George Merrick Long was born at Carisbrook, Victoria, the youngest son of William Long, a grocer. He was educated at Maryborough Grammar. On leaving he joined the City of Melbourne Bank. He later matriculated and was awarded the Rupertswood theological studentship to Trinity College at the University of Melbourne from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1899 and a Master of Arts (MA) in 1901.
Long became a deacon on 28 May 1899 and a priest on 10 June 1900. In 1899 he was posted to the district of Foster in Gippsland where the church and rectory had recently been destroyed by a bushfire. Long returned to Melbourne to become senior curate at Holy Trinity Church, Kew. Here he became involved with the foundation of Trinity Grammar, becoming its headmaster in 1904. Long served on several diocesan committees and was made a canon of St Paul's Cathedral in 1910. In May 1911 he was elected to the see of Bathurst, New South Wales and was consecrated on 30 November 191 at St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney. For his services, Long was awarded a Lambeth degree of Doctor of Divinity (DD) by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1912.
Long joined the AIF on 16 November 1917 as an Anglican chaplain with the rank of captain. He sailed for London in January 1918 and was posted to the Australian Reinforcement Camp in France in April 1918. There he was tapped by Major General C. B. B. White to head the AIF's education scheme. White had been impressed by a report on the Canadian Army's "University of Vimy Ridge" by the Official Correspondent, Captain C. E. W. Bean. Long accepted the post of Director of Education, AIF on 10 May 1918 and was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 1 June 1918.
Long established himself in London with Captain H. Thomson, a Rhodes scholar as Deputy Director and Lieutenant R. J. Rudall, another Rhodes scholar, as Assistant Director. Long drew up a scheme for professional, general and technical training to be conducted by teaching within the AIF and by farming men out to universities, schools and businesses.
A cadre of men with instructional experience was selected and assembled for three weeks training at the University of Cambridge. There they formed study groups, thrashed out syllabuses and chose text books. Books on Australian agriculture being unavailable, Long commissioned Lieutenant W. S. Kelly, a Tarlee, South Australia farmer who had been wounded at Villers-Bretonneux, to write a handbook. In three weeks at Cambridge, Kelly produced Beef, Mutton and Wool, the first of a series of fifteen texts written by Long's agricultural section.The Armistice of 11 November 1918 put the education scheme into full effect earlier than expected, throwing a Herculean burden on Long's staff. Prime Minister Hughes arranged for Captain E. R. Holme, in civilian life a Professor of English at the University of Sydney, to head up the University Section of Long's staff. They placed 259 students at British universities, 35 at continental ones, 65 at the Inns of Court and 133 in educational training, while 18 dentists went to the university of Pennsylvania. Long's Agricultural Section established a school at Sutton Veny. Men toured farms all over England and attended agricultural shows, while 100 men learnt pig raising in America. By agreeing that the scheme would be limited in size and duration, and that skilled men would be paid union rates, Long and Prime Minister W. M. Hughes obtained the agreement of unions and employers for men to be placed in paid non-military employment. The Technical Section placed 3,500 in works or institutions while the Industrial Section placed over 4,700. Altogether, some 12,880 men and women completed courses of training or experience, for many the opportunity of a lifetime.
Long was promoted to colonel and temporary brigadier general on 1 January 1919. In March, with the scheme in full swing, Long's health broke under the strain and in April he handed over to Major General W. R. McNicoll. For his services, Long was awarded honorary Doctor of Letters (LLD) degrees by universities of Cambridge and Manchester and was appointed a Companion of the British Empire (CBE). Of his work, the Official Historian declared "No part of the AIF's war effort more richly repaid the nation... The turning of the AIF's effort from destruction to construction may well, when finally weighed, be judged Long's greatest work."
In July 1919, Long returned to his diocese, where he continued his involvement with education. He restarted All Saint's College, Bathurst on a new site, opened Marsden School for Girls at Kelso, encouraged the founding of hostels for country boys and girls attending public high schools, helped re-establish St John's Theological College at Morpeth and promoted the Brotherhood of the Good Shepard's training scheme for helping men without means enter the priesthood. Long was grand chaplain of the United Grand Lodge from 1923 to 1926. He drafted a new constitution for the Church of England in Australia, making it independent of the church in Britain. Long advocated the White Australia Policy on the grounds of democracy, social and industrial harmony, and racial purity. Long was elected bishop of Newcastle in December 1927 and was enthroned on 1 May 1928. He also remained an army chaplain and was appointed Chaplain-General Army in 1929.
Long went to England in March 1930 to attend the Lambeth Conference in London. There he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and died on 9 July 1930. His requiem was celebrated by Archbishop Cosmo Lang before 300 bishops and his ashes returned to New South Wales and placed in All Saint's Cathedral in Bathurst. He was commemorated in Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle, where a window of its Tyrrel chapel contains his portrait.
Sources: Australian Dictionary of Biography, 18991-1939, pp.
134-135; Bean, C. E. W., The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918. Volume VI: The AIF In France 1918, p. 1062-1073Page created by Ross
Mallett
ross@metva.com.au
Last update 8 June 2010