Father Gerard Kennedy Tucker OBE (OM 1902)
Last updated: 2008
A supporter of the poor and homeless, Father Gerard Tucker was founder of the Brotherhood of St Laurence. Tucker was ordained in 1914 and in the First World War served as a Private, then Chaplain, before being wounded and invalided back to Australia.
In 1930 he founded the Brotherhood of St Laurence in Newcastle, New South Wales. He returned to Melbourne three years later to become Curate of St Peter’s in Eastern Hill and Missioner of St Mary’s Mission in Fitzroy.
Tucker embarked on several welfare projects, including placing unemployed men and their families in a farming community and establishing a hostel for homeless boys. He also set up an Opportunity Shop, a club for pensioners and a seaside holiday home for poor families.
In the early 1950s Tucker’s public expression of concern at the rise in poverty in Asia inspired a group of Melbourne women to establish the Food for Peace Campaign. This later evolved into Community Aid Abroad and Oxfam Australia.
Tucker retired in 1954 and was honoured as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1956 for his contribution to the Brotherhood of St Laurence in Victoria.
Melbourne Grammar School marked its sesquicentenary in 2008. As part of the celebrations, a Talents Committed Exhibition was staged. This exhibition recognised 150 Old Melburnians who have made a difference to the City of Melbourne, the State of Victoria and the wider community in Australia and overseas.
The above profile was included in the Talents Committed Exhibition in 2008.