Peter Hollingworth

The Right Reverend Peter Hollingworth AC OBE
23rd Governor-General of Australia
In office 29 June 2001 – 28 May 2003
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	John Howard
Preceded by	Sir William Deane
Succeeded by	Michael Jeffery
Archbishop of Brisbane
In office 1989–2001
Preceded by	John Grindrod
Succeeded by	Phillip Aspinall
Personal details
Born	Peter John Hollingworth (1935-04-10) 10 April 1935 Adelaide, South Australia
Spouse	Ann Hollingworth
Profession	Bishop

Peter John Hollingworth AC OBE (born 10 April 1935) is a retired Australian Anglican bishop. Engaged in social work for several decades, he served as the Archbishop of Brisbane for 11 years from 1989 and was the 1991 Australian of the Year. He served as the 23rd Governor-General of Australia from 2001 until 2003. He is also an author and recipient of various civil and ecclesiastical honours. Described as Australia's foremost spokesman for social justice in 1992, in 2003 he became only the third governor-general to resign, after criticisms were aired over his conduct as Archbishop of Brisbane in the 1990s.

Early life

Hollingworth was born in Adelaide, South Australia and moved to Melbourne, Victoria in 1940. After attending Lloyd Street and Murrumbeena primary schools he was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne. After completing his secondary school education he began a cadetship with BHP, an Australian mining company. Hollingworth apparently often spent his lunch hours in St Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne where the idea of becoming a priest was first suggested to him.

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Education and career

Hollingworth was conscripted for National Service in 1953 and, after basic training at the RAAF base at Point Cook, he began working in the chaplain's office and discerned a vocation to ordained ministry. After matriculating in 1954 he enrolled at the University of Melbourne, residing at Trinity College as a member of its school of theology. He graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Licentiate of Theology.

On 6 February 1960 he married Kathleen Ann Turner, an obstetric physiotherapist, who he had met while on National Service. The couple have three daughters.

Hollingworth was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1960. Hollingworth became Deacon-in-Charge and then Priest-in-Charge of St Mary's North Melbourne, in a group ministry of the Anglican Inner City Mission within the Melbourne Diocesan Centre. In 1964 he joined the Brotherhood of St Laurence, an independent Anglican welfare organisation, as chaplain and director of youth and children's work, then as director of social policy and research. He completed a master's degree in social work and in 1980 was appointed Executive Director of the Brotherhood of St Laurence. He served with the Brotherhood of St Laurence for 25 years and, in that time, was involved in many other associated community and welfare bodies.

He wrote several books about his work with the poor which became educational texts. As a public advocate on welfare policy he argued: "poverty should be looked at in terms of the structure of society rather than the individual case."

He was elected a canon of St Paul's Cathedral in 1980 and became the Bishop in the Inner City in 1985.

In 1989 he was elected the 8th Archbishop of Brisbane, where he continued his advocacy for the poor and underprivileged and supported the ordination of women.

He was Chairman of the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless National NGO Committee and was named Australian of the Year for 1991, being described as "Australia’s foremost spokesman for social justice." He used his public profile to criticise government policy in relation to Aboriginal welfare and youth unemployment.

In 1998, he attended as an appointed delegate to the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention.

Governor-General of Australia

On 22 April 2001 the Prime Minister, John Howard, announced that Hollingworth would be appointed Governor-General of Australia upon the completion of Sir William Deane's term. He was the first Christian cleric to hold the post, though precedent existed at a state level, where Aboriginal pastor Doug Nicholls had served as Governor of South Australia. On 29 June 2001, Hollingworth was sworn in as Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Force. As the governor-general is the Chancellor and Principal Companion of the Order of Australia, Hollingworth was appointed a Companion of the Order (AC) on 29 June 2001.

Resignation

In December 2001, allegations were raised that, during his time as Archbishop of Brisbane, Hollingworth had failed to deal appropriately with sex abuse allegations made against a church teacher at Toowoomba Prep School. That month, the Brisbane Anglican diocese was ordered to pay $834,800 damages to the woman who had been found to have been sexually abused. Hetty Johnston, an advocate for child sex abuse victims, instigated a campaign calling for Hollingworth to resign. Hollingworth told the Australian media that, as a newly appointed archbishop at the time, he lacked the experience to handle the matter. He also said he had not believed that the case involved sexual abuse, but conceded he had not done enough to stop abuses occurring. Hollingworth subsequently apologised to the Toowoomba victim and released a formal statement condemning child sexual abuse but by February 2002, the Labor Opposition was calling for Hollingworth to be dismissed. Hollingworth stepped down from his positions as the Brisbane Lions' No 1 ticket holder, patron of Barnardos, Kids First Foundation and the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.

Phillip Aspinall, Hollingworth's successor as archbishop, ordered an inquiry, which concluded that in 1993, Hollingworth had allowed a known paedophile to continue working as a priest. In May 2003, the report by the Diocese of Brisbane into the handling of the cases was tabled in the Queensland parliament by the Labor Premier of Queensland, Peter Beattie. Both the Deputy Prime Minister, John Anderson, and the Treasurer, Peter Costello, indicated in early May that Hollingworth should consider his position. After meeting with Howard on 11 May, Hollingworth stood aside. On 28 May 2003, he announced his resignation and his commission as Governor-General was revoked as of 29 May 2003.

Honours

In 1976 Hollingworth was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and in 1988 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his work in church and community. In 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal and later the same year was promoted to Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) upon his appointment as Governor General taking effect. As well as these secular honours he was elected as a canon of St Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne in 1980. In 1991 he was named Australian of the Year and was included in the inaugural list of Australian Living Treasures in 1997.

On 21 May 2001 Hollingworth was awarded the Lambeth degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) by George Carey, the then Archbishop of Canterbury. He was awarded the doctorate in recognition of his research, publications, teaching and achievements in the fields of Christian social ethics, social welfare and poverty studies and episcopal leadership. In addition to this doctorate he already had six honorary doctorates from Australian universities.

External links

• Report by the Board of Inquiry