Where did the word ‘Salvos’ come from?
BY DEAN SIMPSON
When was the term ‘Salvos’ first used? You’ll be surprised.
The international Salvation Army has had several nicknames, but none as prolific or prevalent in society as the Australian moniker – the ‘Salvos’.
To the Australian public, The Salvation Army is the ‘Salvos’, and a Salvationist (or anyone representing The Salvation Army) is a ‘Salvo’.
In some parts of the world, including Australia at different times, the movement has been affectionately known as the ‘Sallies’, ‘Sally Army’ or even the ‘Sally Anns’, particularly in Canada during the war years. Australian singer Olivia Newton-John, in her 1970s hit Long, Live, Love, referred to the ‘Sally Annie band’.
But love it or loathe it, the ‘Salvos’ is the Aussie way of referring to The Salvation Army, and it’s here to stay if the general public has any say in it.
We all know that Aussies love abbreviating words. Particularly when it comes to the letter ‘o’. Petrol stations are ‘servos’, bowling clubs are ‘bowlos’, garbage collectors are ‘garbos’, car registrations are ‘regos’, musicians are ‘musos’, avocadoes are ‘avos’ ... the list goes on.
So, it follows that ‘The Salvation Army’ would always be shortened somehow, and it was almost inevitable that it would be the ‘Salvos’.
But when did it start? When is the first recorded mention of the Salvos?
Well, thanks to The Salvation Army Australia Museum, we have a date. It’s 1900. And a name – Joe the Salvo!
The museum’s Assistant Manager Barry Gittins explains: “The name ‘Salvos’ dates back to the early days of the Army’s history in this country – some 124 years ago, in the 7 July 1900 issue of the War Cry. The reference was in a fictional story – the earliest use of the word ‘Salvos’ that I have seen in print.”
Barry went on to say that around the turn of the 20th century, The Australian War Cry ran a serial adventure story called ‘Way of the Deep’, starring a fictional hero called Joe.
A seafaring man, Joe had injured himself while on duty, and during his recovery in a small coastal town, he came across The Salvation Army, where he heard the gospel message, became a Christian and then a Salvationist.
After recovering, Joe returned to the docks, where his shipmates greeted him: “Hullo Joe!” said one, “is it true you’ve joined the Salvos?”
Gaining popularity
Over the next 50 years, the word ‘Salvos’ was used sporadically but gained popularity during the war years, especially during the Kokoda campaign in the early 1940s.
A Red Shield Representative was often called the ‘Sallyman’ and the organisation the ‘Salvos’. Newspaper headlines during the war – including ‘The red badge of ‘Salvo’ courage’ or ‘Salvos are where they are needed’ – emphasised the general use of the term.
One Sallyman, Major John McCabe, who served in the Middle East and then the Kokoda Campaign in the 2/2nd Australian Infantry Battalion, was better known by diggers as ‘Salvo Mac’.
And there was even a small boat named ‘The Salvo’! On returning from the Middle East with the 6th Division in World War Two, Salvation Army Representative Hedley Steer recalled: “I was transferred to North Force in Darwin and there I had the boat called The Salvo. My main role (in The Salvo) was servicing Searchlight Groups and Coast Batteries surrounding the Darwin Harbour.”
The term gained further popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. Anyone associated with The Salvation Army in Australia was now regularly referred to as a Salvo, whether an officer, soldier, staff member or volunteer.
Use of the term reached a new level when the Red Shield Appeal began in 1965, with the beloved phrase ‘Thank God for the Salvos’ appearing in advertising campaigns – from television, radio and print to signs and billboards. By this time, the Salvos were everywhere.
Australian entertainer and singer Johnny Ashcroft released a single in 1975 called ‘Holy Joe the Salvo’, which became that year’s Red Shield Appeal song. Click here to listen to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_hoY0aLqr0
Books started appearing with the ‘Salvos’ in the title. In 1980, Lowell Tarling brought out a book titled Thank God for the Salvos. John Cleary wrote a book titled Salvos – The Salvation Army in the 1990s, and in the same decade, Walter Hull called his book Salvos With the Forces.
In the 21st century, the word ‘Salvo’ is now embedded in Australian culture.
Many of The Salvation Army’s services include the term. For example, we’ve got Salvos Stores and Salvos Funerals, and most churches now refer to themselves as Salvos rather than Corps. Our own Publications Department has Salvos Magazine, Salvos Publishing, Salvos Studios and Salvos Online.
But have we gone down the wrong path? Should ‘Salvos’ be banned, and we return solely to ‘The Salvation Army’ and ‘Salvationist’?
Here I’ll turn to the Army’s first national leader of the newly formed Australia Territory, the late Commissioner Floyd Tidd, who wrote a column for Others Magazine in 2018. Part of his article reads:
Salvos come in all shapes, ages and nationalities. We live in all corners of the nation. Some of us wear a uniform, and some do not. What binds us together and makes us all Salvos – our defining quality, if you like – is that we live out the vision.
Our National Vision Statement describes the behaviour and identifying characteristics of a Salvo perfectly: “Wherever there is hardship or injustice, Salvos will live, love and fight alongside others to transform Australia one life at a time with the love of Jesus.”
By this everyone will know that you are a Salvo, if you live, love and fight, alongside others. By this everyone will know that you are a Salvo, if you see hardship or injustice and respond with the love of Jesus.
In one sense, it is not us who decides who is a Salvo. Members of the Australian public identify us and name us as Salvos when they witness us living out the vision. When they see volunteers, officers, soldiers and employees living, loving and fighting, they might say: “Thank God for the Salvos.”
I have spoken to some who have expressed concern that we are “watering down” the word Salvo or “lowering the bar”. I point them back to the words of our Vision Statement. It is no small commitment! Just imagine what God is going to do through a united Army of Salvos, living this Vision Statement out across our country.
(To read the full article, click here: https://others.org.au/viewpoint/who-is-a-salvo/)
Whether you use the terms Salvationist and Salvation Army or Salvo and Salvos, it really doesn’t matter.
We are an evangelical part of the universal Christian church, and our mandate is to ‘love God and love others’. At heaven’s gates, I’m sure we will not be asked whether we preferred being called a Salvo or a Salvationist.
The choice of name is yours.
