AustLit

Bert Hollingsworth is the son of Mathilda Hollingsworth (q.v.) and the husband of Charmaine Hollingsworth (q.v.).

Hollingsworth's natural father died when he was a baby and at the age of fifteen his adoptive father died in a railway accident. As the eldest child, he took on the responsibility of being a father figure to his four younger brothers.

In 1949, Hollingsworth went to the Assemblies of God Bible College. By 1950, he was married to Charmaine Hollingsworth. They travelled together doing evangelical work and fruit picking to survive. In 1960, Hollingsworth left the Assemblies of God church because he felt at that time there was still a lot of discrimination towards Indigenous Australians by not allowing them to utilise their full potential. Hollingsworth joined the Full Gospel Church, initially seen as a splinter group by the Assemblies of God but later recognised as an official church.