Geoffrey Tremayne Sambell CMG,

Mention in Dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

(28 October 1914 – 19 December 1980) was an

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Anglican

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

and World War 2 army chaplain. Sambell was born on 28 October 1914 at Broadford, Victoria. He was educated at

Melbourne High School Melbourne High School is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Single-sex education, single-sex Selective school, academically selective secondary school, secondary day school for boys, located in the Melbourne suburb ...

and studied at The

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. He was Deacon in 1940 and ordained in early 1941. He began his ordained ministry in

Malvern, Victoria Malvern ( ) is a inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, eight kilometres south-east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Stonnington Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. Malve ...

, before enlisting in 1942 as an

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

, serving during World War 2 with the

Second Australian Imperial Force The Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF, or Second AIF) was the volunteer expeditionary force of the Australian Army in the Second World War. It was formed following the declaration of war on Nazi Germany, with an initial strength of one ...

in the jungles of the north western ranges of New Guinea (Service Number VX104114). He ministered first to soldiers of the 57th/60th Battalion which was raised in

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and then to the 2/11th Battalion raised from

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. He was an extremely popular padre among the soldiers he served, and with whom he served. Sambell's studies at The

were interrupted by the war, and he graduated

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

after recommencing his studies (as so many did) after the war. Following the war he became director of the Melbourne Diocesan Centre, Director of the

Brotherhood of St Laurence The Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL) is an Australian not-for-profit anti-poverty organisation. BSL has its headquarters in Melbourne but provides services and programs across Australia. It undertakes research, delivers services and advocates f ...

. He was

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

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, and then of

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. He was

Bishop Coadjutor A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

Diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

from 1962 to 1969 when he was elected Archbishop of Perth and

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,Porter, A.E. (1990) Biography of Geoffrey Tremayne Sambell 1914-1980. Archbishop of Perth 1969-1980
Centre for WA history
posts he held to his death.

References

Further reading