Simon Hattrell

Profile

Simon was nurtured in the Christian faith from an early age and remembers with much affection the care shown to his widowed mother by the Vicar of the great Norman Abbey Church of Tewkesbury in the Cotswolds district of the UK where he was a chorister. Attending King’s School Gloucester, he was confirmed by Bishop Basil Guy in 1963, afterwards altar serving for two years in the Cathedral. His love of organ music came from listening daily to the playing of the late notables of 20th century English church music, Doctors Herbert Sumsion and John Sanders.

After four years in the Glorious Glosters (especially famous for its heroic action against the Chinese Army in the Korean war at the battle of the Imjin River), he served from Feb 65 to Oct 68 with postings to Mauritius, active service in Aden & South Yemen, then Cyprus, Chester, and Berlin. He became a ‘Ten Pound Pom’ & immigrated to Tasmania at the end of 1968. His faith was reawakened through his sister’s love and prayers. Married to Barbara in 1970, he spent 72/3 at Bible College in Brisbane. This was followed by the mining town Savage River on the West Coast where he led the Community Church along with teaching scripture in the Area School for nearly three years. By this time Jonathan and Kirsty had arrived followed soon after by Benjamin and Stefan, the latter in France, where Simon worked with a large Evangelical Church in the University City of Montpellier, primarily amongst foreign students. He then engaged in church planting and congregational development in a beautiful region called the Massif Central.

On his return to Tasmania at the end of 1989, he soon became involved in what has become Tabor College Tasmania (now Alphacrucis University College, Hobart campus) teaching regularly and leading it through a period of intense development and helping to gain government accreditation for their courses in 1996. He taught a range of subjects including Bible, Comparative Religion, Ministry and Theology. Barbara was the Library manager at Tabor for twelve years and played a large part in the success of the College. Twenty years later she has now returned to manage it again. Beginning in 2002 Simon’s postgraduate part time study gave him the opportunity to explore the theology of Karl Barth and Thomas Torrance as well as reflect on the lessons and stages of leadership development.

After serving for part of 2003 as a Pastoral Assistant at BayWest (Wellspring) Anglican Church in Sandy Bay during an interregnum, he returned again to University to complete a Bachelor of Education in 2004 subsequently teaching in Charters Towers, Townsville and Kingston in 2005. He was then ordained to the Diaconate on his 58th birthday in October 2005 and priested at the beginning of 2006. From early 2007 to the end of 2012 he and Barbara moved to the Diocese of North Queensland, where Simon was Rector of Mount Isa and then Heatley in Townsville.

On ‘retirement’ Simon secured a publisher (Wipf & Stock) for a revised translation that he has completed of Pierre Maury’s work on Predestination (Westminster/John Knox Press 1961) while also completing translations of two other significant works: Election and Faith, a seminal paper Maury gave in 1936 in Geneva that has never ever been translated into English and Ultimate Decision a sermon preached in Paris in 1937. Election and Faith had a huge influence on Karl Barth. Maury was a well known and loved French Christian leader, theologian and Reformed Minister. This project has garnered a lot of interest and support from a whole range of theologians here in Australia, the UK, Germany and the USA. There is now a second revised edition (2019) which includes three more essays from Australian theologians.

Simon has been regularly involved in interim ministry assignments in his home state of Tasmania, Queensland and South Australia.

Ministry career

President/Chairman Savage River Community Church, Tas 1973-76

Missionary/Church Planter France 1977-1989

Principal, President and Head of Theology Tasmanian College of Ministries/Tabor College, Hobart 1991-2002

Pastoral Assistant BayWest Sandy Bay 2003

Deacon in Charge Franklin/Esperance 2005-6

Priest in Charge Franklin/Esperance 2006-7

Rector Mount Isa, NQ 2007-09

Rector Heatley, Townsville NQ 2009-12

Authority to Officiate 2014

Coordinator of the Bishop’s Certificate in Theology and Ministry 2015-18

Interim ministry assignments: Latrobe/Port Sorell, Burnie, Flinders Island, King Island, NewTown/Lenah Valley, Sandy Bay/Taroona, Huon Valley,Tasmania 2015-2022; Cloncurry, Emerald/Blackwater, Queensland 2019-23; Coober Pedy, South Australia 2022-23.