Arrival & Establishment of Christianity

1. Arrival & Establishment of Christianity In Australia

2. 1788 - 1981 • Anglican Church in Australia was called the Church of England in Australia King Henry VIII

3. 1788 • Arrival of the First Fleet • About 1/3 of the convicts were Catholic • Reverend Richard Johnson (1753-1827) was the first chaplain • He arrived with the First Fleet

4. 1792 and 1796 • Petitions for a Catholic Priest were ignored by the British colonial authorities

5. 1803 • The earliest recorded Catholic Mass was celebrated by the Irish Priest Father James Dixon (1758-1840) • He had been transported for allegedly encouraging the Irish Rebellion of 1798 Irish Rebellion

6. 1804 • Father Dixon lost his official permission to celebrate Mass in public because he was suspected of complicity in the convict uprising at Castle Hill. • All Catholic convicts were again compelled to attend Anglican services Uprising at Castle Hill

7. 1809 • The Ebenezer Presbyterian Church was built on the banks of the Hawkesbury River, under the leadership of a layman, James Mein. Ebenezer Presbyterian Church

8. 1810 • Australia’s first group of Congregationalists met and conducted services in the schoolroom of William Pascoe Crook. William Pascoe Cook

9. 1812 • Methodist meetings started

10. 1815 • The Methodist Reverend Samuel Leigh arrived from the British Wesleyan Methodist Conference to conduct services.

11. 1818 • The Church and State were formally recognised as separate and independent institutions within the colony

12. 1820 • Catholic Priests were allowed to settle and conduct services in the colony • Fathers John Therry and Philip Connolly arrived in Sydney • Connolly then went to Hobart Father John Therry

13. 1820 & 1821 • A Methodist Church was established in Hobart (1820) • A Methodist Church was established in Sydney (1821)

14. 1823 • The Presbyterian Reverend Lang arrived in Sydney and Reverend Macarthur arrived in Hobart.

15. 1824 • The first Presbyterian communion service was celebrated in the Ebenezer Church. • It remains the oldest Australian church still in use today.

16. Prior to 1834 • Australian Catholics were under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Mauritius

17. 1834 • Authority over Australian Catholics was given to Bishop Bede Polding, based in Sydney • The Baptist Church is established in Sydney

18. 1838 • The Lutherans first arrive from Germany and set up in Queensland and South Australia

19. 1839 - 1841 • Baptist Church is established in: • Launceston (1839) • Adelaide (1840) • Melbourne (1841)

20. 1850 • Sydney saw the establishment of the first Unitarian Group.

21. 1851 • Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) arrived in Sydney. • Within a few short years there were Mormon missions in all colonies.

22. 1880 • Local people in Adelaide formed the first Salvation Army Corps

23. 1885 • The first Australian Cardinal was appointed in Sydney and he became the head of the Catholic Church in Australia. • Some Seventh-Day Adventists came to Melbourne from the USA.

24. 1896 • The First Greek Orthodox priest arrived from Samos to conduct services in Melbourne and Sydney A Greek Orthodox Icon

25. 1898 • First Christian Scientist service in Australia was held at Melbourne. • The first Orthodox Church was built in Surry Hills (NSW), by Greek and Lebanese Christians, with assistance from Church of England clergy.

26. 1904 • The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (Jehovah’s Witnesses) set up its first branch in Melbourne.