The ample records of the early days of Australian settlement deal chiefly with secular concerns. There is very little information extant which may be used with any profit by the Church historian. From 1788 until the close of the century, it was a hand-to-hand fight for bare existence. To provide food and repress crime taxed the resources of the authorities to the uttermost. In comparison every other consideration seemed trivial and unimportant. This does not, it is true, justify the neglect of religion--quite the contrary; it is alluded to only to explain what would otherwise be to Christian people unintelligible. That the chaplains--first Mr. Johnson and afterwards Mr. Marsden--should have been able to accomplish so much single-handed and in the teeth of such unheard-of discouragements is a marvel. In judging of their work we must discard all preconceived ideas of modern times and throw ourselves into their actual surroundings--no church, no school, no discipline, no accessories of divine worship, no support from the ruling powers beyond occasional proclamations, which were bitterly resented by those who wished to be left to their own evil devices.

With the advent of additional clergy, headed by the Rev. William Cowper, in 1808, a better moral and spiritual tone began to prevail, from the authorities downward. Decent churches were provided, with fittings which if not altogether churchly were at any rate helps to a more reverent demeanour. Schools [v/vi] were built as essential adjuncts to the Church's operations. And though these were in course of time laid violent hands on by the Secularists and the land intended for their maintenance resumed by the State, yet they were not uninfluential in their day. In the mother colony at least the recognition of the Church's claims to have the teaching of her own children has been recognized by every successive parliament. That it is not so with Victoria, or Queensland, or South Australia is to be extremely regretted. Yet are there signs which make one hopeful that the growing sense of the community against the exclusion of religious instruction from the school curriculum will at no distant day compel an amendment.

Within the limits of a brief historical sketch it has been found impossible to dwell upon many minor details, interesting in themselves, but with scant bearing on the destinies of the Australian Church. Especially is it impossible to trace the full development of the several dioceses after their separation from the metropolitan diocese of Sydney in 1847, and their further subdivision from time to time as the exigencies of church extension demanded. Each of the older dioceses calls by this time for a story of its own, for each has a story well worth telling. Such pioneers as Tyrrell, Perry and Short, unselfish, able and zealous, supported on the one side by Gray of Capetown, consecrated with them, and on the other by Selwyn of New Zealand, what have they not been able to bring about by the blessing of the Divine Head of the Church! Their successors--good and true men also--have entered into their labours, and have wisely built on their foundations, hence the stability of Church institutions in Australia today--their complete freedom combined with respect for authority, offering in these respects an example which may well be followed by much older bodies. [vi/vii] Fortunately we have biographies of all three of these eminent missionary bishops which may heartily be commended. To their records these pages stand deeply indebted, as also to the reminiscences by Dean Cowper of his life-long friend and diocesan, Bishop Barker.

I have besides to add my grateful acknowledgments for help derived from a perusal of an account of the foundation of the colony by Judge-Advocate David Collins; of Mr. Justice Burton's Religion and Education in New South Wales; of Bonwick's Curious Facts; of Rusden's History of New South Wales; and of the Rev. Dr. Braim's New South Wales; nor must I omit to tender my best thanks for sympathetic help to the librarians of the Sydney Public Library, who courteously placed every record they had at my disposal, and to the registrars of the dioceses of Sydney, Melbourne, and Ballarat, who willingly did the same with their diocesan and synod reports.

That this little history may arouse a greater interest in and sympathy with the building up of an important branch of the Catholic Church in the southern hemisphere and so correct many existing misapprehensions is the abiding prayer of

THE AUTHOR.

March 24, 1898.

[11] THE STORY OF THE AUSTRALIAN CHURCH

INTRODUCTORY

Our earliest reliable information of the great southern land--the terra Australis of the older navigators--is derived from Captain Cook. In May of the year 1770 that famous commander stood into Botany Bay in his little exploring barque the Endeavour. During the previous year he had completed his observations of the transit of Venus at Tahiti, for which his expedition had been principally fitted out. Making westward he had skirted the coast of New Zealand and had finally passed through the stormy straits known by his name--between the northern and southern islands. He struck the coast of New Holland at about 37° south latitude, not far from the present boundary between New South Wales and Victoria. Sailing from Botany Bay northwards at daybreak on Sunday, May 6, the sailor on the look-out reported a deep inlet, then, as now, guarded by precipitous headlands to the north and south. In the ship's log the incident is simply recorded--"being two or three miles distant from the land and abreast of a bay or harbour in which there appeared [11/12] good anchorage, and which I called Port Jackson." Brief and insignificant language indeed by which to describe one of the finest and most capacious harbours that the world possesses. The native inhabitants are reported as scanty in number, divided up into small bands of twenty or thirty persons, the fighting men amongst them being noticeably few. They appeared to be as black as negroes, an impression afterwards modified by closer acquaintance, and both sexes looked to be entirely naked.

Most of the earlier discoveries had been confined to the western shores of the island. In 1527 a Portuguese commander named Menezes had approached from the side of the Indian Ocean. Next, in 1605, another Portuguese navigator, Luis Pays de Torres by name, had sailed between New Holland and New Guinea, thereby proving them to be islands, the two largest on the globe. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the north-western coast was sighted and mapped out by Dirk Hartog, a Dutchman of wide renown. Then within six years the southwestern portion of West Australia was visited by a Dutch vessel, the commander of which is nameless. Finally in 1665 the whole country, known and imaginary, was named by the Dutch New Holland.

But the most important voyage by far to the Pacific Ocean was made by Captain Abel Tasman, who sailed from Batavia, discovering and naming Van Diemen's Land and part of the west and north coasts of New Zealand. Captain Furneaux again sighted Van Diemen's Land in 1773, and after sailing up the east coast, came to the hasty conclusion that there was only a deep bay to separate Van Diemen's Land from New Holland. He therefore set sail without further delay for Queen Charlotte's Sound, New Zealand.

Nevertheless the shores of this almost limitless [12/13] territory had no sort of attraction for either Spanish, Portuguese or Dutch voyagers, who were on the look-out for outlets for their commerce rather than for fields of colonization. But the very point to which they attached not the slightest importance was eagerly seized upon by English discoverers. The time was especially ripe for the discovery of a new land. By the declaration of American independence the plantations now comprised within the United States were finally closed to imperial settlement. A new outlet must be found for the many thousands of convicts which it had been the custom to transport there. And here was a land not only fair to look upon, and one to add immeasurably to the treasures of geographical science, but a land of enormous area eminently suited to relieve the crowded gaols and penitentiaries of the mother country.

In Captain Cook's eyes his timely discovery was little short of providential, as may be gathered from his enthusiastic report. In the rich pastures and varied climate of the new hemisphere he saw infinite possibilities of future expansion. Since the African coast had been explored without success here was a solution of the problem in this sunny land of indefinite extent, curiously free from unfavourable conditions, yet sufficiently removed from the centres of civilization to reduce the elements of danger to a minimum. In this favourable view Captain Cook was strongly supported by the gifted botanist of his expedition, Sir Joseph Banks, who agreed with his leader in looking upon the Australian shores as a kind of terrestrial paradise. Their recommendations were hailed on all sides with acclamation; even the convicted criminals themselves welcomed the prospect of a betterment of their lot by successful industry. Parliament too unanimously approved the project. The endless gratitude of his countrymen is [13/14] undoubtedly due to the gifted and prescient commander who was as patriotic as he was skilful and brave.

THE COLONY FOUNDED

It was under auspices such as these that Governor Arthur Phillip, with his little fleet of ten sail, cast anchor in Botany Bay on January 20, 1788, after a chequered passage of eight months and a quarter. So far the authorities had eagerly availed themselves of this promising field for the bestowal of criminals. But they were not apparently so eager to make provision for the criminal's reform, notwithstanding that the declared objects of the settlement had included the moral benefit of the convict immigrant. We have it on the authority of the Rev. Samuel Marsden that until the fleet was on the point of sailing for New South Wales no chaplain had been thought of, and that it was only through the influence of Bishop Porteus and Sir Joseph Banks that the Government was moved to appoint one, in the person of the Rev. Richard Johnson, to accompany the little band of a thousand souls to their new home in the wilderness. The good effects of this arrangement, so grudgingly assented to, were not long in showing themselves. While at Rio de Janeiro the chaplain was able to hold service on board two of the transports each Sunday during their stay in port; also again at the Cape of Good Hope, where strangely enough the prisoners were found to be in excellent health. Indeed when we consider the vicissitudes of such a voyage in those days, the absence of disease and mishap is truly remarkable. In resuming their passage many seeds and plants likely to be useful were taken in at the various ports of call--coffee, cocoa and cotton, orange, lemon and guava, vines, figs and sugar-cane, [14/15] rice, wheat, barley and maize--a wise and thoughtful step which had far-reaching consequences.

On arrival Botany Bay was at once and unanimously pronounced unfit for the requirements of the colony, notwithstanding that Captain Cook himself had given such a glowing account of the surroundings as to cause its choice for the experimental settlement. Leaving his fleet at anchor Captain Phillip explored the coast northwards in one of his ship's boats, and to his gratified surprise found a capacious and beautiful harbour in place of the small inlet for boat shelter he had expected from the description of Port Jackson. With all possible speed, and with increasing delight, the different coves of this extensive and land-locked harbour, studded with islands, were examined one by one, and the preference given to that which had the finest spring of fresh water, and in which ships could anchor so close to the shore that at a very small expense the largest of the vessels could be unloaded. Three days later the whole party was safely conveyed from Botany Bay and landed on the shores of a richly-wooded cove, on the banks of a rippling stream about seven miles from the ocean. The portable canvas house brought out for the governor's use was set up in its place, the Union Jack unfurled, the officers and marines drawn up in line, and the infant community of 1030 souls founded under the name of Sydney, in honour of the English Minister of the day.

As to the immediate prospects of the infant colony opinions soon began to differ widely. On the one hand it was spoken of as embracing every possible element of success, while others declared the country to be the worst that ever was seen--barren and forbidding. Others again laid stress upon what seemed to them to be the prophetic words of Bacon, that "it is a shameful and unblessed thing to take the scum of the people with whom you plant, and not [15/16] only so but it spoileth the planting, for they will ever live rogues and not fall to work, but he lazy and do mischief, to the discredit of the plantation." Certain it is that famine dogged the steps of Governor Phillip and his party. Officer after officer despaired of growing any article that would be of real use. And this despite the fact that the plants and shrubs brought from Rio and the Cape showed rapid signs of flourishing. It must be owned that convicts were not the best fitted to cope with the hardships of pioneer settlement. Continuous labour in a hot climate, and the restrictions laid upon them by authority to ensure the general safety were not at all to their taste.

The absence of any religious sanction greatly increased the difficulty. On the evening of that memorable 26th of January when the marines were firing their volleys to salute the national flag, and healths were being drunk to his Majesty the King and the Royal Family, amid the general acclamations, there was no sound of praise, or prayer, or thanksgiving for the abundant mercies of a remarkably prosperous voyage. Amid the busy scene of clearing space for the encampment and pitching tents, there was no acknowledgment of an overruling Providence. One cannot but recall the striking contrast of the foundation of Canada in the middle of the previous century. Of that ceremony we read that "tents were pitched, camp fires lighted, evening fell, and Divine service was held. Fireflies caught and imprisoned in a phial upon the altar served as lights, and the little band were solemnly urged by their chaplain to remember that they were as a grain of mustard seed, that should rise and grow till its branches overshadowed the earth ; that although they were few, yet that their work was the work of God, and that His smile would be upon them and their children."

Where the fault lay we cannot exactly say. The [16/17] chaplain so tardily added to the establishment must have stood by like the aborigines wondering. In the face of severest discouragement he had not only visited the vessels in port, but now on landing had set himself to a regular visitation of the sick, travelling from camp to camp for advice and instruction to all who would accept them, with very little effect it is to be feared on the disastrous state of religious apathy. No pressure of other business, and no obstacles placed in his way were allowed to interfere with such religious services as he was able to hold, as often as the weather permitted. Nearly three months elapsed before a recently finished storehouse was temporarily set apart as a place of worship. An attempt was made to keep Good Friday of 1789 solemnly in this building, and the convicts were exhorted to spend the rest of the day in their gardens. In August of the following year, we find Mr. Johnson bitterly complaining of the flagrant disregard of public worship, left again as he pathetically urges to the chances of open-air gatherings unprotected from wind, rain and sun, the sole shelter for the scanty congregation being the nearest big tree. Touched by the chaplain's evident distress, official orders were at last given that three pounds of flour should be deducted from the rations of every overseer and two pounds from those of each labourer failing to attend at least once on Sunday without excuse.

Nor can it be said that Governor Phillip was personally unfriendly to the chaplain's religious duties. Simply stated, the work of the latter was not part of the official routine, and so was in practice ignored. No governor was ever entrusted with vaster powers, which on the whole were exercised wisely and well. Practically a despot, he kept his unruly flock well in hand. Particularly he laid down wise and tolerant rules for intercourse with the natives, forbidding any dealings with them on the part of the convicts, and [17/18] visiting with condign punishment those who killed or ill-used them. Above all, there was to be no kind of forced labour or slavery permitted. As regards public worship, his conscience would seem to have been at length touched, for when the evil example of the higher officials was brought home to him he naïvely admitted that if nothing else would do he must attend service himself, and that he expected his officers to do the same. At the foundation ceremony previously spoken of he had omitted nothing--with the single and fatal exception of the religious service--that was likely to make the ceremonial elaborate and impressive. The speech he delivered on that occasion testified to his high sense of responsibility, and was quick with anticipations of the benefits which would accrue from a successful issue of their great experiment. That the chaplain of the expedition was called upon to take no part in the inauguration was owing no doubt to an official prejudice against him and his sacred office rather than to any personal prejudice on the governor's part. It is to be remembered how grudgingly the appointment was made at all, and under what strong pressure from without of men of influence in Church and State. Considering, moreover, how little provision had been made either for the religious instruction or comfort of the criminal, or for the moral training of his children, it is satisfactory to know that in less than two years sites at least were beginning to be set apart for churches, and an endowment in land provided for glebes and schoolhouses. Probably the state of things at the outset was so radically bad that in an official sense the chaplain's influence counted for little or nothing. It is but fair also to note that the first Christmas Day was observed with due ceremony, the chaplain preaching an earnest and suitable sermon.

About the middle of February 1788 Lieutenant [18/19] King was told off to establish a station at Norfolk Island in the South Seas, and sailed thither in the Supply, with tents, provisions, and flax-dressing tools, thus laying the foundation of quite a new and flourishing colony. The island climate was found to be more reliable, and the soil more fertile than on the mainland. Free settlers were found willing enough to risk the voyage, and these were accompanied by a band of sailors and marines. In every way this island colony offered a strong contrast to the parent colony at Sydney. At the time of the latter's greatest scarcity, Norfolk Island was reaping the advantage of her superior fertility of soil, and even when fears were entertained on account of the increase of population, they were promptly removed by the arrival for the breeding season of flocks of mutton birds, named by the grateful colonists "birds of Providence." For their religious needs the commandant was unusually solicitous. He read the service every Sunday morning in his own house, and that there might be no excuses made, he issued an order to the effect that "no person is to absent himself from public worship, which will begin at eleven o'clock, when every one will come clean and orderly and behave himself devoutly." What Norfolk Island afterwards became is only too notorious, and forms a dark blot in the annals of English colonization. Lieutenant King's wise and thoughtful government was not continued by his successor. Throughout several years no clergyman was appointed to minister there, dire as the need must have been, except that in a case of more than ordinary urgency the Rev. Henry Fulton, who had been sent out from Ireland for seditious practices, but whose conduct had been most exemplary, was given conditional emancipation and allowed to perform divine service. Also for awhile the chaplain of the New South Wales Corps, the Rev. J. [19/20] Bain, was granted permission to volunteer his services to accompany a band of sixty-three emigrants from Port Jackson in 1792.

In the interval the parent colony was threatened with prompt extinction by famine. Much of the soil was sandy and poor. Competent superintendents were lamentably few. Anything like skilled labour was practically unobtainable, which is the more surprising seeing that one of the main objects of the expedition was to clear and settle the land, and to provide permanent homes for the better among the criminal population. Many it is true were weakly from questionable living, and all were insufficiently fed. Altogether, it is concluded from the first ten years' experience that the labour performed was not nearly equal to the expense of maintenance. Defective accommodation was an additional factor in the failure of the industrial problem. Men of doubtful antecedents, to say the least, let loose upon society during the night hours, compelled to resort to any means that came most readily to hand to procure a lodging, and only too prone to theft and drunkenness, must of necessity become citizens of the worst description. Nor must the scandalous conditions of the voyage out, the shocking immorality tolerated, and an absence of the simplest comforts for the sick be left out of count in gauging the non-success of Governor Phillip's first attempts at self-support. The off-scourings of city streets do not provide the best tools wherewith to make of the wilderness a fruitful field. Total failure was prevented solely, and the settlement rescued from imminent starvation by the timely arrival of the vessels of the second fleet.

[21] INITIAL DIFFICULTIES

The desultory food supply from Batavia and the Cape of Good Hope barely kept the colony alive, while inland the harvest of grain was so poor that in accordance with Government proclamation the whole crop had to be reserved for seed. Where hunger prevailed petty thefts and robberies of larger extent must needs prevail also. These were incessant, one convict being sentenced to 300 lashes for stealing potatoes from the chaplain's garden. The governor's garden fared no better, was in fact constantly plundered. A youth of seventeen was actually executed for stealing property of no more than five shillings in value from a tent. Another with leg-irons partially removed was caught robbing a farm and severely punished.

Shortly after the first Christmas had been celebrated in the midst of such novel surroundings steps were taken to extend the borders of the original camp. Fourteen miles up the river land had been cleared and broken up for cultivation at a spot called Rose Hill, the military and convicts dwelling in tents in the meantime. On the banks of the Hawkesbury to the north some fertile plots had been found, and these were being developed as opportunity offered. At an important crisis fishing in the harbour became a valuable resource, as also an admirable means of healthily employing many of the prisoners. An incident occurred in June 1790 which marks the trend of public opinion, and emphasizes the prevailing destitution. As every eye was strained seaward for the first glimpse of the relieving vessels, long overdue, a transport was signalled having on board a band of 222 women convicts. A cargo "so unnecessary and unprofitable" was not enthusiastically welcomed, [21/22] especially when it was given out that a thousand more of both sexes were on the high seas and might at any moment be expected.

All this time the chaplain had aroused considerable sympathy by his touching appeals on behalf of some of the women landed from the transports. Sickness had decimated their ranks, and the survivors were put to sore straits among the lewd and abandoned of the older hands. But his influence, unfortunately never very strong, was much checked by a rumour that he was keeping back the proceeds of a public collection entrusted to him for distribution. Nor was this the only obstacle by many which continually interfered with the success of his really devoted labours, and which eventually broke down his physical powers. One glimpse of a silver lining to the cloud there was, however, in this same month of June. In response to the chaplain's persistent appeals to the Government it was ordered that in the laying out of each township 400 acres were to be reserved for the maintenance of a minister of religion, and 200 acres for that of a schoolmaster.

We have but to read contemporary records as to the shameful lack of the commonest necessaries for the settlement--no medicines or provisions for the sick, no beds, blankets or clothing worth speaking of, no decent accommodation for the women convicts--to be convinced of the hopelessness with which the chaplain must have carried on his task. There were, in short, difficulties innumerable to contend with. Prison discipline tended to harden the prisoner; numbers were reckless and abandoned from former habit, while from the ruling powers no attempt was to be looked for to uphold his authority beyond an occasional general order to overseers of gangs to insist upon a formal attendance at Divine service. Inasmuch as this service was for the greater part of the year held [22/23] under a burning sun, exposed to all weathers, we cannot be surprised that persons, whether of higher or lower rank, came so seldom and so reluctantly to public worship. Nor is it wonderful that, patient man as he was, the chaplain should "submit it to his Excellency's own consideration whether, before the approaching winter, some place of worship should not be thought of and built both in Sydney and at the new settlement at Parramatta."

That these earnest and continual pleadings, although falling at the time upon deaf ears, were not without effect will be seen from the events recorded in our next chapter.

On the third anniversary day, January 26, 1791, matters had sufficiently settled down to allow of a formal commemoration of the foundation of the colony. Colours were hoisted and congratulations exchanged, still with no house of God in which to render fitting thanks. The summer was an excessively hot one. Birds dropped gasping and dying from the stifling atmosphere. But to compensate somewhat maize began to ripen favourably at Rose Hill, and the prospect of starvation for the time receded. Workmen were told off to finish residences for the chaplain and the surveyor, good clay for making bricks having been discovered.

With the advent of increased military protection represented by the New South Wales Corps, the clerical strength was also raised, though not for long, for its chaplain, the Rev. J. Bain, immediately volunteered for work in Norfolk Island. For some reason or other a wave of lawlessness swept across the settlement about this time. Possibly the recent landing of hundreds of graduates in crime of all degrees of proficiency had much to do with it. More than one consignment had been dispatched to Norfolk [23/24] Island. Others had made good their escape into the wilds with the insane idea of walking to China, encountering on their way the most frightful perils. A terrible mortality began to afflict the colony. Insanity made fearful inroads. And soon, in April 1792, a fresh anxiety was added by the expiration of sentence of many of the earliest arrivals. With a view to settle these as resident cultivators, grants of land were made as to the free settlers from the old country, with a promise of implements, convict labour, and provisions for two years.

The New Year of 1793 opened like its predecessors without a place of worship of any kind or description. The chaplain of a Spanish man-of-war, paying a visit to the colony at this period, is constrained to express his astonishment at the services which were still being held in the open air, and to add that had the place been settled by his countrymen, "a house of God would have been built before any house for man."

From a combination of circumstances the passion for strong liquors spread through the community like a plague. Rum was an ordinary medium of exchange equally with dollars. It entered even into the Church building accounts, and played a leading part in the erection of the Sydney hospital. Convicts and settlers were alike slaves to its malign influence. Cargoes were sent on speculation from the United States, notably from Philadelphia, in this case at any rate belying its name. Merchants of repute forced its entrance against the most stringent regulations. Flour, on the other hand, was proportionably scarce, advancing in value to 4d. per lb. Sheep sold up to £8 each, and turkeys at £2.2s. per couple. An English cow and calf fetched £80. Nine-tenths of the free settlers were heavily in debt to the merchants. Frequent cruel murders, for which no redress could [24/25] be had, compelled the numbering of the houses occupied by convicts, and the placing of the tenants under strict surveillance.

SIGNS OF PROGRESS

Worn out by five years' weary waiting to no purpose, and despairing of ever gaining assistance from the Government, it is not to be wondered at that Mr. Johnson should have decided at last to take the matter of church building into his own hands, which he did in July 1793. His design was not by any means pretentious, simply a "wattle and daub" structure to accommodate about 300 worshippers. It was built on a rise to the eastward of the head of Sydney Cove. In his return of the cost the total is set down at £67.12s.11d., of which £7.14s. was paid in spirits, flour, pork and tobacco, and the remainder in dollars, which, after many vexatious delays, was eventually refunded by Government. Poor as the building was, it served for a second five years the double purpose of church and school until it was destroyed by fire. The term "wattle and daub," it may be explained, describes in brief a working of wattle boughs into a kind of hurdle included within strong posts, and daubed with a tenacious clay.

By the arrival of the Rev. Samuel Marsden in the early part of 1794 his senior's anxieties were greatly relieved. On the first Sunday after landing he commenced his duties by preaching to the military in barracks in the morning, and in Mr. Johnson's new church in the afternoon. In September of the same year a temporary church was finished at Parramatta out of the materials of two old huts, and opened by Mr. Marsden. Previously the chaplain had been obliged to hold his fortnightly service, when not in [25/26] the open air, in the nearest hut to be found vacant for the time being.

Thus for the first time decent places of worship were to be found in both settlements. Indeed a more permanent church had been planned for Parramatta, but before it was ready for use it was made use of for a gaol or lock-up, and subsequently for a granary for stores. The boon of these places of worship was not granted a day too soon, for the general state of society was as dissolute as could well be. Profane and obscene conversation had become so prevalent that the senior chaplain had issued an appeal to the colonists to desist from conduct which tended to degrade even the aborigines. His frequent protests lodged at Government House were fast gaining for him the reputation of a troublesome and discontented character. The lieutenant-governor at the time was a Major Grose, of the New South Wales Corps, who was suspected, and with reason, of winking at the prevailing immorality. On a memorable Christmas evening the watch-house was full of prisoners, whereas forty or fifty persons only were to be found at church. The deluge of fiery spirits poured in on the unfortunate colony undoubtedly did much to deepen the shameless habits of the people.

It was invariably found that under naval commandants a much greater encouragement was given to religious observances than under military commanders, consequently the long tenure of authority by the latter was anything but beneficial. Still an improvement was gradually being effected. Despite the turbulent disposition of the convicts a better observance of the Sunday was followed by an improvement in other directions. As regards the women especially very stringent regulations were enforced, the good effect of which was soon apparent. Although neither a firm nor a good ruler, Governor Hunter must at least [26/27] be credited with the effort to bring his superior officers to some sense of their responsibility.

It is very curious to contrast Governor Phillip's anticipations for the colony as "the grandest acquisition of the Crown," with the pessimistic views of his successors. True he was of a more sanguine turn of mind, and was speaking of a yet untried future, whereas they had borne the brunt of the battle. And there was always that brink of starvation, on which the colony was for ever hovering. A state of things under which 4000 persons were dependent on outside sources for their daily bread, with the pressure of hunger so great that one convict is reported to have died from eating his week's allowance in a single meal, could not be otherwise than painfully discouraging. We read, too, that even the guests at Government House were expected to take their own bread with them.

The forlorn state of the children, growing up in ignorance in the midst of the most debasing surroundings, pressed sorely on the chaplain's mind. In his perplexity he turned to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and readily obtained from them a grant for teachers. The school-room was provided for by his little wattle church, where he had the happiness to see as many as could be got together instructed in ways of sobriety and cleanliness. It was his anxiety, as set forth in his letter of appeal in 1792, to have schools established after the English pattern, from which some missionary effort might also be made to Christianize the aborigines.

At the end of 1798 Governor John Hunter, who had landed in 1795 as captain of the New South Wales Corps, in reporting the burning of Mr. Johnson's useful if plain church, stated that he had laid the foundation of a larger stone church on the opposite side of the cove, the quaint round tower of which was [27/28] already finished. The main building, however, pro-gressed but slowly. The intended church at Parramatta was of smaller size, and was being raised with equal slowness. While these were in process of completion, a spacious storehouse was set apart, with suitable fittings, for Divine service. The arrival of a band of refugee missionaries from Tahiti this year did much to strengthen the hands of the overworked chaplains. They were most kindly received, and settling down at Parramatta, exercised a cheering and wholesome influence upon the society which had welcomed them. To help on the improvement, overseers were again charged to muster their men regularly, and to attend with them at church; officers were ordered to send their servants, and licensed houses were closed by proclamation--all excellent commands, if only the bulk of the residents could have been got to show some real respect for religion.

In the development of the country's resources, a striking advance had been made by Mr. John Macarthur, who may be called with truth the founder of the wool industry of Australia. Granted a tract of 5000 acres on the Cowpastures at Camden, Mr. Macarthur set to work by largely improving his flocks and herds as opportunity offered, and with truly extraordinary results. Before the end of the century his tiny flock had increased to the number of 7000, and he had won an additional 4000 acres from the wilderness about him. His example was quickly followed by the Rev. Samuel Marsden, who, besides his kindred energy, was likewise quick to see the illimitable possibilities of the industry. Both chaplains, indeed, were accused of making gain by secular pursuits, which no doubt they did, though not for their selfish benefit, and in a perfectly legitimate way. That they were allowed the labour of assigned servants is nothing to their discredit, seeing that healthy [28/29] employment, with humane treatment, was a necessity for the prisoners themselves. Mr. Marsden especially had a strong sense of the usefulness of industry, on the part of both parson and people. He himself laboured indefatigably with hand and brain. His great success as "the best practical farmer in the colony," as he has more than once been called, did not in the least interfere with his more spiritual duties. Not seldom he would take the steamer to Sydney on the Saturday, officiate there on Sunday morning, and walk back the thirteen miles to Parramatta for service in the evening. Differing widely as he did from his senior in office, they were alike in their strong practical common-sense as they were alike in their devotion to the best interests of the community.

THE SENIOR CHAPLAIN'S RETIREMENT

The departure in 1800 of the Rev. Richard Johnson, the first and for several years the only chaplain of the settlement, gives an opportunity of judging more impartially the worth of the man who had been willing at such short notice to lead so forlorn a hope. As we have already recorded, his appointment was an afterthought, no spiritual provision for the expedition having been intended at head-quarters. In the scathing words of the good Bishop Nixon of Tasmania, "there were constables, military guards, and a governor on board--everything to coerce the wretched exile, but not one thought was bestowed on the exile's soul." Unhappily, though of strong personal excellence, the chaplain was wanting in the force of character necessary to cope with the stupendous difficulties of his position. On the voyage out he had been unceasing in the duties of his office, but on landing he had [29/30] been completely ignored. A more determined man would have perhaps enforced the recognition of his sacred office, and would have insisted on his right to confer a religious sanction on the foundation ceremonies. His kind-heartedness really stood in his way. Against despotic rulers such as these Australian governors were to all intents and purposes, he had no chance, and their sub-officers did their utmost to thwart his plans for improvement. It was with the greatest hesitation that he gave any information as to the neglect of church attendance. "I used," he says long afterwards, "to get as many of them together as I could, and after reading a part of the service, I gave them an exhortation." What a confession of failure may be read between the lines. Yet his patient devotion to duty in the midst of every kind of discouragement, did undoubtedly have its effect in the end, although he remained only to see the foundation of the first permanent church. "On the Sunday after our landing," writes one of the official members of the party, "Divine service was performed under a great tree, in the presence of the troops and convicts, whose behaviour on the occasion was equally regular and attentive:" a circumstance which leads Mr. Justice Burton to wonder whether a softening influence might not have been gained over even these hardened criminals by an initiatory act of confession and prayer, as marking the beginning of a new life under God. At any rate, the universal testimony of the convicts themselves, in after years, was that they did not believe that there was a better man than Mr. Johnson in the wide world. At the time of his leaving, these convicts had grown to 4000 in number. His success in cultivating the little plot of ground allotted to him did indeed provoke a good deal of ill-natured faultfinding, but with his quiet energy, seconded by his [30/31] blameless life, he was able to live it all down. Being very provident and thrifty, it was almost entirely due to him that the seeds taken on board at Rio and the Cape were safely kept and planted immediately on arrival. He was, in fact, an intense lover of natural objects, and so took a keen interest in the little flock of sheep which he kept, in addition to his plantation. His voice was continually lifted on behalf of the helpless aborigines, lest the swearing and drinking white man should corrupt them--a plea much in advance of the habits of the time.

REV. SAMUEL MARSDEN

The chaplain who now, on the departure of his chief, took up the work single-handed, after filling the post of assistant for six years, was of a totally different temperament. A sturdy Yorkshireman of an ardent and impetuous disposition, he was as unbending in his dealings with evil-doers, as he was manly towards the peaceably-minded. Mr. Wilberforce calls him a "moral hero." As a matter of course he quickly came into conflict with the authorities. As chaplain he resented the governor's interference with his spiritual duties, maintaining that they were being performed strictly within Church statutes. The formation of Sunday-schools outside his control was especially objectionable to him as a reflection on the clergy. He threw himself heart and soul into the work of bettering the condition of the women workers in the factory at Parramatta, and insisted on their receiving more decent accommodation. When this was granted, he obtained by the same means the establishment of an orphan school, which was urgently called for. The farming class, too, were deeply indebted to his influence and to his practical knowledge of their wants. [31/32] A school-church was built for them on the Hawkesbury, an annual charge of twopence per acre being laid on the residents for the maintenance of a religious teacher. Such good works as these did in fact go far to disarm the hostility of his many detractors.

There being now as many as 600 men off the books, and the ex-convict being as a rule of thoroughly abandoned character, it became necessary to practise a severity of discipline little adapted to restore order. At such a crisis it was more than unfortunate that the blunder should have been committed of making the chaplains magistrates. At a time when cattle-stealing and bush-ranging were rampant, the fearless discharge of duty by a clerical magistrate could not but cause intense hatred, and lead sooner or later to serious reprisals. Hence the conspiracy that in 1802 denounced Mr. Marsden and threatened his life. Among a more than usually ferocious set of Irish prisoners such plots were of common experience, the women we are informed being even more violent than the men. Their animosity was implacable. As some sort of justification, it cannot be doubted that Mr. Marsden did order men to be flogged to whom he would in all probability be called upon later on to act as spiritual adviser, although it is pleaded on his behalf that he was absent when the severest sentences were passed. Also to his credit it must be said that it was against the vices of the emancipist party, who by their wealth and position formed by this time what of aristocracy there was in the colony, that he levelled his unsparing rebukes. Governor Macquarie, otherwise a just ruler, inclined to favour the freed class, and so there grew up a hatred of the magisterial chaplain, and an antagonism between him and the governing powers. The dispute led to an inquiry by Mr. Commissioner Bigge into the whole matter, as it concerned the general welfare of the colony. Besides the accusation [32/33] of cruelty, it was urged that Mr. Marsden "spent his days between the cares of farming, grazing, and trade, and the oversight of his mills." Being made of much sterner stuff than the mild-mannered Mr. Johnson, he stood his ground manfully, and after a searching investigation he was acquitted of the graver charge. The Commissioner's opinion was that some of the chaplain's arrangements did not altogether consist with the dignity of the ecclesiastical character, but he was praised for his noble efforts to reform the factory or depôt for women convicts, and for his efforts to provide for the neglected orphans of both sexes. In justice to the accused, the deplorable state of society at the time must be taken into account. By his own testimony, which was not sought to be disproved, his mills and farm were carried on by a trustworthy manager without anxiety on his part, and exhibited a necessary example of industry and thrift to the released prisoners.

One of the good results of Mr. Commissioner Bigge's report was the appointment of an archdeacon. There was previously no responsible head so far as the Church was concerned. By the Commissioner's influence the post was given to the Rev. Thomas Hobbes Scott, who had formerly been his private secretary:--a man of no sufficient knowledge of Church affairs, but a good friend to educational extension. He remained only five years, and was suc-ceeded by the Rev. William Grant Broughton, a priest of unbounded resource, of inflexible purpose and burning eloquence. The appointment was pressed upon him by the Duke of Wellington, then in power, who gave it as his decision that the Australians must have a Church, and who urged, with true prophetic instinct, that "there was no telling to what extent and importance these new colonies may grow." The duke took a most hearty personal interest in pushing on the new [33/34] archdeacon's preparations, and assigned him a salary of £2000 per annum.

Very naturally Mr. Marsden was greatly disappointed at not receiving the appointment of archdeacon, feeling that his claims had been passed over for a stranger, yet he was in every way loyal to his superior in office, and when Archdeacon Broughton arrived he had no more faithful ally. Representing totally opposite schools of thought, they had the most cordial respect for each other. In fact, in the Rev. Samuel Marsden, lax as lie was in matters of form and ceremonial, the Church had ever a strong supporter.

CHURCH BUILDING

The pleasure with which the notice was received in 1803 that the new church at Parramatta was ready for occupation was somewhat qualified by the general order assigning to it its name. "Out of respect to the memory of Governor John Hunter," the church was to be known as St. John's. Similarly Governor Phillip's rule was to be commemorated by the dedication of the first permanent church in Sydney as St. Phillip's. Both parishes were proclaimed by Government order in July 1803. In Van Diemen's Land the merits of Colonel David Collins were in like manner memorialized by the dedication of St. David's Church in Hobart Town.

However, the buildings were too greatly needed to allow of a too close scrutiny into the origin of their dedicatory titles. Much more important was the problem of reaching the mass of the strangely mixed population. Governor King, who had succeeded the mistaken Captain Hunter, was fortunately a man of great resource and of undoubted excellence and force of character. He had been recommended to the Imperial authorities by Phillip, as his successor, but had been passed over in favour of the commanding officers of the New South Wales Corps, Grose and Paterson, to the evident detriment of good and stable government. Wiser counsels prevailed in the end, placing at the head of affairs in the mother colony the able lieutenant-governor of Norfolk Island. One of his first acts was to sympathize with the misfortunes of the orphan children, whose future had pressed so sorely on the chaplain's conscience, and of whom he wrote in 1806, that "finer or more neglected children were not to be met with in any part of the world." The Asylum, containing 1800 inmates, was endowed by a grant of 12,000 acres at Cabramatta, and a farm of 600 acres at Petersham. The forlorn condition of the women convicts at Parramatta has been already touched upon, and now compelled attention. Some hundreds of these were employed in the Government factory, with no provision for their decent lodgment. The few who were able to sleep on the premises did so amongst the machinery and refuse on the floor. By far the great majority had to find accommodation where they could of a most wretched description, and subject to nameless temptations. What wonder that these women became came notorious as "more dissolute and abandoned than the men."

In Major-General Lachlan Macquarie, Governor King had for successor an able administrator, an excellent officer, and one really desirous of advancing the best interests of the colony, but he was unhappily given to favouritism. This habit was indeed attributed in turn to each of the Australian governors. The conflicting interests of the emancipists, as the freed prisoners were called, and the exclusionists, who favoured a large scheme of free immigration, compelled the executive to declare for one or the other. Governor Macquarie generally sided with the [35/36] emancipists, while Sir Thomas Brisbane, of later date, as strongly recommended the introduction of free settlers, and during his government a large number of such settlers were welcomed from the Scotch border. The main objection to this course was the insufficiency of convict servants, who were at the time regarded as indispensable to the profitable cultivation of the land. At any rate, between raids upon property by the aborigines, and the alternation of floods and droughts, agriculture was certainly not in a very flourishing condition. After the flood of 1806, wheat ran up in price to per bushel, and coarse bread to 2s. per lb. For one bushel of seed-wheat, the incredible price of £7 was willingly paid.

To Parramatta, as temporarily the seat of Government, was accorded the privilege of the first stone church. It was built to seat 400 persons. Two western towers were added subsequently by the wife of Sir Charles Fitzroy, to remind her of the twin towers of the Church of the Reculvers. Of the opening ceremony the Sydney Gazette reports the presence of "many ladies of the first respectability." The first chaplain had preached in a carpenter's shop, in a deserted hut, or more frequently in the open air. His successor for many years did the same. A brighter era dawned when, in 1804, three Tahitian missionaries were welcomed by Governor King, and provided with house and board in return for their services at the various settlements.

In 1807 Mr. Marsden left for England, to plead the cause of New Zealand missions, and to obtain help for his own work. The Rev. Henry Fulton was left in charge. In August 1808 the Rev. William Cowper arrived, and was placed in charge of St. Phillip's, where he did most excellent work as a fearless and devoted parish priest. He was quickly followed by the Rev. R. Cartwright. When Mr. [36/37] Marsden returned to the colony in 1810, the population numbered over 10,000 souls. By 1812 there were four clergy ministering, with two substantial churches.

From the year 1810 onwards, the Church began to take more definite shape. The clerical staff was augmented by the appointment of the Rev. John Youl, and again in 1818 by the arrival of the Revs. Richard Hill and John Cross. At Mr. Youl's death, in 1820, his place was filled by the Rev. Thomas Reddall, who was stationed at Campbell Town. Thus was the way prepared for a more complete Church organization. Under letters patent of Geo. IV., Oct. 2, 1824, the archdeaconry of New South Wales was established within the diocese of Calcutta. The choice of first incumbent was unfortunate. Fresh from secular occupations Archdeacon Scott was never really in touch with his clergy, and was besides greatly deficient in tact. Consequently, after a brief but troubled rule, the post was vacated, to be filled by a man immeasurably his superior in every respect. In the meantime the staff of clergy had been increased to fourteen, ministering in eight churches and six chapels. Seven of the chaplains were provided with parsonage houses, two occupied temporary parsonages, four were in receipt of rent allowance, and one resided at the Parramatta Orphan School.

In 1833, in an important dispatch, Sir Richard Bourke enumerates an archdeacon, fifteen chaplains, and four catechists; also seven stone or brick churches, of moderate size and respectable appearance, within forty miles of Sydney, besides two in more remote districts, and several less permanent buildings in various places; serving a total population of 60,000.

The Rev. William Grant Broughton, second archdeacon, and virtually the father and founder of the Australian Church, was born in 1788 and was at the [37/38] time of his selection by the Duke of Wellington chaplain of the Tower of London. His acceptance of the arduous post was prompt, and his duties were commenced with all the strength of his nature. In a letter to a friend he describes the sphere of his work as having a church at St. Albans, another in Denmark, another in Constantinople, with the Bishop in Calcutta.

EDUCATIONAL EXTENSION

The instructions issued by King George III. in 1790, to Governor Phillip, to set apart in each new township 400 acres of land for the maintenance of a minister of religion, and 200 acres for that of a schoolmaster, which were repeated in 1809 to Governor Macquarie, continued in force until 1824, when they were superseded by royal charter. This charter was promulgated by King George IV. to the following effect:--

"Whereas we have taken into our royal consideration the necessity of making provision for the maintenance of religion and the education of youth in our colony of New South Wales, and for that purpose have thought proper to erect into one body politic and corporate, such persons as are hereafter mentioned, viz. the Governor and Chief Justice, the several members of the Legislative Council, the Archdeacon, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, the Solicitor-General, and the nine Senior Chaplains--they are hereby authorized and empowered to purchase, hold, or alienate certain lands; to sell to the amount of one-third, and to grant leases up to thirty-two years, the proceeds to be divided into--

"(1) Improvement and building account. For making roads, erecting farm buildings, building and [38/39] repairing of churches, schools, and parsonages, clearing and settling the estates.

"(2) Clergy and school account. For expenditure on the maintenance and support of clergy and schoolmasters in the proportions of five-sevenths and two-sevenths respectively."

The bishop or the archdeacon was constituted the visitor to all the said schools. Former trusts and properties were to be vested in this corporation, and one-seventh in extent and value of all lands in every county was to be set apart under the title of the "Clergy and School Estates." The previous expense to the Treasury for educational purposes had been about £17,000. Some 1487 children were under instruction. Owing to serious delays, no grant was issued until 1829, and no provision was made for existing institutions. And what was more detrimental still, this munificent provision was largely neutralized by the envious opposition of those who were hostile to the entire theory of State aid to religion. Notwithstanding that the colony was founded on the principle of identity of Church and State, we find a powerful body among the colonists at this time objecting to what they characterized "a dominant and endowed Church."

Finally, the charter was revoked in 1833, after extended notice. Owing to the unexampled difficulties thrown in the way of the trust, much valuable Church property was sacrificed in Sydney, Parramatta, Windsor, and other places; being sold or leased, and otherwise lost to the Church. On August 28 all the property of the corporation was to revert to the Crown, but was still to be disposed of for the purposes of the original charter. [footnote: "In such manner as to his Majesty and his heirs and successors shall appear most conducive to the mainaenance and promotion of religion and the education of youth."] It is a surprising fact that the [39/40] archdeacon should have been allowed to sail for England in May 1829 in ignorance of the revocation, although the notification of it had been issued the day before. Nor was he informed until long afterwards that the schools were to be removed from his control and superintendence.

Archdeacon Broughton paid this his second visit to the old country in 1834, to secure help in the many undertakings which were springing up around him. He found the home authorities sadly cold and reluctant, so was obliged to return alone and dispirited. His appeals, however, were not wanting in results in other directions. The "S.P.C.K." voted £3000, and the "S.P.G." £1000, for the lessening of the spiritual destitution under which a great part of the colony was labouring. A diocesan committee of the two societies was formed for the "joint extension of religion and education throughout the length and breadth of the land." Fourteen more churches were built, and nine additional clergy sent out to the colony, the English benefactions being generously met by the colonists themselves raising the sum of £13,500 for Church extension in one year.

AUSTRALIA'S FIRST BISHOP

The year 1836 must undeniably be marked as the beginning of the modern growth and development of the Church in Australia. It was in this year that the office of archdeacon was revoked, to make way for a resident episcopate. The grounds for making the change are stated in the Royal Letters Patent, dated June 18:--"Whereas the doctrine and discipline of the United Church of England and Ireland are possessed and observed by a considerable part of our loving subjects in New South Wales, Van Diemen's [40/41] Land, and Western Australia, and these are deprived of some of the offices prescribed by the liturgy and usages of the Church aforesaid, by reason that there is not a bishop residing or exercising jurisdiction within the same: We have determined to erect these our colonies into a bishop's see or diocese, to be called the Bishopric of Australia, of which William Grant Broughton is appointed first bishop, who together with his successors shall be subject and subordinate to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury." It was further provided--that every future Bishop of Australia should take the oath of due obedience to the Archbishop of Canterbury as his Metropolitan; that a written engagement to perform the duty should be a sufficient title for Orders; that the Letters of Orders were to distinctly state that they were for the diocese of Australia only; that the recipients should not be obliged to make the oath or subscription required in England, and that the Bishop of Australia should be held to be a body corporate with perpetual succession.

Vigorous of intellect, of devout mind, deeply attached to Church principles and usages, and of exhaustless energy, the newly-appointed bishop resolutely faced the difficulties of his position. His visits were extended to the remotest settlements, and everywhere his enthusiasm enkindled a responsive liberality. Confirmations were everywhere held, and a further band of twenty clergy, of whom five were for Van Diemen's Land, were dispatched at the expense of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. That the colonists were intensely grateful need hardly be stated, more especially when they heard that in addition to the profuse liberality of the two great societies, a number of English Churchmen, led by the Rev. Edward Coleridge, had collected and sent out no less than £3000, to help to remedy "the dearth of the appointed means of grace and salvation." The [41/42] list was headed by his Majesty King William IV., who presented services of plate for Holy Communion, for the use of St. Phillip's and St. James's churches, of the value of l00 guineas each.

Sydney, with a population of nearly 20,000 souls, possessed the two consecrated churches already named. There were four clergy besides the bishop, of whom the Rev. E. A. Dickin officiated in a brewery storehouse in the parish of St. Lawrence. The average number attend-ing Divine service was at St. Phillip's between 600 and 700, and at St. James's about 1200. In the country districts as many as thirty-two new churches were in contemplation. At the chief centres of population, Newcastle, Bathurst and Goulburn, small churches, holding from 200 to 300 persons, were erected. At Stroud, Port Stephens, the head-quarters of the Australian Agricultural Company, to whom had been granted a million acres of land, in return for an expenditure of a million sterling, a church was built through the exertions of Sir Edward Parry, of which the incumbent was the Rev. William Macquarie Cowper, the first of Australia's sons to be devoted to the priesthood, and the son of one whose exertions in the cause of religion and morality have never been sufficiently recognized. The son is yet actively engaged as Dean of Sydney and Bishop's Commissary.

Although in 1837 the foundation stone was re-laid by Governor Sir Richard Bourke, of the cathedral church of St. Andrew, which the bishop had decided on as one of his first efforts towards Church extension, no great progress was made until 1846, when a new committee was formed and fresh plans adopted. The intervening years were busy beyond description. The appointment of chaplains by the Crown, apart from the bishop's control, was the source of much friction. The work of the clergy, too, was excessively severe, both bodily and mentally, leaving no time for study or systematic parochial visitation. At Parramatta two clergymen were all that could be obtained to minister to a scattered population of 3500, with of course outlying districts at great distances. In an early address to the clergy, the bishop laments the lack of helpers in touching language. "I cannot look on," he says, "with tranquillity while I see such extended and populous districts devoid of churches, devoid of clergymen, devoid of schools."

The first annual meeting of the diocesan committee of "S.P.C.K" and "S.P.G." held on June 30, 1837, showed most gratifying results. Of the thirty-two additional churches, several were in rapid progress, and the remainder were only delayed by the lack of competent workmen. The little band of fifteen clergy were growing feeble from age and long service. Their engagements being made to cover as wide an area as possible, the physical toil and mental strain were incessant. No intermission of rest was possible, even in the oppressive heat of summer, and exchange of duty was not easy. Continuous travelling and poor accommodation helped to break down the strongest health. In the early days of his government, Sir Richard Bourke was emphatic in his advice that public aid should be given to Church work. "I think it necessary that, at this early period of the colony's existence, the Government should grant pe-cuniary assistance for the establishment of religious institutions, and take upon itself the nomination of the ministers, or it might happen that the ordinances of Christianity would be neglected, or its tenets perverted by incompetent teachers." The senior chaplain's stipend was fixed at £600 per annum, on the surrender of his glebe. Others of the clergy received respectively, £500, £460, £400, £350, and £250, together with glebe and parsonage house, or rent allowance. The rest were granted £250 and forage [43/44] for their horses. In response to the bishop's continued appeals, promises of more clergy were received from home, which would eventually nearly double his inadequate staff.

In November 1840, the Roman Catholic Bishop Polding visited Europe, and on his return in 1843 assumed the title of Archbishop of Sydney, conferred on him by the Pope. Bishop Broughton indignantly scouted the claim, contending that "there can be neither two metropolitans in the same province, nor two bishops of one diocese. The one would involve a reversal of the canons of the Church, the other a contradiction of the ordinances of the Lord. The inference from the establishment of an archbishopric, with metropolitical privileges within the limits of the province of Canterbury, must unavoidably be that it is intended thereby to deny to the Primate of All England any rightful possession of metropolitical juris-diction within the limits of the new or assumed archbishopric. Moreover, the erection of the city of Sydney, within this already existing diocese, into an episcopal see amounts to a denial that there is a lawful Bishop of Australia, according to the canons and usages of the Church." The form of protest was as follows:--"In the name of God, Amen. We, William Grant, by Divine permission bishop and ordinary pastor of Australia, do protest publicly and explicitly, on behalf of ourselves and our successors that the Bishop of Rome has not any right or authority, according to the laws of God and the canonical order of the Church, to institute an episcopal or archiepiscopal see or sees within the limits of the diocese of Australia and pro-vince of Canterbury."

The protest was loyally supported by his presbyters in the following pronouncement:--"We, the undersigned presbyters, duly licensed within the diocese and jurisdiction of Australia, being present in the church of [44/45] St. James the Apostle at Sydney in the year of our Lord 1843, do hereby testify that at the conclusion of the Nicene Creed, standing at the north side of the altar or communion table of the said church, the Right Rev. Father in God, William Grant, bishop of Australia did read in our presence, and in the sight and hearing of the congregation, all that protest herein before set forth.

Robert Allwood, B.A., Minister of St. James's, Sydney.

H. H. Bobart, M.A., Minister of St. John's, Parramatta.

Thomas Steele, LL.D., Minister of St. Peter's, Cooks River.

W. B. Clarke, M.A., Minister of St. Simon's, Castle Hill.

Henry T. Stiles, Minister of St. Matthew's, Windsor.

William H. Walsh, Minister of St. Lawrence's, Sydney."

An active controversy followed. The newspapers were filled with letters on both sides, pamphlets were issued, and the Rev. Robert Allwood delivered six valuable lectures, proving from Holy Scripture, the testimony of the Fathers, and the decrees of ancient councils, that no Bishop of Rome could claim jurisdiction beyond his own see.

The kind of work which pressed upon him on all sides may be judged from a reference to one of the bishop's journals of visitation. It is not quite the earliest, but it affords a fair sample of the rest. Starting on June 12, 1843, with a meeting of the diocesan society, which was attended by upwards of 1000 children, we find his lordship next day laying the foundation stone of the new church of St. Thomas, North Shore; June 14, confirming at St. Anne's, Hunter's Hill; 15th, embarking for Morpeth, preaching [45/46] there and at East Maitland on the 18th; journeying to the Paterson 19th, and Gresford 23rd. Then, after various minor visits, the new church of St. Mary, West Maitland, was consecrated June 28, and that of St. Peter, East Maitland, next day. A confirmation was held at St. Peter's on the 30th, and at St. Mary's July 1. Thence to Singleton, Edenglassie, and Scone. On the road several baptisms and a churching were solemnized in a wayside hut. Mudgee was reached overland by July 28, and the mission to the aborigines there inspected. At Bathurst continuous storms of wind and rain were met with, but large numbers assembled to listen to the bishop's plans for the erection of a church. A confirmation followed at Holy Trinity Church, Kelso, on August 6, and thence by way of the Blue Mountains to Sydney. Friday, September 15, saw the bishop on board a merchant barque bound for Port Phillip. The Heads were entered on the 25th, and the day spent in beating up towards Geelong. Melbourne was visited October 9, where a church of "dark-coloured stone" was found dedicated to St. James. Confirmation was administered on the 27th to eighty-seven candidates. Embarked for Sydney December 11, but on the 14th, meeting the steamer Shamrock at the Heads, bound for Launceston, a transfer was made for Van Diemen's Land. Arrived there on the 15th, and left for Sydney on the 18th, having preached fifty-six sermons in ninety days.

Of these early confirmations the bishop has the pleasure to report that "the appearance and demeanour of young persons who have come forward on these occasions, their unaffected seriousness, their evident marks of attachment to the Church and its ordinances, and the piety with which they have pledged themselves to fulfil the solemn engagements which they undertook in my presence, have filled [46/47] with satisfaction not my heart alone, but the breasts of all who truly desire the welfare of this colony."

FORMATION OF SCHOOLS

At the very outset Bishop Broughton was in conflict with the authorities in the matter of primary education. When the first school was mooted by the Rev. Richard Johnson, he was at once supported by grants from the "S.P.G." Ten years later an evening school was formed for the notorious "Rocks" of Sydney. Orphan schools were founded at Parrarnatta in 1819, by General Macquarie, after the example of Governor King. The King's School was established in 1832, at the head of which was the Rev. Robert Forrest, with a salary of £100 per annum only. By a vote of the Legislative Council £2300 -were expended on the site and buildings, sufficient for the reception of from sixty to eighty boarders and day scholars. As with the orphans of the State, all the children were presumed to be members of the Church of England. About 230 of the former were being educated and maintained at a cost to the revenue of £2500. The schools founded by the Clergy and School Corporation numbered thirty-five, attended by 1250 children. They gave a plain, useful education, were superintended by the chaplain, and the Church Catechism was taught in all. By resolution of the council they were opened by reading a chapter from the Authorized Version of the New Testament.

In place of these schools, Governor Macquarie now suggested that others should be formed on the Irish system, for the general education of the youth of the colony of all creeds--the Scriptures to be read, but no religious instruction to be given by the master or mistress; the schools to be open on one day of the [47/48] week to the clergy for special religious instruction. The bishop stoutly opposed, as he did at a later date, when in 1839 Sir George Gipps proposed a somewhat similar plan of combined schools. In 1826 the Church had sixteen schools open, with over 1000 scholars. In 1840 there were forty Church schools, educating 2500 children. Aid was given by Government equal to the receipts from private sources, altered in 1841 to a grant to necessitous schools of 1/2d. per day for each child in towns of 2000 people and upwards, and in other places from 1/4d. to 1/2d. per day. The annual subsidy of the Parramatta Orphan Schools was increased to £6000, of the Church parochial schools to £2950, of others to £5370. By the Act of 1837 the actual existence of a church and school was made essential to the appointment of a minister receiving aid. In the State schools of Western Australia religious instruction "by any clergyman" was forbidden, and separate schools for Roman Catholics were established.

Always an anxiety to the well-wishers of the colony, the subject of education was raised to paramount importance by the cessation of transportation. Many of the tutors had been themselves convicts, whose influence was in itself corrupting. To avoid the taint, it is recorded that in secluded parts Christian mothers made the most heroic efforts to teach their own children. With the same view the bishop pleaded valiantly for a large measure of free immigration. He proposed, in 1838, a loan of £2,000,000 for the introduction of 3000 adults, the land fund to bear the cost. In 1846 Mr. Robert Lowe carried a resolution in the Legislative Council in favour of schools after the Irish National system, but Governor Sir Charles Fitzroy claimed delay, in order to see whether such an important change was warranted by the circumstances of the colony. Again Bishop Broughton [48/49] made an earnest appeal for suitable provision for religious instruction, "without which," he urged, "the people must gradually sink to that very low standard of morals, which it was among the chief purposes of bringing them to this country that they might help to elevate." Despite all opposition, the measure was eventually carried. A board of national education was formed in 1848; as also a denominational board to control grants made to such schools.

Sunday-schools were the exception rather than the rule, the first anniversary being held in 1821 at St. Phillip's. In the census of 1838 the only Sunday-school mentioned is that of St. Lawrence, with ninety-five children. The average number in the primary schools of the parish was 230. For St. James's the number given is 500, divided amongst five schools. At St. Phillip's there were also 500 attending four schools. St. John's, Parramatta, reports a good average of Church-goers, from 500 to 600, but no schools. The withdrawal of aid to the King's School in this town was subsequently recommended.

A small church at Newcastle, where there was a population of 704, seated nearly 300 persons, with an average attendance of 230. The clergyman's residence was much out of repair. For the support of the clergy, an Act was passed, under Sir Richard Bourke, securing to the minister a stipend of from £100 to £200 per annum, according to the number attending Divine service. Grants were to be made from the Treasury towards church building of not less than £200, and not exceeding £1000, to meet an equal amount raised by voluntary subscription. A Bill introduced into the council by Mr. Lowe to secure to the Church of England clergy the freehold of their benefices was, after a dignified and eloquent speech by Bishop Broughton at the bar of the House, by leave withdrawn.

[50] DIOCESE OF TASMANIA

With the fleet sailing in 1803, for the occupation of Port Phillip as a convict settlement, came the Rev. Robert Knopwood as chaplain. On the failure of the attempt and its diversion to the banks of the Derwent, in the south of Van Diemen's Land in 1804, Mr. Knopwood accompanied the expedition. He was a magistrate, but did not incur the hatred of the prisoners as did Mr. Marsden at Parramatta, being of rather jovial disposition. Except with the lower classes, who had a great liking for him, he did not command much respect. The first church was a large tent, which was succeeded by a small wooden building, with thatched roof and earthen floor, to seat about 100. On this being blown down, Divine service was provided for in the Government stores or workshops, of which the arrangements were of a most primitive character. The foundation of a permanent church was laid on February 19, 1817, to be named in early colonial fashion St. David's, out of compliment to Colonel David Collins, the commandant. It was consecrated in 1823 by Mr. Marsden, senior chaplain of New South Wales, then on a flying visit from Sydney, the year in which the Rev. Wm. Bedford succeeded to the chaplaincy. A holiday was proclaimed, to give éclat to the grand procession of civil and military officers. Described in the Sydney Gazette, St. David's figures as a church "which for beauty and convenience cannot be exceeded by any in the Australasian hemisphere," a sufficiently glowing description of the future pro-cathedral of the diocese.

Some curious Government orders are extant relating to the conduct of Church service previous to the completion of St. David's. Thus, in March 1818, it is announced that "Divine service will be performed at the Barracks, Government House, 11 o'clock on Sundays, when the weather permits, until further orders." The reference to the weather became a necessary one, from the inability of the verandah to shelter more than the clergyman and a select number of the inhabitants. The troops on parade were to attend, and the inspector of public works was ordered to enforce the regular attendance of all the Crown servants in and around the town. St. John's Church, Launceston at the northern extremity of the island, was founded in 1824, and consecrated in 1827, by Archdeacon Hobbes Scott, of Sydney. Its first incumbent was the Rev. John Youl, a returned Tahitian missionary. Of his eccentric methods, it is said of him that he was in the habit of summoning his people to church by beating on an iron barrel with a mallet.

In 1823 Mr. Knopwood was followed in the Government chaplaincy by Dr. Bedford, a man whose schemes of reform were warmly seconded by Governor Arthur, and followed up by the efforts of the colonists, who willingly gathered under his leadership. Drunkenness and immorality had been terribly prevalent, for early history of Van Diemen's Land was the old
story of strong drink. Constables were paid their wages in rum. A local distillery was started. By the imposition of a heavy duty, however, aided by the influence of the chaplain and his sympathizers, the tone of society was soon greatly changed for the better. It was not to be supposed that a community founded on and saturated with convictism would set an example of high principle. The wonder is that from such beginnings the colony should have developed so favourably. No doubt the timely steps taken for providing a fitting educational system exercised a beneficial influence, as did also the extension of political and social freedom to all classes. But it is [51/52] none the less due to the persistent and self-sacrificing efforts of the clergy and devout laity that the fallen were raised, and their children helped to remove the old stigma from their midst. Whatever may be said of the dissipation of high and low--and words are too weak to express a proper horror and detestation of the vicious conduct of many even in authority--yet it must be remembered that the men and women transported to Australia were in numberless cases the sweepings of British cities, prepared for every excess of crime. Add to this that there was no one on the protracted voyage out to guard the safety of the women convicts, and that on arrival the circumstances in which they found themselves almost inevitably contributed to their continued depravity. So late as 1822 prisoners were landed with no one deputed to receive them, or to protect the women from licence and drunken revelry. Travellers were warned against the dangers of the road after dusk, and there was little less danger of being stripped and plundered in the lower parts of the city. No one laboured more strenuously to mend so horrible a state of things than the Ven. Archdeacon Cowper, of Sydney, where "the Rocks" had attained an unenviable notoriety for filth and crime. Lady Macquarie too gave active help in the crusade. A reference to the Imperial Parliament seemed to have no appreciable effect.

A brighter side to the picture appears in the endeavours of the wise and good Sir John Franklin, while governor, to secure a higher education for the youth of the colony. Through Dr. Arnold of Rugby, he secured the services of a former pupil, the Rev. John Philip Gell. Lord Normanby accepted the nomination. Mr. Gell arrived towards the end of the year 1840. Like the governor, he had a high sense of the importance of his mission, "to become the father of the education of a whole quarter of the globe," ­ [52/53] an exalted standard indeed. New Norfolk, some twenty-five miles up the Derwent, and a spot of great beauty, was decided on as the site of the new "Christ's College," which was--to quote again Sir John Franklin's anticipations--"to train up Christian youth in the faith as well as in the learning of Christian gentlemen."

On August 18, 1842, the young Queen thought good to "separate, divide, and exempt the island of Van Diemen's Land, and to declare the same to be the diocese of the Bishop of Tasmania." The Rev. Francis Russell Nixon was appointed to the see, an excellent choice in every way. The cathedral church was fixed at Hobart Town.

DIOCESE OF ADELAIDE

The primary needs of South Australia were attended to by the Rev. C. B. Howard, who had come out as one of the colonizing party of 1836. Besides providing his stipend, the "S.P.C.K." had made a grant of £200 towards the cost of a small wooden church, to seat 350 persons, the building of which was rapidly pushed forward. A wooden parsonage was erected alongside. But although the clergyman's stipend was found by the society in England, he was bound to hold his licence from the Bishop of Australia, which unfortunately he was not inclined to do. The conflict was carried to the length of a repudiation of episcopal control. The question was referred home by the bishop to Lord John Russell, who upheld his lordship's claim to jurisdiction throughout the whole of Australia. There could be in fact no other decision possible. The disputed point was happily settled by the foundation in 1847 of Adelaide as a separate see. In the meantime a second priest had arrived in 1840, [53/54] in the person of the Rev. James Farrell, afterwards dean of the cathedral, whose stipend was found by the liberality of the "S.P.G." Mr. Howard's early and lamentable death in 1843 left this priest to struggle on alone for three years, until the welcome arrival of two colleagues, the Revs. W. J. Woodcock and James Pollitt. These again were joined shortly afterwards by the Revs. G. Newenham and W. H. Coombs, for so many years the incumbent of Gawler.

The munificent gifts of Miss Burdett Coutts in connection with the "Colonial Bishoprics Fund," were such as to make possible the establishment of the see at a much earlier date than would otherwise have been practicable. The Rev. Augustus Short, D.D., of Christ Church, Oxon., and Vicar of Ravensthorpe in Northamptonshire, was chosen first bishop, and set sail in September 1847, with his wife and children, in a barque of only 362 tons, the Derwent. Coincident with his arrival was the celebration of the eleventh year of the foundation of the colony. Landing in Adelaide after a passage of sixteen weeks, the bishop was instituted in the pro-cathedral of Holy Trinity, on December 30. After a month's stay at Government House, as the guest of Colonel Robe, he removed to a small cottage at Kensington, preferring to feel his way gradually, according to circumstances. By his own statement he found the outlook encouraging. Five clergy were in the field before him, and the people, he states, were particularly intelligent and enterprising. An endowment fund was his chief care, in which his hands were greatly strengthened by the generous efforts and gifts of Mr. W. Leigh, of Aston Hall, Lichfield, who gave town lands in the new capital, which subsequently produced a rental of £3500 per annum, for the general purposes of the Church.

By the end of six months the bishop had visited [54/55] most of the settled districts, consecrated ten new churches, and confirmed numbers of young people in every settlement. Also, before the end of the year 1848, he had finished a six weeks' tour in Western Australia, a part of the continent cut off by the 1100 miles of the Great Australian Bight by sea, and by the trackless desert by land. He was accompanied by the Rev. Mathew Blagden Hale, who had come out with him from England, and who afterwards became first bishop of that western portion of the diocese. A stone church at King George's Sound, the first port of call of incoming steamers, was consecrated on October 20. Here the Rev. John Wollaston was labouring. Busselton, Bunbury, Picton, and Fremantle, were so many links in the chain to Perth, on the Swan River, where a cordial welcome awaited him from the governor. Of the six clergy at work, four were in receipt of Government stipends of £100 each, the Church population numbering about 3700 out of a total of 4600.

The bishop preached at St. George's, a roomy but plain building, which on November 15 he was able to consecrate. A week later a second church was consecrated on the Upper Swan, of which the Rev. Mr. Postlethwaite held charge. Of the Middle Swan, the Rev. W. Mitchell incumbent, the bishop records that the parsonage was "no better than an English labourer's cottage." Testimony is borne to the estimable character of the founder of the colony, a Mr. Peel, by the fact that at his residence at Mandorah, twenty-three were at the Church service, out of a total population of twenty-five. The bishop returned to Adelaide in January 1849.

[56] DIOCESE OF MELBOURNE

St. Peter's Day 1847 was a veritable red-letter day for the Australian Church. By some it has been called its birthday, but it may be more aptly regarded as the day of its confirmation. The consecration in Westminster Abbey of the four bishops who were so ably to lay the foundations of a colonial episcopate, was sufficient of itself to mark off the day to all time. Of the officiating prelates, it was fitting that Bishop Blomfield should be the preacher. He chose for his text St. John xxi. 15. There were present besides Archbishop Howley, the Bishops of Gloucester and Bristol, Winchester, Chichester, and Lichfield.

For some time past Bishop Broughton had been forced to the conclusion that he could not efficiently superintend a diocese ten times the size of the United Kingdom. Nor was he the man to render perfunctory duty. He had expressed his willingness to give up a third of his own income, and had besieged the two great English societies with incessant appeals. The establishment in 1841 of the Colonial Bishoprics Fund enabled plans to be matured for the subdivision of unworkable dioceses. Founded on the appeal of Bishop Blomfield and Archbishop Howley to remedy the neglected condition of English colonists in different parts of the world, a sum of £600,000 had been raised by its means for the endowment of more than forty dioceses. Since the year 1833 the number of bishops abroad bad grown from five to seventy-five. The see of New Zealand was the first to reap the advantage. Five years later, by the munificence of Miss Burdett Coutts, the diocese of Adelaide was endowed to the west, while by Bishop Broughton's surrender of £1000 of his yearly income, the see of Newcastle was made possible to the north. Grants were made [56/57] of £10,000 by the "S.P.C.K." and £7500 by the "S.P.G."

The earliest settlement of Port Phillip coincided with the foundation of the bishopric of Australia. Batman and Faulkner, on their arrival from Van Diemen's Land in 1835, had obtained from the blacks what purported to be a conveyance of 600,000 acres of the surrounding country, in return for sundry knives, tomahawks, and blankets. This astounding document was promptly disallowed, both in Sydney and by the home authorities, but land to the value of £7000 was granted towards the legitimate expenses of settlement. The Crown laid sole claim to the ownership of the soil, and properly forbade any so-called purchases from the aboriginal inhabitants. When Captain Lonsdale was appointed first magistrate, the population numbered about 400. The earliest religious service was conducted in Mr. Batman's house, by a Wesleyan minister from Van Diemen's Land, according to the use of the Church of England. Part of the afternoon congregation was made up of a band of fifty blacks, who are said to have behaved with great propriety, and to have especially enjoyed the singing. A visitor from the same island, the Rev. T. B. Naylor, next year baptized the first white child born in Melbourne.

Five acres on either side of Little Collins Street were set apart for Church purposes, not without the usual accusation of favouritism, and a small wooden church was speedily erected on the site which in after years was to carry the pro-cathedral of St. James. In 1838 the little Church community was encouraged by a visit from the Metropolitan, who was greatly pleased with the zealous laymen who were serving the temporary church. The Rev. J. C. Grylls arrived, as "S.P.G." chaplain, the same year. Towards the close of 1839 the more permanent church was founded by his Honour, Chief-Justice Latrobe.

[58] On a second visit the needs of Geelong, always a keen rival of the metropolis, were pressed on the bishop's notice, when, with his accustomed quickness, he drew out a rough sketch on the spot, and laid the first stone of Christchurch within ten days, on the site of two acres granted by Government. This was in September 1843, in the midst of a keen depression following on a period of feverish speculation.

In January 1846 the sum of £1000 was voted by the central Government at Sydney, towards the building of St. James's, to meet an equal amount privately subscribed. The Metropolitan nobly added his own donation of £500. A church was started on Eastern Hill about the middle of the year, to be dedicated to St. Peter. But an earlier ecclesiastical foundation than all had been made as far back as 1834, by Messrs. Edward and Stephen Henty, who had begun operations as squatters or sheep-owners at Portland, a lovely district in the extreme south-west corner of the colony. The thatched barn in which Mr. Stephen Henty first held Church service was replaced by a plain brick building, with timber-framed tower, in time to welcome the visit of a clergyman in 1841, the Rev. A. C. Thomson. With the rapid extension of settlement, with churches springing up on all sides, the Metropolitan's duties increased and multiplied to an alarming extent. With infinite pains he contrived to respond to every call made upon him; still the burden was beginning to press beyond the power of the strongest man to bear. The consecration on the same day of bishops for Melbourne, Newcastle, and Adelaide happily relieved the strain in time, and opened up unlimited possibilities to the Church in Australia.

On their consecration, the Right Rev. William Grant Broughton, heretofore Bishop of Australia, was proclaimed by royal letters patent Bishop of Sydney [58/59] the others, "with the bishops of Tasmania and New Zealand, to be suffragan bishops, subject and subordinate to the see of Sydney, in the same manner as any see within the province of Canterbury is under the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury." They were all to be known by the title of Lord Bishop. Suitable provision for episcopal residences failed from lack of local funds. Nor was the appeal of the Archbishop responded to, backed up though it was by Mr. W. E. Gladstone, Under-Secretary for the Colonies, for the purchase or setting apart of available land for the augmentation of episcopal incomes. The separation of Port Phillip from the mother colony of New South Wales was successfully accomplished in 1851. Of the 80,000 inhabitants, 25,000 were located in the new capital, Melbourne. Two years previously the separation had been recommended in a report of the Committee of Privy Council, which, among other things, provided (Schedule C) that a sum of £30,000 should be allotted for the maintenance of public worship, "under the sanctioned regulations of the Churches of England and Rome, of the Church of Scotland, and of the Wesleyan Society." All vested rights of indi-vidual clergymen under the Constitution Act of 1842 were to be maintained inviolate.

Charles Perry, first Bishop of Melbourne, arrived in Hobson's Bay on January 23, 1848, in the Blackwall liner Stag, and was installed on the 28th, in the pro-cathedral of St. James, yet unfinished and unconsecrated. He found the work in the hands of three Government chaplains, the Revs. A. C. Thomson, E. Collins, and J. Y. Wilson, to whom were now added three from his own party. Of these the Rev. Hussey Burgh Macartney, a D.D. of Trinity College, Dublin, was within a few weeks appointed archdeacon of Geelong; the Rev. F. Hales, after good work in the diocese, left for Van Diemen's Land, to become eventually [59/60] archdeacon of Launceston; and Mr. H. P. P. Handfield was commissioned on ordination to St. Peter's, Eastern Hill, of which he is still the incumbent, venerable in years as in honourable service. The existing church attendance was not good. Educational arrangements, even in Melbourne, were far from satisfactory.

What the state of the country districts must have been may be gathered from the vivid descriptions of Mrs. Perry in her Letters from Gippsland. "The post," she writes, "goes into the country one week and returns the next. The rudeness of the settlers' huts, and of their mode of living, is extreme. The door of the inn is a foot too short at top and bottom, while there are cracks three inches wide between the slabs." A congregation of 200 attended Divine service held in a neighbouring wool-shed.

As an instance of the bishop's wonderful power of endurance, we find him at the close of his Gippsland tour starting immediately with his party on another from Geelong to Port Fairy, "in two dog-carts driven tandem." The little wooden church there was filled to overflowing, served by an educationist of standing, though not licensed to the cure of souls, the Rev. Dr. Braim. Owing to the wetness of the season, the journey on to Portland was made by sea. From Warrnambool the return trip included the inland settlements of Ballan and Bacchus Marsh. What impressed the bishop most strongly throughout the trip was the unbounded hospitality of the people, and their anxiety for the ministrations of their religion. A staff of itinerating clergy was proposed, with a central home, from which the dwellers in the bush might be reached periodically.

The extension of the episcopal tour to the northeast through Seymour, Mount Macedon, Wangaratta, and the Ovens, gave occasion for a long-desired meeting of the bishops at Albury, the border-town between [60/61] New South Wales and Victoria. For a humorous description of this meeting, with its quaint and strange accompaniments, we are again indebted to the facile pen of Mrs. Perry. We are likewise given a glimpse of the side of Bishop Broughton's character not often turned to the public eye--his real liveliness of disposition, contrasting with the intense earnestness which was so patent to everybody.

DIOCESE OF NEWCASTLE

To hasten the subdivision of his diocese, becoming every day more urgent, Bishop Broughton generously offered to surrender one-half of his income, to be divided between the proposed new dioceses of Melbourne and Newcastle. The offer was only accepted for the latter to the amount of £1000 per annum. William Tyrrell was consecrated first bishop in Westminster Abbey, on the never-to-be-forgotten St. Peter's Day 1847, one of the galaxy of able and devoted men who have left their mark on the Church indelibly. He was accompanied to his see by his two examining chaplains, the Revs. H. O. Irwin and R. G. Boodle, and seven candidates for holy orders. Sailing in the good ship Medway, he safely reached Sydney on January 16, 1848. It was early on a Sunday morning, under a cloudless sky of intensest blue, that the bishop and his party were conducted to the temporary cathedral of St. Andrew, to join with their Australian brethren in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The Metropolitan was away on a visitation. No time was lost in journeying on towards their destination. Morpeth was decided on as the episcopal residence. Mr. Irwin was appointed to the charge of Singleton, Mr. Boodle to that of Muswellbrook. In the meantime Bishop Broughton [61/62] had returned to his see city, and immediately arranged a meeting of welcome from the diocesan committee and the Church of England Lay Association. Amid universal congratulations, the hope was expressed that the occasion might prove "an indication that the episcopate would be made in future commensurate with the necessities of the increasing population of the colonial empire."

Nominally the see of Newcastle embraced an area of 800 by 700 miles, but the settled portions probably covered a region of about 500 by 250 miles, chiefly taken up by squatters or sheep-owners. There were twelve clergy already at work, making fourteen in all. On January 30 the bishop was instituted in the pro-cathedral, a poor and nondescript building, which has been recently removed to make room for the solid stone structure which it is hoped will one day grace the heights of the city. By the year 1849 he had elaborated a plan for the better training of literates for the priesthood, under which many good men were in after years trained for holy orders. His veneration for the metropolitan bishop led him to seek counsel from him in Sydney in every difficulty; one of the first to occur being how to provide for the growing educational needs of the people. Very little dependence could be placed on the good-will of Government, and the annual grant from the "S.P.G." barely sufficed for a nucleus of the requisite funds. A general diocesan society was resolved upon, which not only did good work on its own account, but eventually developed into a complete synodical organization. On May 26, 1850, a church was consecrated at Armidale, the most northerly in the diocese at that time, now the seat of a separate diocese, that of Grafton and Armidale. The visitation was extended to Brisbane and Ipswich, there being much Church work in progress there requiring supervision.

[63] Bishop Tyrrell's keen interest in missions had been intensified by a flying visit from his old college friend and companion, George Augustus Selwyn, on his way to New Zealand, and his affection led to his undertaking, in 1851, a voyage to New Zealand and Melanesia, in the mission schooner Border Maid. The mission was then in its trial stage. He returned on September 20, after an absence of four months, when, finding that the Morpeth steamer had left Newcastle, he set out to walk the twenty miles which separated him from his modest home.

The increasing usefulness of the Diocesan Church Society was much more fully apparent as settlement gradually pushed its way into the bush districts of the interior. There were the shepherds and selectors to provide for spiritually, besides the enormous development of population brought about by the gold discoveries. The rough and sometimes lawless character of the diggers, from every country almost in the world, constituted an added difficulty. A diocesan book depot was initiated. The bishop was anxious, too, to do something for the welfare of the aborigines, a matter in which he had the warm sympathy of the governor, Sir William Denison, but every plan mooted was checked by the coldness of the Legislative Council.

In 1853 the bishop, now alone, since the departure and death of his metropolitan, went to Sydney to meet Bishop Selwyn, to devise some means of securing a Church of England college affiliated to the university, in which Church students might be boarded and cared for. He succeeded in reconciling a good deal of factious opposition, and, what was more, carried his point with the Government. He was again called to Sydney in July 1855, to welcome the new metropolitan. His pleasure in discussing Church methods adapted to the changing circumstances of the colony [63/64] was very great. The same year he suffered the loss of one of his chaplains, the Rev. H. O. Irwin, by removal to Tasmania. The Rev. W. M. Cowper was also promoted to St. Phillip's, Sydney. At least twelve more clergymen were sorely needed. In writing home the necessities of his diocese, he pleaded with the secretary of the "S.P.G." not to send "doubtful men, who leave England on account of debt or weak health, or from some untoward event in their past history." He desired men who would choose ministerial work as their first love, strong and earnest spirits, sound in mind and body. Towards the end of 1857 he took steps for the subdivision of the diocese, by the separation of Moreton Bay and districts north and west of Brisbane. Some months later he was able to announce that towards the endowment of a new see there the "S.P.C.K." had promised a grant of £1000, the "S.P.G." £1000, and the English committee of the diocese £700. Also from the original endowment of the see of Newcastle £2300.

CLOSE OF BISHOP BROUGHTON'S EPISCOPATE

Another memorable year in Australian annals was the year 1850. It witnessed the birth of two Constitution Acts, one providing for the new independent colony of Victoria, the other concerning the far-away settlement of Western Australia, just coming into notice, and soon to become a receptacle for the convict element rejected by the older States. Before its close the Church was destined to meet in conference, preparatory to the establishment of free synods in all the dioceses.

That the land might be more profitably cultivated, pardons were freely granted to men nearing the end [64/65] of their sentences, Western Australia being loud in demand for convict labour. Van Diemen's Land, the contrary, by its own choice, protested against continuance as a penal settlement, and wished to be known for the future as Tasmania. The request was very properly granted. The little island-colony, the beginning of which had been so steeped in wickedness, was making a brave start for moral and constitutional freedom. In none of the more populous centres has education been more wisely or more generously fostered.

On the whole the previous decade had brought troublous times to colonists. Impending ruin had many times threatened a general break-up. For a time the resources of the Church were well-nigh exhausted. Emancipists, by which name were known the great body of released prisoners and their sympathizers, no longer made up the bulk of the population. Free immigration still further shifted the balance of power. Among those who most strongly denounced the transportation system was Bishop Broughton. His efforts, already alluded to, in favour of a national scheme of immigration under definite religious oversight, were greatly helped by the terms of the Constitution Act of 1842. On the rejection of the report on transportation by the local legislature, the question was taken up vigorously by Mr., afterwards Sir Charles, Cowper. Dissensions followed respecting land tenure, the high purchase value on the abolition of free grants, viz. from five to twelve shillings an acre, being singled out for bitter agitation.

Notwithstanding these cares, and the monetary crisis which day by day seemed more threatening, the progress of diocesan affairs was by no means stayed. The foundation stones were laid of St. Stephen's, Camperdown, and St. Mary's, Balrnain, and a finished church at Denham Court was consecrated. In the [65/66] western interior, afterwards the diocese of Bathurst, active visitation was made with the happiest results, the bishop making a wide circuit by way of Yass to consecrate the church of St. Saviour at Goulburn, the precursor of the present cathedral church of that diocese. Christchurch, Queanbeyan, and St. John's, Canberra, were consecrated during March 1845, followed by the consecration of St. John's, Ashfield, on August 59, and Christchurch, St. Lawrence, next day. At the last-named ceremony twenty-six of the clergy were present, and the offertory amounted to £114. An exhaustive tour of the northern portion of the diocese around Scone, Murrurundi, Tamworth, and Armidale, prepared the way for the subsequent formation of a new diocese at Newcastle. Many churches were either projected or carried to completion.

By the timely discovery of gold the influx of population was increased by leaps and bounds. But beyond bringing the much-needed labour, it is doubtful whether the gold-fields, with all their richness, were of real benefit to the country. Disturbances were frequent and widespread. The moral effect was generally disastrous. The mad race for wealth ended, as a rule, in an equally mad expenditure.

Bishop Broughton was one of the first to appreciate the loss to the diggers spiritually, of having neither church nor school. He hurried away to the scene of the earliest finds near Bathurst, whither thousands had been drawn by the wild desire to grow rich in a day. At O'Connell he called the men together at dawn of day, and entreated them to build a church, excavating with his own hands a portion of the foundations. Inspired by his example, the roughest and most careless set to work with a will, so that before breakfast-time the holes for the posts were ready. Other willing hands felled trees, shaped the logs for plates and joists, and fitted the framework, which was then completed [67/68] within a very few hours. Teams from Bathurst brought canvas for covering in, doors, a prayer-desk and communion-table. In four days the whole building, sixty-six by twenty-one feet, was ready for occupation. Early on Sunday morning the bishop, mounting by a ladder to the ridge, in his episcopal robes affixed a little wooden cross to the end of the pole; then, having descended, set apart the structure to the worship of the Holy Trinity, by the name of Christchurch. The bell called the rejoicing people together, crowds of whom could not find entrance, and a celebration of the Holy Eucharist fittingly concluded a ceremony reminding one of Mr. Johnson's early labours on the flower-decked slopes of Sydney Cove. It being nine o'clock in the morning, the sermon was preached from the text, "And it was the third hour."

To Bishop Tyrrell of Newcastle is mainly owing the introduction of a more central organization for the management of Church affairs. But the necessity was sufficiently patent to all, and was urged persistently by each of the bishops upon the laity of his diocese. For many months the Metropolitan, enthusiastic as ever, was in frequent consultation with his provincial bishops, until in September 1850 matters were so far advanced as to allow a general Conference being held in Sydney. The summons was answered in person by the entire bench of bishops. The names--to be held in ever-grateful remembrance--were William Grant Broughton, George Augustus Selwyn, Francis Russell Nixon, Augustus Short, Charles Perry, and William 'Tyrrell.

Owing to the pressing needs of their own dioceses, the bishops could spare but a short month for conference, but in this time questions were introduced of stupendous importance, and were pronounced upon with singular tact and judgment. A final disposal of any of them was not for a moment contemplated. On the [67/68] ground of the proved worthlessness of letters patent, and that in consequence a living authority and headship was called for, for purposes of discipline, it was affirmed, to begin with, that duly-constituted diocesan and provincial synods, charged among other powers with the election of bishops without interference by the secular authorities, were a necessity. Bishops were to be tried by the bishops of the province, and priests or deacons by the synod of the diocese, a practice founded on the position occupied by the Catholic Church in primitive times. Discipline was to be enforced on bishops by their brother bishops, on the clergy by their synods, on the laity by private admonition or refusal of Communion. Clergymen were not to be removed except on sentence pronounced by a recognized tribunal. The Canons of 1603-4 were held to be generally binding, while the Authorized Version of Holy Scripture and the Thirty-nine Articles of the Book of Common Prayer were to remain unaltered. The conversion and civilization of the Australian blacks, and of the heathen races of the Western Pacific, came prominently before the conference--a difficult matter made yet more difficult by the wandering habits of these poor people, and the divergency of their language and innumerable dialects. An Australasian Board of Missions was forthwith constituted, in the hope of future extension.

A pronouncement was made on the subject of "Regeneration, the work of God in Holy Baptism," the Bishop of Melbourne dissenting, who pleaded for an explanation of the rite as the "sacrament of regeneration." Some demur having been made as to the public reading of the offertory sentences, and the Prayer for the Church Militant, the bishops decided that "no clergyman can be justly suspected of holding opinions at variance with the sound teaching of the Church, in consequence of his complying with the rubric." [68/69] With united voice their lordships bound themselves "not to incur the responsibility of incorporating themselves with Boards, either general or local, having the reputation of schools in which erroneous, defective, or indefinite religious instruction is given." The subdivision of dioceses was to be under the control of the provincial synod. A very necessary warning was sounded against irregular marriages, which had become sadly frequent.

A more notable gathering of single-minded men was never held; all filled with an enthusiastic love of Church and Country; all pioneers in a cause calling for the most devoted self-sacrifice; as wise in deliberation as weighty in action, of intense sympathy, of untiring energy and of rare administrative powers. From the Metropolitan downwards all were imbued with a burning desire to lay broad and deep the foundations of a Church polity which should bind in one, indissolubly, the present and future dioceses of Australia. Naturally some were more highly gifted than others, by instinct, by training, and by practical knowledge, for the solution of the grave problems submitted to them. To name but one, Bishop Selwyn would come charged with the experience of the stirring events which had accompanied his pioneer work in New Zealand. He would be further fortified by the advice of his young friend, William Ewart Gladstone, given the year before, to "organize. themselves on that basis of voluntary, consensual compact, on which the Church of Christ rested from the first." Before leaving Auckland, he had been the recipient of an address signed by the Governor, Sir George Grey, the Chief-Justice, the Attorney-General, and other leading citizens, praying that "the Church might be constituted in some way that would secure to her the power to manage her own affairs, and that in any such constitution the laity might have their full weight." [69/70] The Bishop of Newcastle at first sided with those members of Conference who desired the full sanction of the Home Government for the institution of the proposed synods, but on reconsideration came to the conclusion that a simple Enabling Bill was sufficient, as in New Zealand and South Australia.

On the decisions of Conference being referred to the several dioceses for consideration, replies were received from the following:--From Melbourne it was suggested that bishops should be appointed as hitherto by royal prerogative, or by the recommendation of the diocesan synod. That there should be one assembly, consisting of clergy and laity, presided over by the bishop. Objection was raised to the creation of an Australian province, suggesting instead that the senior bishop should be ex-officio Primus, subject to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Also to any system of education which included instruction not based on the Holy Scriptures, and not in accordance with the principles of the Church. Signed by seventeen of the clergy, Archdeacon Macartney of Geelong leading. Bishop Perry issued an addendum, to the effect that it was of the utmost importance that the supremacy of the Queen should be distinctly recognized, and that an appeal should always lie from every colonial court to the highest ecclesiastical tribunal at home. The reply from the diocese of Adelaide assumed the Conference to be simply a voluntary assembly of chief pastors to confer upon matters of general interest to the Church. It was agreed that clergy and laity should meet in one assembly. The right and power of the Queen to subdivide dioceses and to appoint bishops should be left intact, but if that right were to be relinquished, then the clergy of the diocese should nominate. They would regard favourably any system of education in which the Bible was made the basis of instruction. They deprecated the [70/71] introduction of the question of Holy Baptism as uncalled for and injudicious. Signed by eleven of the clergy, Dean Farrell leading. The Tasmanian clergy, while generally favourable, deeply regretted the introduction of the subject of Holy Baptism. They joined with their South Australian brethren in cordially welcoming the projected mission to the aborigines.

In February 1852, we find the Bishop of Newcastle in Sydney in consultation with the Metropolitan on the synod question. At a meeting of his clergy it was petitioned that leave should be given to assemble from time to time, with authority to consult and deliberate for the better ordering of the affairs of the Church. A royal commission was asked for, but not granted, many of the leading laity being opposed, for fear of encroachment on existing authority. Condemned to inaction by the puzzling contradiction of opinion, the Metropolitan, who held very decided views himself on the inherent freedom of the Church to manage her own affairs, determined on a visit to the old country, to obtain--to use his own words--"the removal of those restrictions by which the Colonial Church was inhibited from the free exercise of those powers of self-guidance with which she was originally endowed."

It was at the close of a laborious and troubled episcopate that the Metropolitan Bishop thought well to take counsel of his English brother bishops. After what must have been to him a restful passage, after the toils and anxieties of office, he sailed up the Thames as the knell was tolling for his noble friend and patron, the Duke of Wellington. On January 30, 1853, he preached his last sermon at the re-opening of the Temple Church. The next month he was called to his rest, and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral. By friend and foe alike, this truly apostolic bishop was honoured, and will ever be honoured, for his [71/72] bravery of spirit, and for his unflinching advocacy of all that he deemed to be of the truth and right. His efforts in opposition to a school system shorn of the safeguards of religious teaching, though they failed to stop its adoption, were nevertheless chivalrous to a degree, and carried conviction to the hearts of many. The Church schools he always designated as her right hand--as the artery through which the life-blood is conveyed from the heart to the extremities, which, if severed, she must die. His selection of co-workers was admirable. "We must have men," he was wont to say, "earnest, zealous, able to make an impression on the minds of others; not only well-intentioned and of pure lives, but in the extraordinary state of society with which they have to contend, we must endeavour to draw out the talents of the Church and transport them hither." A truly prophetic insight into the spiritual needs of the colonies in every part of the world.

METROPOLITAN DIOCESE OF SYDNEY

For nearly three years the diocese of Sydney was ably administered by Archdeacon Cowper, as it was not till May 25, 1855, that the newly-appointed Metropolitan arrived. The Right Rev. Frederick Barker had been consecrated at Lambeth on the previous St. Andrew's Day. Of his party were the Revs. Edward Synge and P. G. Smith, the former of whom was dispatched on a lengthy tour of inspection. The latter was sent to the Tumut River, to a more settled charge. They were warmly received on arrival by the Bishop of Newcastle, and the clergy and laity of the diocese. There were in all forty-eight licensed clergy at work, ten of whom were in Sydney. The number was quickly increased to fifty-six, but another dozen at [72/73] least were seen to be urgently called for. The bishop determined as soon as possible to establish a Church Training College for teachers. This he was enabled to do within two years. Unhappily, the King's School at Parramatta was found to be in a languishing condition, consequent on the departure of its first head-master, the Rev. Robert Forrest. And although a marked improvement was effected by his successor, the Rev. F. Armitage, yet the absence of endowments, or of any funds for repairs and enlargement, seriously hindered the usefulness of the institution. St. Paul's College, affiliated to the university, was already in progress to provide for the lack of theological instruction to Church students. For the supply of future clergy--always a pressing want--a bequest of Mr. Thomas Moore of a house and landed estate bringing in an income of nearly £400 a year, was taken advantage of, and Moore College founded at Liverpool. Bishop Barker had himself collected over £5000 towards the building. The Rev. William Hodgson, a Cambridge wrangler, was first principal. During the eleven years of his headship, thirty-three candidates were trained for holy orders for the Australian dioceses.

Considerable public interest was taken in the bishop's first tour, which was an extensive one, begun on August 20. At St. John's, Parramatta, which had been rebuilt with the exception of Lady Mary Fitzroy's twin towers, a halt was made for a confirmation. Windsor, Richmond, Penrith, Wallerawang, and Bathurst followed. The Turon River Gold-fields, now in full swing, were taken in due course, where the white tents of the diggers of all nationalities must have offered a novel spectacle to English eyes. Mudgee was reached with some difficulty. Here was held a confirmation, chiefly of adults, after which a serious consultation was had with the Rev. James Günther on [73/74] the subject of missions to the aborigines. Wellington, Dubbo, Molong, and Orange were visited in turn. On approaching the latter township the bishop's horses got bogged in the sticky black soil. Leaving Carcoar in a southerly direction, the country traversed was that which ultimately became the see of Goulburn--Yass, Queanbeyan, and Wagga Wagga. The Rev. Robert Cartwright, who had come out as assistant-chaplain in 1810, was met with at Lake George, and had many stirring anecdotes to tell of the early days. Of St. Saviour's, Goulburn, the Rev. William Sowerby, afterwards dean, had been in charge for eighteen years. Sydney was reached on November 2, by way of Berrima, Sutton Forest, and Camden Park--a lovely mountainous district with a temperate and healthy climate.

The Rev. Edward Synge had in the meantime completed his tour of inquiry to the south and south-west, through Kiama, thence by Twofold Bay to the region of the Lower Murray. In six months he had travelled on horseback 2000 miles. How were those remote settlements to obtain the privilege of regular worship? State-aid was confined within strict limits, and grants from without were exhausted. There remained but to form a Diocesan Church Society, such as had been established by the Bishop of Newcastle with such happy results. To some such body would be committed the work which had hitherto been done by the combined Committee of "S.P.C.K." and "S.P.G." Sir William Denison, who was the chief speaker at the inaugural meeting, led the subscriptions with a promise of £100 per annum. The question of education--always a knotty one, and productive of wide divergence of opinion--was by general consent omitted from the objects of the society.

One of the matters brought home to the observation of the bishop and Mrs. Barker on their journeys, was [74/75] the sore straits the country clergy were put to for the education of their daughters. They decided that a strong effort should be made to supply the deficiency. A site was secured at Waverley, about five miles from t he metropolis, and close to Bishopscourt, where Mrs. Barker soon had the satisfaction of gathering quite a number of pupils from every part of the country. The institution has had a very prosperous career, and has relieved the anxieties of numbers of the country and bush clergy. On the lamented death of its beneficent foundress, St. Catherine's, or, as it is more often simply called, the "Clergy Daughters' School," was largely endowed in her memory. Moore College was fairly started in August 1856, by the arrival from England of its principal. The requisite buildings were immediately proceeded with, not the least of which was a chapel, dedicated to the memory of good Bishop Broughton.

During 1856 Bishop Barker made an exhaustive visitation of the southern country, whither Mr. Synge had paved the way. He thought the aborigines at Eden (Twofold Bay) "a very ignorant and reckless set of savages," which they might well be at the close of a whaling season, after close companionship at sea with some of the lowest class of European sailors. Fine mountain ranges and deep water-courses were crossed, in rich and beautiful country. Most of the places became familiar in later records as forming centres in the Goulburn diocese. It was, in fact, strictly pioneering labour, the shaping into form of a great territory, to be handed over to other hands when the fitting time should come. At Braidwood, then the gold-fields' centre, it is stated of the National school, that "the children had first to go home for their Bibles, as they were not allowed to keep them at school." On the borders of Victoria, 500 miles away to the westward, were districts just being opened up to settlement. In a difficult [75/76] journey of fifty-two days, the bishop traversed these by way of Deniliquin, preaching and confirming, and encouraging the erection of churches. Thence he went on to Melbourne, an additional 150 miles or thereabouts, to judge of the working of the lately constituted