Thredbo (NSW) landslide in 1997, a tsunami swept away 13 coastal villages of Papua-New Guinea and more than 2000 people in 1998.
He was there for victims of a Newcastle earthquake, Kempsey and Grafton (northern NSW) bus crashes, dozens of car accidents, house fires, drownings and untold other tragedy.
His ministry has been to victims, their families, emergency services people who have attended the scenes and also to counsellors and chaplains in need of support after providing support themselves.
In the conclusion of his book, Lieut-Colonel Woodland says: “It never ceases to amaze me that in times of grief and despair, I am able to walk unobtrusively into people’s lives and be accepted by them.
“It seems that the Lord gives me added strength and somehow those experiencing trauma are able to draw on that strength which enables them to cope with one moment at a time.
“In the words of the prophet Isaiah, we have been privileged to literally ‘bind up the broken-hearted and bring comfort to those who mourn’.”