Life & Faith

The story of Arthur Stace and the message of hope he wrote on the footpaths of Sydney. --- "As a child, I played in the streets a lot and I did see him quite occasionally, walking around in a steady way, always dressed in a navy blue suit, always very neat, but I have no memory of seeing his face smiling," Joan Riley recalls. "So I try not to be sad about that. But he did certainly make an impression on many people." Every day for more than 30 years, between the 1930s and 1960s, Arthur Stace would walk the streets of Sydney for hours, and write the word 'Eternity' on the city’s footpaths. Many, like Joan Riley, had no idea who was writing it, or why it was written, because Arthur Stace’s identity was a secret for almost 20 years. "He was very humble and very shy, and he just felt this was his mission for God, and he didn’t feel that he needed to share it with anyone," says Elizabeth Meyers, co-author with Roy Williams of Mr Eternity: The Story of Arthur Stace. Her father was one of Arthur Stace’s closest frie