Episode 14 - Summary
In this episode of the Silver Wattle Podcast, Michael Corbett reflects on the Quaker testimonies and how they have shaped his life. Through personal stories, he explores peace, equality, simplicity, integrity and care for the environment, and how these interconnected principles guide Quakers in everyday life.
Show Credits
Presented by: Silver Wattle Quaker Centre
Written by: Michael Corbett
Voiced by: Michael Corbett
Series Created by: Michael Corbett
Introductions Read by: Ann Zubrick, Board Member, Silver Wattle Quaker Centre
Produced and Edited by: Holly Dhynes, Quakers Australia
Based on the Introducing Early Quakers series created by Michael Corbett, with gratitude to David Johnson.
Produced on Ngambri–Ngunnawal land, near Weereewa (Lake George), where Silver Wattle Quaker Centre is located.
This series includes contributions from Friends across Australia and around the world.
Music: Classical Guitar by Mantikore (licensed from AudioJungle)
Download a PDF of the Discussion Questions and Transcript here.
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Transcript for Episode 14:
Quaker Testimonies in Action
Ann:
Welcome to this podcast series coming courtesy of Silver Wattle Quaker Centre, located in central New South Wales on the edge of Werriwa or Lake George, the largest freshwater lake in Australia. We acknowledge and give thanks for First Nations groups’ care of Country. We commit to its ongoing care.
I’m Ann Zubrick, a member of the Silver Wattle Board.
In 2026, Introducing early Quakers expanded into a new series, exploring Quaker values and testimonies.
Through personal reflections shared by Australian friends. These episodes draw on the experiences and insights of several contributors and are narrated by different voices within the Quaker community. Together, they invite us to reflect on how Quaker testimonies continue to shape faith and practice today.
Here is Introducing Early Quakers, Episode 14: a personal reflection on the Quaker testimonies in action, by Michael Corbett.
Michael:
When I sat down to prepare this episode of our podcast, I tried to choose which of all the testimonies was the one I favoured over the others. But I found it impossible. I could not choose, as for me, they are so interlinked, so intertwined, that they cannot be separated.
It is my sincere belief that the Quaker testimonies are all a living, breathing series of principles that we all should aspire to. They are more than a collection, a collection of words and thoughts. They are a lot more alive than the so-called Ten Commandments that were carved in stone. To be a true Quaker, one must live the testimonies as well as agree with the words.
One might place a larger emphasis on one testimony over the others. Well, that's all right in my books. To me, the one that I accepted first was the peace testimony.
Way back in the late 1950s, I was led to join a Ban the Bomb march from Aldermaston to London over the Easter weekend. It was during the first night, when we were being billeted in a school, that I met four young Friends. They were convinced that all wars, all weapons like atomic bombs, should cease. And as we marched towards London, I started to see and feel their commitment. Just before the end of our four-day march, they invited me to go to their meeting, which was in Wanstead, London.
The first time I entered this very old meeting house, which was used as a hunting lodge in the time of Elizabeth I, I knew and felt that I found my spiritual home.
Margaret Fell was the one who declared to King Charles II that, “We do utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons.” This became the basis for our peace testimony, for which Friends became well known.
Quakers in Britain and the USA were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1947 as a recognition of that Quaker tradition. Quakers also started organisations such as Amnesty International, Greenpeace and also Oxfam.
Over time, I became [aware] that there was that of God in everyone, which, of course, leads directly into the equality testimony. I find that that something of God is the same size in all people. No one has any more of that of God in them, and no one has any less. We all have the same portion. We are all equal in the eyes of God. What a great spirit!
A custom amongst Friends when they go to a Meeting for Worship is to dress down. I had been used to going to my Pentecostal church, and all the men wore suits, shirts and ties, and the women stylish dresses. We all used to dress up to sing hymns, pray and listen to the Bible-punching sermon. I very soon adopted the dress-down code for Quakers.
And of course, the Meeting for Worship itself is clear evidence of simplicity. My meeting house in Brisbane has no posters, statues or any other religious objects, no altar and so on. We sit in a circle, which would not allow for the entry procession of men in gowns holding crosses and with choirboys singing. Quakers have no priests or pastor. We are all united and responsible for holding the meeting together. Simplicity and equality.
When I retired from work, I left a career after 30 years working as a pharmaceutical sales rep, selling to pharmacists and representing some of the biggest corporations. I worked in some of the same pharmacies for years and saw people come straight from university, starting their first job. Years later, that person managed the pharmacy. Years later, they bought a pharmacy.
Over the years, I always arrived by appointment. I always arrived roughly on time, on the right date, and I never promised anything that I could not keep. My word was my bond. Pharmacists have no time for the white-shoe salespeople, and I gained a reputation for my integrity and honesty in the community that I worked in.
Then there's, again, truth. Again, testimonies overlap. You cannot have truth without integrity, or integrity without truth. They go hand in hand.
George Fox, when challenged to swear an oath in court, went to prison many times for refusing to take an oath to tell the truth. The implication was that if you swear to tell the truth in court, then at another time you may not tell the truth. And Fox was quoting from Matthew 5:34–37 and also James 5, verse 12, when he said, “Swear not at all. Let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay.”
Because early Friends were denied entry into universities or government offices, they started businesses like Barclays Bank, Lloyds Bank, Friends Provident Insurance, as well as Cadbury and Fry, Clarks shoes and [unclear]. They were all trusted and operated their businesses with honesty and integrity.
The environment is not new to Friends, although with global warming predictions, rising sea levels, glaciers melting rapidly, these are all of recent concern. Friends were conscious of harming the environment early in our history.
John Woolman, born in 1720 to 1772, said, “The produce of the earth is a gift from our gracious Creator, and to impoverish the earth now to support outward greatness appears to be an injury to the succeeding age.”
The way I feel about living our testimonies was summed up by George Fox when he said in 1656, “Be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come, that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them. Then you come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone.”
What canst thou say?
Ann:
We hope these stories inspire and inform you.
You can explore more about Silver Wattle’s retreats and learning opportunities, both in person and online, at silverwattle.org.au.
Download a PDF of the Discussion Questions and Transcript here.
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Episode 14: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
How do you see the testimonies supporting or influencing one another in your own life?
Michael's introduction to Quakers came through the peace testimony and his involvement in a protest against nuclear weapons. Which Quaker testimony first spoke to you, and why
How do you put these testimonies into practice in your own relationships, work or community?
Michael closes with George Fox's encouragement to "let your lives preach." What does this mean to you, and how might we live out this advice in today's world?