Journeying on the edges: EREMOS celebrates 40 Years

Journeying on the edges 

EREMOS celebrates 40 Years of engaging spirituality in Australia

Sunday afternoon 30 April 2023 from 2 - 4 pm

Pitt Street Uniting Church, 264 Pitt Street, Sydney

Join us as we celebrate and reflect upon the journey of 40 years of publication of EREMOS magazine.

Registrations have closed but you can still attend in person or online. See details below.

The event will highlight the distinctive perspective of Australian spiritual and religious thinking, engagement and growth Eremos enabled from 1982 to 2023.

Compered by John Cleary, former ABC Religious affairs broadcaster, with special guests:

• John Foulcher, EREMOS magazine editor

• Margaret Ackland, multi-award winning artist

• Linda Turton, Eremos Associate Director from 1996 to 2007

All are welcome as we launch this special 40th Anniversary Edition of EREMOS Magazine.

The bumper edition of EREMOS Magazine contains an extended selection of significant articles and interviews published over the past 40 years.

EREMOS editor, John Foulcher, will share the perspective of Australian Spirituality that he has gained from reading 40 years of articles. John observed, “So many articles are prescient, well-written and challenging, and this issue gives us a chance to resurrect and save many which would have otherwise been lost in time.

“There is a wealth of insight and overview of the development and changes to Australian spirituality that emerges in reading the magazine content of 40 years. What people wrote about, how they expressed it, the artwork and poetry, all create a picture that is worth exploring.”

Join us for this lively discussion about the nature of Australian spirituality and its development that’s reflected in EREMOS, as well as how it’s changing and where future exploration of Australian spirituality might lead.

The afternoon will include the opportunity to engage with the topics presented and share in dialogue with others significant milestones of this 40 year exploration.

Afternoon tea will be served.

There is no charge for this event. 

The event is at 2 pm AEST Sunday. If you don’t live in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania or Queensland you can use this to check your local time: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20230428T130000&p1=64&p2=3777

About the special edition

The Anniversary Edition is a must for anyone interested in the growth of Australian spirituality during the latter part of last century and the first two decades of this one. All current Eremos members will receive a copy in April as part of their membership. 

Additional copies of the publication will be available for sale at the event for $20. Cash sales only on the day or advance order online the EREMOS 40th Anniversary Edition with your credit card and pick up on the day. To order click here: https://www.eremos.org.au/booksforpurchase

To post the edition to you, the cost is $28 with postage and handling. A PDF version is also available. 

Special Guests

Compere for the event, John Cleary is a veteran ABC broadcaster and one of Australia's best-known commentators on religion. In his 30-year career with the ABC he has worked extensively in both radio and television, but is known principally for his association with Sunday Nights on ABC Local Radio and The Religion Report on ABC Radio National.  His 1994, ‘Salvo!’, launched by former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, was awarded Australian Christian book of the year. Since his retirement in 2017 John has maintained an active interest in inter-religious issues and is currently a member of the advisory board of the Muslim interfaith group the Affinity Intercultural Foundation.

Our speakers were part of Eremos in its beginning and have journeyed with us in various ways over the years.

Margaret Ackland was a foundation member of Eremos and designed the Eremos logo and contributed significant artworks over the years. Margaret has had over thirty solo shows since 1985. She is represented by Flinders Lane Gallery in Melbourne FLG.com.au and her most recent show there was Balancing Act August 2022. Her work is held in a range of national collections including Artbank, the Holmes a Court Collection and Deakin University. She won the Portia Geach Portrait Prize in 1988 and has been four times an Archibald finalist. For more on Margaret: https://www.instagram.com/margaret_ackland_paints/?hl=en

John Foulcher, EREMOS Editor, is a poet and retired teacher and his most recent book of poetry, Dancing with Stephen Hawking, was shortlisted for the 2022 Prime Minister's Literary Awards. John’s work has been widely anthologised and published in national newspapers and journals including The Age, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Bulletin, Quadrant, Heat, Poetry Australia and Meanjin.

Linda Turton became a member of Eremos during its first year and attended retreats and events, wrote for Eremos BookNews and initiated a book discussion group in the Upper Hunter. As Associate Director from 1996 to 2007 she co-led Eremos as the previous work and directions of Eremos underwent consolidation and change, while fulfilling her roles as magazine manager, essays editor, bookshop and book hire scheme coordinator. She worked closely with Eremos editors Don Meadows, Noel Giblett, Jacquie Pryor and Frances Mackay and frequently wrote contributions to EREMOS magazine. Linda also served on the Eremos Council and took on the role of Eremos archivist facilitating the preservation of significant documents and Eremos publications.

A journey of 40 years

 In 1982 Rev Bruce Wilson (then rector of St George’s Anglican Church, Paddington) gathered a small group of people and shared a deep personal reflection and a vision for a new spiritual movement. He later came to express that in his book, Reasons of the Heart (1998).

The foundation of Eremos was supported in imagining and planning by a small team from St George's Anglican Church including Colin Alcock, (who became the first executive director), Janet Stacey, Margaret Ackland, and Don Meadows (rector of St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Newtown).

The original aims agreed upon by the founding group:

1. deepening Christian spirituality
2. helping Christians to understand and contribute to Australian society.

Seminars, weekend retreats, notable speakers in Sydney and book discussion groups were among the earliest Eremos activities. What was first called the Eremos newsletter became EREMOS magazine. From its inception EREMOS offered personal reflections and explorations, researched articles, in depth interviews, book reviews, artwork, poetry, news and resources.

The Eremos logo was designed by Margaret Ackland, who continues to contribute articles and artwork for the magazine.