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Benjamin McMahon

Photo courtesy of Shirley Tarburton.

McMahon, Benjamin Hamilton (1904–1980)

By Shirley Tarburton

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Shirley Tarburton, M.Litt. (Distinction) (University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia) retired in 2008 after 40 years teaching church-school (mainly high school but including eight years at university). An Australian, she has taught in four mission fields, Australia, and New Zealand. She has authored five books and co-authored one on church history, biography and family history, as well as several magazine articles. She is married to Dr. Michael Tarburton with two adult children and four grandchildren.

 

First Published: January 29, 2020

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Benjamin Hamilton McMahon was an Australian Seventh-day Adventist educator who worked in the Adventist education system of the Australasian Division (now South Pacific Division) as a teacher and administrator for over three decades.

Early Years

Benjamin Hamilton McMahon, known as Ben, was born in Lucknow, Victoria, Australia, on January 5, 1904, the ninth of twelve children. His parents were Robert Hamilton McMahon (November 23, 1862-September 21, 1941) and Annie Isabel McMahon (Teychenne, May 2, 1869-January 21, 1918). His older siblings were Robert John (1887-1975), Marion Margaret (Tennent, 1888-1952), Winifred Annie (Lobb then Atkins, 1890-1978), Ivy Isabel (Radford, 1892-1987), Henry Earnest (1894-1970), Norman Teychenne (1895-1946), Lillian Gertrude (Weil, 1897-1973), Percy Vincent (1901-1988), Nina Evangeline (Minns, 1907-1990), Pauline Adah Minnie (Bartram, 1911-1943) and Rita Josephine Worayal (Mitchell, 1912-1980). A number of McMahon’s siblings entered church employment. Four were literature evangelists, one a doctor, four became educators, three were nurses, one was a missionary with her husband and another married a doctor.1

Education and Conversion

While Ben McMahon was still a baby, his family moved to Rigby Island in the Gippsland Lakes region of Victoria.2 Robert McMahon was pleased to have five sons who would be able to help him on the farm. However, his wife believed that all the children should go to school and have the opportunity to gain an education. To get to school, the children had to row from their island to Cunninghame (now Lakes Entrance), a distance of nearly two kilometers, and this regular exercise developed in them strong muscles and healthy constitutions.3 Ben McMahon followed his eight older siblings, (four brothers and four sisters) in attending the Cunninghame school4 and was blessed with a robust and healthy constitution for most of his life.5

The McMahons were nominal Presbyterians, but there was little religious observance practiced in the home. When Ben McMahon was about nine years old, two of his older brothers were introduced to the Seventh-day Adventist Church by a neighbor, Will Carstairs, who had recently been converted while working in Western Australia.6 When the interest was reported, two Adventist preachers, N. J. Waldorf and T. A. Driver, came to Cunninghame and held Bible studies with the McMahon family. They excitedly shared their beliefs with others and by May 1914 there was a Sabbath-school of thirty-four, including McMahon’s parents and older brothers and sisters.7

The conference president, Morris Lukens, baptized the first group of eight on May 12, 1914.8 Ben McMahon might have been baptized then, or at the second baptism on January 31, 1915.9 He stated that he joined the church 1914.10

Just three years later, his mother died.11 Two of his older sisters were already married, another sister and two older brothers were working away from home selling Adventist literature. His brother Henry, ten years older than Ben McMahon, brought the five youngest, including Ben McMahon, to live with him in Melbourne.12 Their sister, Lillian, who was twenty-one, resigned from her teaching job in Gippsland and came up to Melbourne to keep house for the five younger siblings.13 To support them, Henry, who was teaching and also attending medical school, took on extra work, fitting it around his studies, enabling his brothers and sisters to be educated and receive training for a career.14 Ben McMahon finished school then trained as a teacher in Melbourne, obtaining a Government first class teacher’s certificate at the end of 1921, just before his eighteenth birthday.15

Career Beginnings

For three years, McMahon taught in government schools in the Wodonga area,16 becoming a head teacher.17 At the commencement of the 1925 school year, he accepted an appointment as head teacher at the Warburton Seventh-day Adventist school.18 He held that position for eight years, preparing students for the Merit Certificate examinations19 and building the school up to a three-teacher school by the time he left at the end of 1932.20

Marriage and Family

While teaching at Warburton he met Hilda May Howse, and they were married there on March 27, 1927.21 Hilda Howse was born on December 16, 1905, in Melbourne to Edmund George and Lily May Large Howse (1875-1939; 1876-1971).22 Hilda Howse’s father was converted and joined the Adventist church in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1894, with his brother and mother.23 Edmund Howse sailed to Melbourne, Victoria, and joined the staff of the Echo Publishing Company. When the publishing work moved to Warburton and became the Signs Publishing Company, he transferred with it, spending the rest of his life working there as a printer.24 When Hilda Howse left school, she also worked at the Signs Publishing Company, as a clerk, until the time of her marriage.25

Five children were born to McMahons, the first three in Warburton and the last two in Sydney. They were Lynn Hamilton (1928-2010), Val Edmund, Pamela Fay (Kent 1935-2015), John Teychenne, and Bruce David Benjamin.26

Career

On January 6, 1933, Ben and Hilda McMahon, along with their children, sailed for Christchurch, New Zealand, where McMahon took up his appointment as headmaster of the Papanui SDA Central School.27 At that time, this was a three-teacher school.28 It was thought worthy of reporting that the two male teachers at the school were taking the students to the town swimming pool each week to teach them swimming, diving, and life-saving.29 In 1934, McMahon was given the additional responsibility of Primary and Secondary School Inspector for the Adventist schools in New Zealand.30

At the end of 1934, the McMahons left for Wahroonga, Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), after being in New Zealand for only two years, as McMahon was appointed educational secretary for the Australasian Union Conference.31 He retained this portfolio for nine years.32 During that time, he travelled extensively, visiting the Adventist schools in each state of Australia,33 on both islands of New Zealand,34 and on some Pacific Islands.35 During his tenure, school uniforms were introduced,36 and color movie films promoting Adventist education and schools were produced and shown around the Australasian Union Conference.37 The schools grew in size and several new schools were opened, with excellent student achievement.38

Ordination

McMahon was ordained to the gospel ministry on September 20, 1941, at the last Sabbath of the Australasian Union Conference Session held at The Entrance, NSW, in September 1941.39 Shortly afterwards, leadership of the newly instituted Home Commission Department was added to his list of duties.40

Principal of Australasian Missionary College

In the closing months of 1943, at the annual meeting of the Australasian Union Conference, McMahon was appointed principal and manager of the Australasian Missionary College at Avondale.41 While in New Zealand he had obtained a Diploma of Education, and later added the educational qualifications of Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and Bachelor of Education–although it is not recorded when or where these were attained42other than that he obtained his MA during his period as education secretary for the Union Conference.43

Return to Headquarters

McMahon spent just over twelve months at Avondale, during which time he demonstrated an affinity for relating to young people,44 before he returned to Wahroonga to direct the Home Commission, which had lapsed during the previous year. He was also appointed to be the assistant Missionary Volunteer leader for the Australasian Union Conference.45 The Home Commission’s purpose was parent education, providing counsel, resources, and support to parents raising their children according to Biblical principles.46 It was envisioned that parents would form study groups to work through material that would be sent to the individual societies each month.47 Interest was aroused by frequent articles which McMahon wrote for the church paper, the Australasian Record,48 and enough interest was generated within the church membership for an assistant to be assigned towards the end of 1946.49 He put much time and effort into the innovative department, advocating for it earnestly.50 He travelled widely, promoting both the work of the M. V. Department and the Home Commission. Early in 1947, he was once again appointed to be the education secretary of the Australasian Union Conference.51

At the commencement of 1949, the Australasian Union Conference was re-organized and divided into four union conferences making up the Inter-Union Conference (Division).52 Under this new organization, McMahon became education secretary and the Missionary Volunteer secretary for the Trans-Tasman Union, encompassing part of eastern Australia and the country of New Zealand.53 After holding these responsibilities for six years, the combined portfolio became too great a task for one person and he relinquished the M. V. responsibilities.54

In the quadrennial session held in December 1954, McMahon was re-appointed education secretary for the Trans-Tasman Union for a four-year term.55 He made no concessions for his age, maintaining a punishing schedule of travel, personal contact with “his” schools,56 running institutes for the teachers,57 and attending camp meetings and sessions.58

Retirement and Later Life

At the beginning of 1959, McMahon was granted two years study leave for post-graduate study at the Sydney University;59 however, this soon transitioned into early retirement.60 He subsequently was employed by the New South Wales State Education Department as a special guidance officer61 and for the next ten years he worked with the disadvantaged and troubled youth of the Liverpool area on the southern edge of greater Sydney.62

The McMahons also looked for some missionary work they could do locally, and decided to help a small struggling church on the other side of Sydney from where they lived.63

How many miles Pastor and Mrs. McMahon travelled to visit the members, both as a congregation and severally, only God knows! Not only were they senior elder and musician/church clerk, but they were father and mother to the whole church. They counselled and comforted, evangelised and uplifted. They opened their home and their holiday home and, by a love that seeks not its own, warmed and built the little congregation till it was strong and flourishing.64

As time went on, families moved away, and the church closed down, so the McMahons found another small church to support, again putting time and effort into mentoring and encouraging the church family despite poor health. Hilda McMahon suffered from cancer by this time.65

Death

Hilda McMahon died in the Sydney Adventist Hospital on April 28, 1980.66 Just over six months later, on November 10, as Ben McMahon and his sister, Rita, were travelling on the Princes Highway on the southern coast of NSW, he was killed instantly when their vehicle was involved in a motor vehicle accident. Rita died the next day.67 McMahon was buried next to his wife on November 15, 1980, at the Adventist cemetery at Avondale.68

Legacy

Ben McMahon was remembered for the many whose lives he personally touched with his fatherly concern, as well as in the results of the programs he put in place while he worked to build up the Home Commission and the education system in the Australasian Division.

Sources

“Allocation of Church School Teachers.” Australasian Record, February 20, 1933.

“Appointments and Actions by the A.U.C. Committee.” Australasian Record, October 20, 1941.

“At the recent Session...” Australasian Record, October 13, 1941.

A. W. A. “Educational Notes.” Australasian Record, February 17, 1919.

Bell, C. V. “Howse.” Australasian Record, April 17, 1949.

Benjamin Hamilton McMahon Worker’s Biographical Record. South Pacific Division of the General Conference Archives.

“Brother B. H. McMahon...” Australasian Record, June 17, 1935.

“By the Monowai...” Australasian Record, January 16, 1933.

Dyason, A. J. “Visiting in North New Zealand with the Educational Secretary.” Australasian Record, January 22, 1934.

Fitzclarence, Eunice and Don McMahon. “Our Fathers’ 12-Day Row from Cunninghame to Sydney.” Unpublished document held in the personal collection of the author.

Frame, R. R. “Historic Session Held in New Zealand,” Australasian Record, February 7, 1955.

Frame, R. R. “The Trans-Tasman Union.” Australasian Record, May 30, 1949.

“Having completed...” Australasian Record, July 24, 1939.

Jones Llewellyn and Don McMahon. “Life Sketch of Henry Ernest McMahon 1894-1970.” Unpublished document held in the personal collection of the author.

King, A. L. “More Notes from Warburton.” Australasian Record, January 2, 1928.

“Life-Sketch of Pastor B. H. McMahon.” Australasian Record, February 9, 1981.

Lukens, M. “Notes from Victoria and Tasmania,” Australasian Record, May 11, 1914.

Lukens, Morris. “Cunninghame, Victoria.” Australasian Record, June 8, 1914.

McCutcheon, O. D. F. “Mitchell.” Australasian Record, February 2, 1981.

McMahon, B. H. “Camping Again in West Australia.” Australasian Record, April 21, 1947.

McMahon, B. H. “Educational Blue-print Examined Again.” Australasian Record, October 21, 1957.

McMahon, B. H. “Educational Department.” Australasian Record, March 8, 1943.

McMahon, B. H. “Glimpses of Our Schools.” Australasian Record, September 11, 1939.

McMahon, B. H. “Itinerating in Fiji.” Australasian Record, August 17, 1936.

McMahon, B. H. “News Notes, Education Department.” Australasian Record, February 22, 1937.

McMahon, B. H. “The Home Commission, What Is It?” Australasian Record, July 23, 1945.

“Miss Hazel McNaught...” Australasian Record, September 9, 1946.

Patching, S. L. “Notes from South New Zealand.” April 17, 1933.

Piper, H. E. “In Memoriam.” Australasian Record, February 12, 1951.

Radford, George. “McMahon.” Australasian Record, June 17, 1918.

“Recommendations from the Annual Meeting.” Australasian Record, December 13, 1943.

Slade, F. M. “’The Quiet School,’ Impressions of a Neighbour.” Australasian Record, October 3, 1955.

Smith, J. L. “Our Church Schools.” Australasian Record, February, 23, 1925.

Snow, C. M. “McMahon-Howse.” Australasian Record, May 9, 1927.

“South New Zealand Camp Meeting.” Australasian Record, March 4, 1935.

“Specially for Our Parents.” Australasian Record, May 14, 1945.

Stewart, J. S. “New Church at Lakes Entrance, Victoria.” Australasian Record, February 22, 1915.

Tudor, Ralph. “McMahon.” Australasian Record, June 16, 1980.

Turner, W. G. “North New South Wales Camp-meeting and Conference Session.” Australasian Record, December 10, 1945.

Turner, W. G. “North New Zealand Camp Meeting.” Australasian Record, February 26, 1934.

Westerman, W. J. “Tasmanian Camp.” Australasian Record, March 24, 1941.

“Who does not like seeing...” Australasian Record, July 21, 1941.

Windeyer, H. J. “Fifth Biennial Session and Camp-meeting of Greater Sydney Conference.” Australasian Record, November 11, 1957.

“With Our Church Schools.” Australasian Record, April 4, 1932.

“With the assurance...” Australasian Record, January 29, 1945.

Notes

  1. Don McMahon, interview by author, December 6, 2016.↩

  2. “Life-Sketch of Pastor B. H. McMahon,” Australasian Record, February 9, 1981, 13.↩

  3. Don McMahon, interview by author, December 6, 2016.↩

  4. Ibid.↩

  5. “Life-Sketch of Pastor B. H. McMahon,” Australasian Record, February 9, 1981, 13.↩

  6. Eunice Fitzclarence and Don McMahon, “Our Fathers’ 12-Day Row from Cunninghame to Sydney,” unpublished document held in the personal collection of the author.↩

  7. M. Lukens, “Notes from Victoria and Tasmania,” Australasian Record, May 11, 1914, 4.↩

  8. Morris Lukens, “Cunninghame, Victoria,” Australasian Record, June 8, 1914, 6.↩

  9. J. S. Stewart, “New Church at Lakes Entrance, Victoria,” Australasian Record, February 22, 1915, 5-6.↩

  10. Benjamin Hamilton McMahon, Worker’s Biographical Record, South Pacific Division of the General Conference Archives; Folder: “McMahon, Benjamin Hamilton,” Document: “Worker’s Biographical Record.”↩

  11. George Radford, “McMahon,” Australasian Record, June 17, 1918, 7.↩

  12. Llewellyn Jones and Don McMahon, “Life Sketch of Henry Ernest McMahon 1894-1970,” unpublished document held in the personal collection of the author.↩

  13. A. W. A. “Educational Notes,” Australasian Record, February 17, 1919, 8.↩

  14. Llewellyn Jones and Don McMahon, “Life Sketch of Henry Ernest McMahon 1894-1970,” unpublished document held in the personal collection of the author.↩

  15. Benjamin Hamilton McMahon, Worker’s Biographical Record, South Pacific Division of the General Conference Archives, Folder: “McMahon, Benjamin Hamilton,” Document: “Worker’s Biographical Record.”↩

  16. “Life-Sketch of Pastor B. H. McMahon,” Australasian Record, February 9, 1981, 13.↩

  17. Ibid.↩

  18. J. L. Smith, “Our Church Schools,” Australasian Record, February, 23, 1925, 4.↩

  19. A. L. King, “More Notes from Warburton,” Australasian Record, January 2, 1928, 5.↩

  20. “With Our Church Schools,” Australasian Record, April 4, 1932, 3.↩

  21. C. M. Snow, “McMahon-Howse,” Australasian Record, May 9, 1927, 6.↩

  22. Sue Tinworth, e-mail message to author, February 18, 2019.↩

  23. H. E. Piper, “In Memoriam.” Australasian Record, February 12, 1951, 6.↩

  24. C. V. Bell, “Howse,” Australasian Record, April 17, 1949, 6.↩

  25. C. M. Snow, “McMahon-Howse,” Australasian Record, May 9, 1927, 6.↩

  26. Benjamin Hamilton McMahon, Worker’s Biographical Record. South Pacific Division of the General Conference Archives. Folder: “McMahon, Benjamin Hamilton.” Document: “Worker’s Biographical Record.↩

  27. “By the Monowai…,” Australasian Record, January 16, 1933, 8.↩

  28. “Allocation of Church School Teachers,” Australasian Record, February 20, 1933, 4.↩

  29. S. L. Patching, “Notes from South New Zealand,” April 17, 1933, 5.↩

  30. A. J. Dyason, “Visiting in North New Zealand with the Educational Secretary,” Australasian Record, January 22, 1934, 3-4; W. G. Turner, “North New Zealand Camp Meeting,” Australasian Record, February 26, 1934, 7.↩

  31. “South New Zealand Camp Meeting,” Australasian Record, March 4, 1935, 6.↩

  32. Benjamin Hamilton McMahon, Worker’s Biographical Record. South Pacific Division of the General Conference Archives. Folder: “McMahon, Benjamin Hamilton.” Document: “Worker’s Biographical Record.”↩

  33. “Brother B. H. McMahon…,” Australasian Record, June 17, 1935, 8; “Having completed...,” Australasian Record, July 24, 1939, 8; W. J. Westerman, “Tasmanian Camp,” Australasian Record, March 24, 1941, 3; B. H. McMahon, “News Notes, Education Department,” Australasian Record, February 22, 1937, 7.↩

  34. “Brother B. H. McMahon…,” Australasian Record, June 17, 1935, 8.↩

  35. B. H. McMahon, “Itinerating in Fiji,” Australasian Record, August 17, 1936, 2.↩

  36. B. H. McMahon, “Glimpses of Our Schools,” Australasian Record, September 11, 1939, 5-6.↩

  37. “Who does not like seeing...,” Australasian Record, July 21, 1941, 8.↩

  38. B. H. McMahon, “Educational Department,” Australasian Record, March 8, 1943, 8.↩

  39. “At the recent Session...,” Australasian Record, October 13, 1941, 8.↩

  40. “Appointments and Actions by the A.U.C. Committee,” Australasian Record, October 20, 1941, 8.↩

  41. “Recommendations from the Annual Meeting,” Australasian Record, December 13, 1943, 8.↩

  42. Benjamin Hamilton McMahon, Worker’s Biographical Record, South Pacific Division of the General Conference Archives, Folder: “McMahon, Benjamin Hamilton,” Document: “Worker’s Biographical Record.”↩

  43. “Life-Sketch of Pastor B. H. McMahon,” Australasian Record, February 9, 1981, 13.↩

  44. Ibid.↩

  45. “With the assurance...,” Australasian Record, January 29, 1945, 8.↩

  46. B. H. McMahon, “The Home Commission, What Is It?” Australasian Record, July 23, 1945, 3.↩

  47. Ibid.↩

  48. “Specially for Our Parents,” Australasian Record, May 14, 1945, 7.↩

  49. “Miss Hazel McNaught...,” Australasian Record, September 9, 1946, 8.↩

  50. W. G. Turner, “North New South Wales Camp-meeting and Conference Session,” Australasian Record, December 10, 1945, 5.↩

  51. B. H. McMahon, “Camping Again in West Australia,” Australasian Record, April 21, 1947, 4.↩

  52. R. R. Frame, “The Trans-Tasman Union,” Australasian Record, May 30, 1949, 4.↩

  53. Ibid.↩

  54. “Life-Sketch of Pastor B. H. McMahon,” Australasian Record, February 9, 1981, 13.↩

  55. R. R. Frame, “Historic Session Held in New Zealand,” Australasian Record, February 7, 1955, 3.↩

  56. F. M. Slade, “’The Quiet School,’ Impressions of a Neighbour,” Australasian Record, October 3, 1955, 6.↩

  57. B. H. McMahon, “Educational Blue-print Examined Again,” Australasian Record, October 21, 1957, 4.↩

  58. H. J. Windeyer, “Fifth Biennial Session and Camp-meeting of Greater Sydney Conference,” Australasian Record, November 11, 1957, 3-4.↩

  59. “Brevities,” Australasian Record, January 26, 1959, 8.↩

  60. Benjamin Hamilton McMahon, Worker’s Biographical Record, South Pacific Division of the General Conference Archives, Folder: “McMahon, Benjamin Hamilton,” Document: “Worker’s Biographical Record.”↩

  61. “Brevities,” Australasian Record, October 29, 1962, 16.↩

  62. “Life-Sketch of Pastor B. H. McMahon,” Australasian Record, February 9, 1981, 13.↩

  63. Ibid.↩

  64. Ibid.↩

  65. Ibid.↩

  66. Ralph Tudor, “McMahon,” Australasian Record, June 16, 1980, 15.↩

  67. O. D. F. McCutcheon, “Mitchell,” Australasian Record, February 2, 1981, 14.↩

  68. Avondale Cemetery Records.↩

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Tarburton, Shirley. "McMahon, Benjamin Hamilton (1904–1980)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. Accessed March 18, 2025. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=8801.

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Tarburton, Shirley. "McMahon, Benjamin Hamilton (1904–1980)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. Date of access March 18, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=8801.

Copy to clipboard Download Word File

Tarburton, Shirley (2020, January 29). McMahon, Benjamin Hamilton (1904–1980). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved March 18, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=8801.

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