Morton family papers, ca. 1880-1988, together with the papers of the Aspinall and Freeman families, and miscellaneous records of St. John's Church of England (Darlinghurst, N.S.W.), 1922-1956

MLMSS 7118/Boxes 1-17, 19-23
MLMSS 7118/Boxes 18X, 24X-26X

fonds

ca. 1880-1988

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Photographs, Clippings

420824

4.73 metres of textual material (22 boxes and 4 outsize boxes)

A. W. (Archibald Wentworth) Morton (1911-1973) was installed as the seventh Anglican Dean of Sydney in 1967 and died while in office. Born in Hamilton, New Zealand, he graduated from the University of New Zealand (B.A., 1936; M.A., 1937; Dip. Ed., 1941). He studied at Moore Theological College, Sydney, 1937-1939, and became a member of the College staff as Resident Tutor, 1938-1940, and Registrar and Lecturer, 1940-1943, lecturing in Old Testament and Church History. At St. Catherine's College, Oxford, 1947-1949, he obtained a doctorate for his thesis, 'The Contribution of Evangelical Revival to the Philosophy and Practice of Education'.

Ordained priest in 1939, Morton's parochial appointments included serving as Rector at St. Barnabas' (Chatswood, N.S.W.), 1941-1943; St. Oswald's (Haberfield, N.S.W.), 1951-1956; and St. John's (Darlinghurst, N.S.W.), 1956-1967. He had served as a full-time chaplain in the Royal Australian Air Force in Australia and New Guinea, 1943-1946.

Morton was elected Fellow of the Sydney Branch of the Society of St. George in 1943. He was founder and Chairman of the South American Missionary Society (Australian Association) from 1955. During the 1950s he was a member of an interdenominational committee promoting the first Australian visit in 1959 of the American evangelist Dr Billy Graham. In 1966 Morton was a participant at the World Congress on Evangelism held in West Berlin.

In 1942 Morton married Helen Aspinall Freeman (1921-1988), social worker, elder daughter of Ambrose William Freeman, mining engineer, and Dr Jessie Aspinall (1880-1953), first woman medical resident at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. Helen Morton's grandfather, the Reverend Arthur Ashworth Aspinall (1846-1929), Presbyterian minister, was the first Principal of Scots College (Bellevue Hill, N.S.W.). In the 1940s she was actively involved in the Mothers' Union in the Diocese of Sydney. The Mortons had a son, Archibald Robert Aspinall, who attended The King's School (Parramatta, N.S.W.), 1958-1967, and became a medical practitioner.

I. Morton family papers, ca. 1900-1988, together with miscellaneous records of St. John's Church of England (Darlinghurst, N.S.W.), 1922-1956
II. Aspinall family papers, 1904-1908
III. Photographs of the Morton, Aspinall and Freeman families, ca. 1880-1972

This collection comprises 3 series. You may navigate to a more detailed description of each series from this collection record.