Townsville’s Easter Dawn Service celebrates 60 years

The annual Easter Dawn Service on Castle Hill overlooking Townsville attracts hundreds of worshippers each year.

 BY LAUREN MARTIN

This year will mark the 60th anniversary of The Salvation Army’s Easter Dawn Service on Castle Hill, which overlooks the North Queensland city of Townsville.

The Salvation Army has been part of the hilltop gathering to watch the sunrise and celebrate the risen Christ since 1966.

Townsville City Corps was under the leadership of Captains Earle and Wilma Maxwell when they commenced the first service.

The current Corps Officer/Team Member, Auxiliary-Lieutenant Katrina McIntosh, said that over the years, it gradually shifted from being solely a Salvation Army service to a more ecumenical one.

“All the corps in Townsville had come together each year as a combined service, but the service opened up to other churches over two decades ago when Norm and Isabel Beckett were the corps officers at Riverway Corps,” Katrina said.

“Some other denominational leaders started helping with readings or prayers, but the ecumenical planning group and broader involvement of other denominations came about particularly in the last five years.”

Salvationists gather in a circle for the first Easter Dawn Service in Townsville in 1966.

Katrina said the event is significant in bringing together different denominations to recognise and celebrate the unity of belief that Jesus is “the risen lord that saves us from our sin.”

“Many have commented that seeing the sun rising over the horizon is moving, as it would have done so on that first Easter morning, with a risen Lord. Like the journey of Easter, we start in the darkness, but as the sky lightens into the light of day, we too step out of a destiny of darkness and sin, into a new life filled with light,” she said.

Hundreds of Christians from Townsville’s different churches gather for the service on Castle Hill, a prominent 286-metre granite monolith in the centre of Townsville that offers views over the city and out to Magnetic Island.

At the end of the Easter Dawn Service, there is a joint proclamation of ‘Jesus is Lord’ shouted out by those in attendance.

“This is a declaration not only of faith, but of a cry for our city and a united prayer to see him Lord over our city,” Katrina said.

The Salvation Army now joins with other denominations for the Easter Dawn Service on Castle Hill.