JJ Virgo of the YMCA |
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| Title : | JJ Virgo of the YMCA |
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| Source : | Music, vol. 4, no. 50 (December 1900), p. 9 | ||
| Date of creation : | 1900 | ||
| Format : | Magazine | ||
| Catalogue record | |||
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| Description : |
John James Virgo was a young Adelaide accountant in the early 1880s when he was taken to hear Emilia Baeyertz preach. The event was a spiritual turning point for him. A few months later Virgo attended a YMCA social. He joined this organisation and within two years became general secretary of the Adelaide branch. In 1900 he became secretary of the Australasian Union of YMCA, and in 1911 secretary of the London Central YMCA. In Adelaide Virgo's aim was to renew the organisation's spiritual focus. For 14 years he held evangelical services at the Theatre Royal on Sunday evenings, with between one and two thousand people regularly attending. At one time Virgo caused some controversy by inviting the Jewish Rabbi, Abraham Boas, to give a lecture at the YMCA about Shakespeare. Virgo realised that it took more than just religion to attract young men to the organisation, and so he also focussed on developing the YMCA's sporting facilities - he claimed to have introduced basketball to Adelaide. Virgo established Our Boys' Institute as a junior branch of the YMCA. He eventually settled in England, but did much travelling. On tour at the age of 70 he delivered 101 speeches in 80 days. Virgo died in Dorset in 1956. |
| Subjects | |
| Related names : | Virgo, John J., 1865-1956 Our Boys' Institute (Adelaide, S. Aust.) Theatre Royal (Adelaide, S. Aust.) Young Men's Christian Association of Adelaide (S. Aust.) |
| Coverage year : | 1900 |
| Place : | Adelaide (S. Aust.) |
| Region : | Adelaide city |
| Further reading : | Daly, Jim. 'Virgo, John James (1865-1956)', Australian dictionary of biography, Volume 12, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990, pp. 330-331   Virgo, John J. Fifty years fishing for men, London: Pilgrim Press, 1939 |
| Internet links : | Australian Dictionary of Biography Online: Search for John James Virgo |
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