Travelling In The Horse And Buggy Era

 When I was gathering information on the backgrounds to the various windows in our church I came across a number of extraordinary characters. One of them was Mr George Whitehouse Griffith. Griffith was elected President of the Baptist Union of NSW for 1909-1910. 

He was a farmer turned businessman who established a flourishing business (Griffith’s IXL Stores) in Manildra in country NSW. During his term in office he earned the title of “The Bush President”. Over the years he regularly attended Assembly Meetings and spoke on behalf of the country churches. 

But it was during his period as President that he really showed his commitment to the NSW country churches. He visited most of those churches during his presidential year. In this present day and age we tend not to appreciate what that meant in 1909-10. Travel in those days was limited to rail or horse and buggy, and Griffith travelled many, many miles by horse and buggy at a time when most country roads were mere dirt tracks.

Griffith’s travels were curtailed somewhat in 1910 for a brief period when he suffered a severe accident. 

One Sunday in June he was preparing to leave for church when one of his horses took fright, “kicked Mr Griffith in the face, knocking him senseless, and inflicted a terrible wound.” He spent some time in Molong Hospital, but within the month he was planning a journey to Sydney (by horse and buggy) to attend a monthly meeting of the Home Missionary Committee, of which he was a member over several years. 

One of the four original windows in the church was dedicated to the memory of Griffith. The theme of the window is “I am the gate.” John 10.9.