[BALLARAT; CLUNES] Illuminated address presented to Rev. Elder Gray, D.D., minister at Clunes, by the Presbytery of Ballarat, 1902. by [GRAY, Elder, 1847-1905]

Folio portfolio (405 x 325 mm), full crushed black morocco elaborately gilt (virtually unmarked), front board lettered 'Presented to Rev. Elder Gray, D.D., by the Presbytery of Ballarat, 1902'; gilt dentelles, inner front board with parchment leaf laid in, bearing the signatures of leading members of the Ballarat Presbytery, including Surman, Milliken, White, Draffin, Crockett, Mitchell, Fraser, Walker, Hart, Forrest, Cameron, Drummond and Robinson; the illuminated address itself, which is signed at the foot by Moderator T. R. Cairns, congratulates the Rev. Elder Gray 'on the attainment of the Semi-Jubilee [i.e. 25 years] of your Ministry at Clunes ... You have given some of the best years of your work in that place. Amidst the numerous difficulties of a constantly changing population, you have by your energy and ability kept your congregation together and returned the esteem and affection of both the old and younger members of your flock....'; calligraphic manuscript with gold-highlighted watercolour decoration on parchment, laid down on the inside of the lower board, with an albumen print portrait of Rev. Elder mounted at lower left; extremely well preserved. Elder Gray was an Irish Presbyterian who arrived in Queensland in 1871 as a recently ordained minister. He first served in Ipswich, and then at Bald Hills, Brisbane, before taking up a ministry on the Victorian goldfields at Clunes in 1877. He died in Clunes in 1905 at the age of 58, and is buried in the Clunes Cemetery.