The diocese comprised some 300 churches and covered an area of half a million square kilometers, reaching north to Bundaberg and south and west to the State borders.
[2] Educated at Armidale High School, Roland gained the degrees of BEc (Syd) and BA (Qld) by part-time studies and was an Associate of the Australian Society of Accountants.
When the war extended to the Pacific in 1941 he volunteered for the 2nd AIF and served in Irian Jaya and New Britain, reaching the rank of Captain before returning to civilian life in 1946.
[3] At the age of 32 he was appointed by Archbishop Reginald Halse to be Diocesan Registrar, Brisbane, at a time when the diocese had been in a 'perilous financial position' for some years.
The Registrar also has acted as Secretary of this journal, and with his loyal staff does more than most of us realise to help forward the work of the Diocese.
Archbishop Felix Arnott said: 'This was a very satisfactory conclusion, and was a great tribute to the efforts of our lawyers and Mr. R T St John, who was largely responsible for preparing the material'.
Tension arose between St John and Strong, as recorded by historian Dr. J C Holland: 'The Diocese had a powerful Registrar, Roland St John, and he and other outspoken leaders did not always see eye to eye with the archbishop...The resultant tension further decreased the capacity of the Diocese to respond adequately to social change and numerical decline.
In 1965 the Diocesan Synod considered a motion to reaffirm its traditional ban on art unions, raffles, lotteries, and games of chance to raise funds for the Church.
Archbishop Strong lent weighty support to the motion, stating clearly that the real sin is in gambling.
St John argued that he opposed gambling to raise funds in parish churches but, given the divided opinion, there could no longer be a ruling against this.
[13] Never afraid of debate, St John protested in 1965 against Sir Raphael Cilento's intemperate comments about 'brain-washed bishops' who had urged negotiation in the Vietnam War and de-criminalisation of homosexuality.
[14](A year later Cilento was obstructing the pre-selection of Roland's brother Edward St John QC to be the Liberal Party candidate for Warringah, Sydney, in the imminent federal elections.
The recognition of his important place in the General Synod came with his election as the first Australian lay member of the Anglican Consultative Council.
At this level of international church diplomacy, Roland St John was at his best… Observers have often been surprised by the speeches of the quietly-spoken man who at first sight seems likely to be a conservative.
His radical thinking on issues such as racism, war, violence and the position of women in the church have won the admiration and gratitude of many.
His encyclopedic knowledge of both Diocesan organisations and intimate parish details, together with a reputation for having brought the Diocese back from serious debt, gave him credibility, stature and the voice of authority, as well as the capacity to use his knowledge to further the policies which he believed were right... Halse had come to rely on him immensely and trusted his judgement...and was happy to refer difficult situations to him, and not only of a financial or administrative kind.
In his book of memoirs Memories at Sunset he wrote of his childhood in Uralla and recounted anecdotes about people he had met during his lifetime.
But they were not an autobiography: 'They do not speak of my good fortune in having godly, impressive and understanding parents…Nor do they refer to my marriage to two wonderful women…They do not mention the many joys and occasional sorrows of bringing up a large family'.
In a tribute, the Primate of Australia, Dr Keith Rayner, said: "The Diocese of Brisbane and the whole Australian Church owed a tremendous amount to Roland's dedicated service and the acumen with which it was carried out.
[25] The General Synod's Standing Committee formally recorded the following minute on 24/25 October 1991: That this Standing Committee record its thankfulness to Almighty God for the life service and witness of Roland Tyrwhitt St John, formerly Registrar of the Diocese of Brisbane from 1946 to 1974, member of the General Synod from 1950 to 1974, and the Standing Committee, its Finance Committee and the Long Service Leave Board; for his representation of the Anglican Church of Australia at the Toronto Congress and the Anglican Consultative Council at Limuru and Dublin; for his outstanding work in re-establishing the financial stability of the Diocese of Brisbane; for his contribution to the establishment of the Constitution of this Church and the Long Service Leave Fund and his vigorous contribution to its debates on a wide range of subjects; and convey to his widow Marjorie and their children their sympathy and assurance of their prayers for them at this time.