First YMCA branch in Australia formed in Adelaide in 1850; revived with influential backing in late 1870s
The revived Adelaide YMCA’s influential backing was reflected by its permanent headquarters building in the city, at the corner of Grenfell Street and Gawler Place, opened in 1884.
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia
The Adelaide branch of the London YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association), formed in 1850, was the first in Australia and one of the first outside Europe.
The South Australian colony’s founding themes of philosophical radicalism, evangelical religion and self reliance were the social setting for the February 1850 meeting in Adelaide to form a Young Men’s Christian Association of South Australia “for apprentices and others, after their day's work, to enjoy books, lectures, discussions, readings, friendly relief and recreation for a leisure hour”.
The Adelaide branch, and those at Brompton and Burra Burra in the mid north only lasted three years, drained of members among the exodus of 8,000 South Australian males to the Victorian goldfields.
The YMCA in South Australia didn’t revive until the 1870s when some members of London YMCA arrived in Adelaide and joined with former members of original Adelaide and Brompton branches. Influential promoters met at the Presbyterian Church in Flinders Street, Adelaide city, and then at the Exchange Room (later Queen Adelaide Room) of Adelaide Town Hall on November 28 1878 for a public meeting to revive the YMCA in Adelaide.
Businessman and future premier John Colton, also a member of the Adelaide Association in 1853 and a founder of Prince Alfred College, was asked to preside at the meeting but was absent due to illness and the chair was occupied by Richard Searle (a managing partner of D. & W. Murray and Co.) who became the association first president. A committee drafted a constitution later signed by 585 Adelaide young men.
The Adelaide YMCA’s influential backing was reflected in its permanent headquarters building in the city, at the corner of Grenfell Street and Gawler Place, opened in 1884. (This was replaced by a modern building in Flinders Street, Adelaide city, opened in 1958 and demolished in 2004.)
In 1888, the Adelaide YMCA began its Our Boys Institute for work among boys. For young men, activities included Bible classes, sporting teams, lectures, debating and choral societies, a gymnasium, camps and an employment and immigration department. J.J. Virgo, general secretary from 1886 to 1900, was prominent in Adelaide’s religious life and conducted evangelistic services on Sunday evenings at the Theatre Royal in Hindley Street, Adelaide city.
During the 20th century the YMCA founded branches in country towns and Adelaide suburbs and continued to operate programmes in partnership with the government and the local community into the 21th Century.
