Reverend Bradley worked at Mont Park and Larundel in the early 1960s. He was widely admired.
While at these hospitals he learned of a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program available in USA and went to train in CPE in the USA in 1964-1965, on a Fulbright scholarship. He came back and founded the Australia and New Zealand CPE at the Austin Hospital in Heidelberg, Victoria in 1967. Rev Drew Lelean (See, Reverend Drew Lelean – staff member at Larundel Mental Hospital | Mont Park to Springthorpe ) and other chaplains were trained by Roy in the 1970s. Roy went on to train people in this important work in Perth Darwin, Hobart, Ballarat, Albury and Warrnambool.
CPE practitioners aim to observe, understand and then help clients in hospitals, prisons and those who are ageing either in care, or at home. The aims are to provide practical support and information to relieve people’s anxiety and stress.
Family Life
Roy Algernon Bradley (b.1926) grew up in Box Hill attending Box Hill High School from 1937 – 1944. He was commonly known then as ‘Algy’. He enlisted in the Air Training Corp at the age of just 16 years in 1942 in a bid to join his brother ‘Jim’ in WWII. Roy was the youngest son of Harry Powell Bradley and Jessie Campbell Victoria (nee Cummins), and he had three brothers and three sisters. Roy had many relatives and cousins (some of whom were also called Jessie, Harry or Roy).
Study and Work
After serving in the RAAF for a short time towards the end of 1944 and in 1945, he studied at the University of Melbourne and Trinity College and was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1952, working at first in Horsham. He married Margaret Godbehear in 1953. He then transferred to Mont Park Psychiatric Hospital and in 1967 began training chaplains in CPE so they could work in hospitals. Margaret and Roy had four children.
Rev. Roy Bradley and his family moved to Perth (1975-1982), and he then returned to Avalon (1982 -1987) serving as an Anglican Minister in the Lara community west of Melbourne.
He found himself retiring in 1992 after a life in community pastoralism and healthcare.
He was awarded an OAM in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2009, for service to the community through the development of healthcare chaplaincy and pastoral education centres.
Clinical Pastoral Education
The Austin Hospital CPE Program continued for 30 years from 1967, supported by Rev Drew Lelean and admired by Dr Cunningham Dax  ( See, Dr Eric Cunningham Dax | Mont Park to Springthorpe )
One anecdote which illustrates Rev. Roy Bradley’s insight into mental health care was reported by Cheryl Holmes:
‘Roy was a member of the interdisciplinary team in the psych ward and involved in a case conference about this particular patient who had been in their care, and they were talking about a piece of artwork that this patient had done. It was very, very sombre and bleak. It was a tree, it looked like a dead tree, and they’d all been talking about how difficult it was and Roy Bradley was the one who had picked up on one extreme and very tiny point, there was a green shoot and that changed the whole understanding and picture of what might be happening. So that was a very important encouraging story. How things can change if people are aware of what might be happening in someone’s spirit.’ (Interview conducted by Cheryl G. Holmes in research for her PhD ‘Shaping the Future of Spiritual Care in Australian Public Hospitals: Learning from the Story of Spiritual Health Victoria’ (2023) (See, 4.-EC-Dax-contribution-to-SC-in-Vic-pdf.pdf)
Roy was warm-hearted, wise and a very special leader. His chaplaincy is remembered with fondness and respect.
Roy was still meeting with colleagues in the weeks preceding his death in 2017 at the age of 91 years.

In 2019 a book was published to recognise Roy’s life and work in pastoral care. Also starting from 2019, Roy has been remembered via the annual Roy Bradley Oration on contemporary community care issues.
Complied by Kathy Andrewartha (2025)
 
Resources:
‘A brief history of Mental Health Spiritual Care in Victoria. The contribution of Dr E. Cunningham Dax’ (1908-2008), – 4.-EC-Dax-contribution-to-SC-in-Vic-pdf.pdf
Gillian Henderson – ‘To Honour Roy Bradley’, – roy.pdf
Roy Bradley Tributes from CPE, – Roy Bradley – Tributes – ANZACPE
Vale Roy Algernon Bradley OAM,  – Roy Bradley Appreciatian
 
 
 

 
Biographies of John Springthorpe are available on the Mont Park to Springthorpe website – there is a long detailed article Dr John Springthorpe | Mont Park to Springthorpe and a shorter one Dr John Springthorpe at Mont Park Hospital | Mont Park to Springthorpe
This additional article is the result of Dr J. Allan Mawdsley’s research which discovered Dr John Springthorpe’s connection with the formation of St John Ambulance Victoria. Allan’s book ‘A Formidable Man – the life of John William Springthorpe’ (2024), and some of his other writings (Mawdsley, 2016, 2019) are the sources of most of this information.
The cover photograph of ‘A Formidable Man’ shows John Springthorpe in the regalia of Knight of Grace in the Order of St John. Springthorpe (born 1855) served on the St John Council of Victoria from 1886 for 45 years. This branch was formed in 1883 with Dr James Edward Neild being one of the influential people in getting support for its establishment and development. Springthorpe’s colleague Dr Dan Gresswell (see Dan Astley Gresswell (1853 – 1904). | Mont Park to Springthorpe) had also become an enthusiastic member of the powerful group of St John Ambulance Victoria.
From 1907-1909 Dr Springthorpe was the Chairman of St John Council, and then President until 1916.
He had been employed as Medical Officer at the Beechworth Asylum in 1880, and after service in World War I, then aged in his 60s, he worked in several other Victorian Asylums. He is particularly remembered for his advocacy and humane psychiatric care for military veterans assigned to these hospitals.
Springthorpe and Gresswell were both advocates of educating the community on public health matters. Since 1883, St John had been offering their First Aid classes.
Important links were established in Victoria from 1883 with the Victorian Railway Authority. The risks to the thousands of workers involved in this new heavy industry, expedited the introduction of St John Ambulance First Aid teams in the railway workshops. Several major train accidents resulted in injuries and deaths and reinforced the need for emergency first aiders throughout the community.
A visit to Melbourne by U.S. President ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt’s ‘Great White Fleet’ of sixteen battleships in 1908, resulted in 3000 American sailors marching in a parade through city streets. With 500,000 people observing the welcome, sixteen public First Aid posts were set up and 500 casualties were treated by First Aid volunteers who had all been trained by St John. This enhanced the status and showed the value of St John Ambulance Victoria. From this time the new Victorian Civil Ambulance Service began to charge fees to help recover their costs.
By 1910 St John had purchased its first ambulance to add to its three horse-drawn vehicles located in the city, at Ascot Vale and Prahran.  It also had purchased ‘Ashford litters’ – stretchers on wheels – and these were housed at police stations. Philanthropic donations kept the organisation in funds.
                             
                                                                             
Springthorpe expended his enormous energy in promoting all manner of health services including nursing, dentistry, physiotherapy and St John Ambulance. In his 1914 textbook ‘Therapeutics, Dietetics and Hygiene’ he recommended St John Ambulance courses to ensure practical response to ‘haemorrhages, fractures, insensibility, burns and injuries generally’.
Many of us do First Aid training routinely to enhance employment expertise and protect our families and the community – a valuable legacy of St John pioneer Dr Springthorpe.
Allan Mawdsley is currently the volunteer curator of the St John Ambulance Museum in Williamstown, which you might like to visit St John Museum – St John Ambulance Australia (VIC) INC – Saving Lives Through First Aid

References:

Allan Mawdsley (2016) ‘Springy’. Dr John Springthorpe, versatile St John pioneer in Victoria

2. Allan Mawdsley (2019) St John and the Victorian railways
3. Allan Mawdsley (2024) A Formidable Man – the life of John William Springthorpe
Thanks to Allan Mawdsley for his help with this article