# Notable South Australians/The Right Rev. G. W. Kennion, D.D,, Lord Bishop of Adelaide

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​ ​worked hard, not only in connection with his own parish, hut also with the Church Institute and ecclesiastical work generally. In the more immediate labour of the parish he was assisted by four, and at times by six curates, public school men and old Etonians. But with all these auxiliaries he nevertheless found sufficient to do in looking after the well-being of the numerous institutions connected with the church, all of which, at the time he severed his connection with the parish, had been brought into a flourishing condition. Some idea of the improvement effected under Dr. Kennion's ministration will be readily observed by the following statistics. The number of candidates for confirmation, a crucial test of a church's life, rose to an average number of 100 each year for five years, and the total number of communicants in 1877 was 2,524, and in 1881 5,785. The baptisms in a somewhat proportionate ratio rose in the same period of time from 201 to 318. In addition to these gratifying results there was also a corresponding improvement in other respects, such as mothers' meetings, a Bible class, a sick club, a Church of England Temperance Society with a membership, juvenile and adult, of nearly 500, together with Sunday-schools, all in an exceedingly flourishing condition. In the latter there were about 1,700 scholars, and Dr. Kennion personally acted as superintendent of the boys' department, proving himself quite as much in his element there as when ministering to the older portion of his flock from the pulpit. The day schools, in which he also took interest, were left likewise prospering. Mission work in connection with the parish was vigorously and successfully prosecuted by Dr. Kennion, by whose exertions a mission church was built at Dirk Hill in 1877, and several other missions also received great impetus. He was one of the most active members of the Church Institute, and conducted in connection with it a Sunday-school teachers' class and lay readers' class, and gave several lectures on popular subjects. ​He was appointed president of the local church centenary gatherings in 1880, and it was through the influence he exerted that their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales were induced to be present at the opening ceremony of the bazaar in St. George's Hall in 1881. Amongst the general church work in which he has been engaged were several missions undertaken with or for the Bishop of Lichfield at Weymouth, Hull, and Edinburgh. He was also one of six clergymen chosen to conduct a "retreat" for the clergy of the diocese. Had he been desirous of improving his own. worldly means by accepting a better living, many opportunities were afforded during his six years* residence in Bradford. Amongst those who recognised his abilities were the Arch* bishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, and Earl Fitzwilliam, Lord Lieutenant of the county, who offered him the post of private chaplain and the living of ' Wentworth. He uniformly refused all offers, having, as he then stated, no ambition to leave Horton for any other parish in England. When, however, the Bishopric of Adelaide was offered him^ he considered he would be wanting in duty and courage if he shrank from the grave responsibilities and heavy labour which the acceptance of this See would entail. The honour of the preferment came entirely unsought and unexpected. The Synod of Adelaide, thinking that the vacant bishopric in which Bishop Short had exercised his episcopal functions from 1847 could be better filled up from England than from any colonial appointment, nominated five bishops there, to whom they deputed the task of choosing a successor. These five were the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishops of Winchester, Durham, Truro, and Bedford, and their choice unanimously fell upon Dr. Kennion. He was consecrated on Nov. 30, 1882, at Westminster Abbey, by the Bishop of London; and married on December 5 in the same year Henrietta Fergusson, third daughter of Sir Chas. Fergusson, Bart., Kilkerran, Ayrshire, and sister of the Right Hon. Sir ​Jas. Fergusson, some time Governor of South Australia, to whom he was related on his mother's side." Dr. Kennion is apparently peculiarly fitted by nature for the delicate and onerous duties which fall to the lot of a minister desirous of faithfully discharging his duties. His polished eloquence serves to inculcate both from the pulpit and in private conversation the lessons he desires to teach, and has gained him many admirers here and elsewhere. Open and straightforward in character, liberal in opinion, and an advanced theologian, this colony may be congratulated on the possession of such an ecclesiastic, who has already in his life and work given abundant evidences that he will faithfully keep the charge committed to him, and in course of time show equally satisfactory results to those which his predecessor accomplished.