From 1920 he and his wife served in Australia as principals of the "Army"'s training garrisons in Melbourne and Sydney.
[2] Bell, ranked lieutenant-colonel, succeeded Knight as colonel in charge of the Melbourne training college, and Lieutenant-Colonel Alfred J. S. Harris, of the Adelaide garrison, was appointed to a new training College in Sydney, due to be opened in March 1921.
[9] He became a "radio star" in 1929 when 2BL began regularly broadcasting the Sunday services he conducted at the Congress Hall, Elizabeth Street, Sydney.
In 1931 he wrote an article on the international nature of the Army for the Daily Telegraph, one in a series for "Church Week".
[2] He was an enthusiast for the Council of Churches as a pressure group combating social ills — he was concerned wit the insidious erosion of Sunday by innocent pleasures — picnics and bushwalking, concerts and, worst of all, the family motor car.