Location: Ouse, Tasmania.
Building: St John the Baptist Church.
Artist/Studio: Franz Mayer (Mayer & Co).
Subject: Jesus walking on water – “It is I, be not afraid”.
Memorial: Malcolm Bethune 1880-1902 who drowned at Cluny.
Donor: Relatives and friends.
Date: Not recorded but after 21 Feb 1902.
Status: Extant.
Photo source: Ray Brown – 7 Oct 2010.
Notes: Attributed to Franz Mayer (Mayer & Co) by Dr. Bronwyn Hughes OAM.[1]
At Ouse, Tasmania, a historic stained glass window at St John the Baptist church commemorates the life of a young man named Malcolm Bethune who drowned at Cluny in February 1902 at the age of 22. The window was made by Mayer & Co of Munich, Germany, and depicts Christ in a scene from the bible from John Ch 6, Verse 20 where Jesus is walking on the water and tells the terrified boat people “It is I, be not afraid”.
The memorial text on the window (with a date abbreviation error) reads:
“TO THE GLORY OF GOD, AND IN MEMORY OF MALCOLM BETUNE, DROWNED AT CLUNY, FEBR 21th 1902 AGED 22 YEARS, ERECTED BY HIS RELATIVES AND FRIENDS”
I have been in contact with Mr Walter Uptmoor from the Mayer & Co studios recently about Mayer & Co and F.X. Zettler stained glass but unfortunately, during WW2 a lot of their records were destroyed during the war. Walter had sent me some fragments of transcribed records related to some Mayer & Co windows sent to Australia but this window is not recorded.
On the evening of Friday 21st February 1902, Malcolm Bethune and his cousin Norman were out in the Derwent River boating at Cluny on the Dunrobin estate. Around 7pm Malcolm caught a crab but lost his balance, and fell toward the same side of the boat as Norman was sitting causing the boat to fill with water. Both began to swim for the shore which was only about twelve yards away. Norman looked behind him and saw Malcolm swimming a short distance behind, but Malcolm had disappeared when he reached the shore and looked back to the water.
The immediate recovery of Malcolm’s body was hampered by the strong current although two boats had attempted four drags of the river in the vicinity of the tragedy.[2] His body wasn’t recovered until the morning of Tuesday 4th of March.[3] The inquest was held the following day which recorded a verdict of accidental death.[4]
[1] Email from Dr. Bronwyn Hughes 15 Mar 2013.
[2] The Mercury, Hobart, Tas, Monday 24th February 1902, page 3.
[3] Tasmanian News, Hobart, Tas, Tuesday 4th March 1902, page 4.
[4] The Mercury, Hobart, Tas, Wednesday 5th Mar 1902, page 2.
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