Rex Collis Mathias (1907 - 1986)

Born 9 Jan 1907 in Maldon, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Husband of Helen Hardie (Watters) Mathias — married 8 Apr 1939 in Camberwell Methodist Church, Camberwell, Victoria, Australia

Died 7 Apr 1986 at age 79 in Geelong, Victoria, Australia

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Biography

Rex Collis Mathias was born on 9 January 1907 in Maldon, Victoria, Australia, the son of Edith Minnie (Wearne) Mathias and Richard Mathias.^[1]

He married Helen Hardie Watters on 8 April 1939 at the Camberwell Methodist Church in Camberwell, Victoria.^[2]

Rex began working life as a Journalist, and worked for the Melbourne Herald, and later the Melbourne Argus. He studied at Melbourne University, gaining BA and MA degrees. He was Ordained as a Methodist Minister in 1936. In 1937 he studied in England, gaining a Diploma in Christian Education. From 1940 to '44 he was Chaplain at Wesley College, (ST Kilda Road campus) Melbourne. In 1944 he became the founding director of the Council for Christian Education in Schools (Victoria). From 1946 to 1964, he was Director of the Federal Board of Education. In the 1950s he was closely associated with the Mission to the Nation, working alongside the Rev Dr. Sir Alan Walker. In 1962 he was President of the Methodist Conference of Victoria and Tasmania.

In 1965 he moved to Canberra, where for the next five years he was minister at the National Memorial Methodist Church in Reid. From 1970 to 1975 he was minister at Wesley Church, Geelong, in Victoria.

He represented the Methodist Church of Australasia at the Service of Inauguration of the Uniting Church in Australia in Sydney on 22nd June 1977. The Uniting Church was formed after some years of negotiations between representatives of the three denominations - Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian

Rex died in 1986 in Geelong, aged 79 years.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Birth record: 4421 / 1907. BDM Victoria. https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history.
   (Name: Regd Collis MATHIAS); (Place: MALDON, VIC); (Mother: Edith Minnie WEARNE); (Father: Richd)
2. ↑ Marriage record: 8373 / 1939. BDM Victoria. https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history.
   (Helen Horace WATTERS and Rex Collis MATHIAS)
3. ↑ Death record: 8170 / 1986. BDM Victoria. https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history.
   (Name: Rex Collis MATHIAS); (Place of birth: Maldon); (Place of death: Geelong); (Age at death: 79); (Mother: Edith Minnie WEARE); (Father: MATHIAS Richard)

• Records of the Methodist Church of Australasia, some of which are now held in the archives of the Synod of Victoria (Uniting Church in Australia)
• Brian Howe, 'Mathias, Rex Collis (1907–1986)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mathias-rex-collis-14949/text26138, published first in hardcopy 2012, accessed online 25 August 2021.
• Personal memories