Newspaper Reports on Christinaity in Australia

Sydney newspaper reports

1880 Parkes against Irish immigration THURSDAY, I I NOVEMBER

The proportion of Irish to English people should be maintained in order to keep the British character of the population and its Protestant religion, the NSW Premier Sir Henry Parkes told Parliament yesterday. He said he would not support the increase of either major migrant group, the Irish or the Scottish, over the immigration of English people. 'I am as willing as I can be to assist in bringing Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Irishmen here; but I am not willing to bring the people of one country at the expense of the people of another kingdom. I would not, I say at once, give my support to any immigration which had a tendency to change the British character of the population as it now exists…….I would advance every opposition in my power to the bringing here of a majority of people from Ireland.

'I want to preserve the teaching and influence of the Protestant religion in the country, and I would lend no assistance whatever to any scheme which would have a tendency to depress the Protestant elements now in existence.



1885 New sect for Melbourne SUNDAY, 28 JUNE A party of religious ministers belonging to a sect called the Seventh-day Adventists has arrived in Melbourne. The sect was established in America from the combination of the Seventh-day Baptists and Adventists in 1844. The ministers, who include Mr Haskell, Mr Corliss and Mr Israel, have brought their families to settle here. The members of the sect observe Saturday as the Sabbath and do not take alcohol or tobacco, as they are not deemed good for the health.



1868 Christian Brothers here to teach

THURSDAY, 19 NOVEMBER The arrival of four Christian Brothers from Ireland to teach Catholic children in Melbourne will see the Catholic education system spread further throughout the colonies. The Brothers arrived recently and after Sunday Mass at St Francis' Church in Melbourne they were ready to interview parents wishing to have their children taught under Catholic instruction.

They were greeted with an enthusiastic welcome. The Brothers met with the congregation after Mass and were surprised at the eagerness of the members, many of whom hailed from Ireland.

The arrival of the Brothers will help to consolidate the increase in popularity of Catholic schools, which began with the formation of the St Joseph order of nuns in SA by Mother Mary McKillop, primarily to teach Catholic children from poor families.





1870 State aid abolished

FRIDAY 8 JULY Following heated debate in the chamber, the Victorian Parliament has voted to abolish state aid to religion, phasing out payments over the next five years to cease by the year 1875. Although there has been strong public support for the termination of religious aid, and while other colonies have passed similar Bills in Queensland, SA, NSW and Tasmania, the clergy have loudly opposed the Bill with the support of some powerful members of Parliament. One of the richest men in the colony, the Honourable N. Black, speaking in opposition to the Bill earlier this month, said if passed the Bill would have disastrous effects on country areas and on the promotion of religious institutions generally. 'There can be no doubt that large numbers of persons have, during the last few years, settled in the country districts and many of them are men with families-men with children growing about them. But have we got churches growing in proportion to the increase in population about them? I say that we have not ... State aid is a sort of nest-egg …













1875 Crowd welcomes Great Synagogue

WEDNESDAY, 27 JANUARY The NSW Postmaster General, Mr Saul Samuel, yesterday laid the foundation stone of the Great Synagogue in Elizabeth Street in front of a crowd of 700 people. Mr Samuel said that since the synagogue in York Street, Sydney, was consecrated in 1884, the Jewish community had increased so much that it became necessary to build a place large enough for the congregation. There was an evident need for a new synagogue, to be worthy of us as a religious body, an ornament to the city wherein we live, and a temple in which we might, with feelings of true devotion, offer up our prayers to the Great Giver of all things,' he said. The crowd spilled over the street into Hyde Park where there were seats and an awning for the guests.



1877 New Quakers' School for Hobart

TUESDAY, I FEBRUARY A new co-educational school opened in Hobart yesterday, run by the Religious Society of Friends, or the Quakers, as they are more commonly known. The new school has its foundations in a similar school begun 40 years ago for Quaker children by Mr Thomas Mason. It continued for 12 years before lapsing. Three years ago Quaker parents got together to resume the school with the help of the English Society of Friends.



Their religion teaches one to follow the 'divine element', which they believe is in everyone. They teach that God speaks directly to everyone and therefore there Is no need for a separate priesthood, religious doctrines or official places of worship.



Two Quakers, Mr J. Backhouse and Mr G. Walker, met "in Hobart in 1832 and, as others joined them, established a meeting-house. Three years later they held a meeting in Sydney, attended by approximately 500 people. Since that time they have carried out much valuable philanthropic work.



1879 Secular schools will raise “infidels”

MONDAY,. 30 JUNE Rumours that the Premier, Sir Henry Parkes, is going to stop funding religious schools has prompted a condemnation of secular schools in a pastoral letter from Archbishop Vaughan to his diocese. In his scathing letter, the Archbishop said secular education would lead to a country of infidels, sapping the

foundation of Christianity. He has called for his clergy to instruct their congregations of the evil of the system and called on parents to do everything they can to 'upset, by constitutional means, a system which, whilst it is a crying injustice to themselves, promises to be a source of incalculable evil to the colony . The Archbishop went on, '... this studding the colony with schools which the Church knows from experience will, in the course of time, fill the country with indifferentists, not to speak of absolute infidels; this use of Catholic funds-of taxes paid out of Catholic pockets for establishing a system of education through out the land, out the land, which not merely Catholics cannot safely make use of, but which they firmly believe is calculated to sap the foundations of Christianity; is an act so galling to every feeling of fair play ...



'it is self evident that education without Christianity is impossible; you may call it instruction, filling the mind with a certain quantity- of secular knowledge, but you cannot dignify it with the name education ... we condemn them [secular schools], first, because they contravene the first principles of the Christian religion; and secondly, because they are the seedplots of future immorality, infidelity, and lawlessness, being calculated to debase the standard of human excellence, and to corrupt the political, social, and individual life of future citizens.



'Wherefore we urge our clergy to do all in their power in the pulpit and out of it, to instruct the people in these teachings of the Christian religion ... Let them, moreover, warn parents, who through a spirit of indifference or worldliness, are exposing their children to proximate danger of perversion and of ruin, that they are tempting the anger of the Almighty God.'



1880 Salvation comes to colonies

MONDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER An evangelical organisation known as the Salvation Army had their first meeting in Australia last night in Adelaide's Botanic Gardens. Mr Edward Saunders and Mr John Gore have both worked under the Army's founder General William Booth, who started the Army 15 years ago in London's East End. The Army is a breakaway from the Methodist Church.



Mr Saunders and Mr Gore had originally advertised the meeting at the Labour League Hall in Hindley Street however they decided it would be more effective to take their message to the people. The two army men have been holding street meetings for some months and have requested General Booth to send some of his officers to the colonies to begin the movement in a more formal way. In a letter to the General, Mr Gore wrote: “Come over and help us ... The salvation Army is what we want ... I have to tell you that the churches are asleep here, and a good waking up would do us good .



Although the Army in England has not yet spared any leaders for the colonies, Mr Saunders and Mr Gore have decided to carry on the Army’s work regardless.



1895 Catholic bishops bemoan secularism

FRIDAY, 30 NOVEMBER Catholic Church leaders have hit out at 'the ascendency of secularism' in Australia. In a newsletter published after their Second Plenary Council held in Sydney earlier this month, the Archbishops and Bishops said that more and more people in Australia had cast spirituality aside and were worshipping a new god-money.



'Akin to secularism is the inordinate desire of wealth. Secularism would have men live upon bread alone, scorning the Word of God as folly, the newsletter said. 'By an inevitable law the greed of earth grows insatiate, for the whole world cannot satisfy a hungry soul. This all-devouring gold hunger paralyzes the divine life which was infused into the soul through the Sacrament of Baptism



The Bishops repeated their warnings about 'mixed' marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics, and non-Catholic education for children, condemning them as two of the chief obstacles to the expansion of the faith. They said these factors threatened the sacredness of family life in this country.

~'The immigrants to these new lands had beautiful traditions of home-life, its authority, its reverence, and its manifold sanctities, the Bishops wrote.



'These gentle influences are, we fear, on the wane in Australia. Children are apt as they grow up to neglect their parents; brothers and sisters going forth in to the world soon lose sight of one another. 'The result is that parents have to bear the chagrin of being forsaken in their old age by the children whom they toiled so hard to rear and educate; while these in turn suffer much by the loss of those intimate family relations he added.



As well as the weakening of family ties, too much of Australian national life was characterised by 'pride and haughtiness, covetousness and love of the world, disobedience to parents and want of affection Despite this 'gloomy picture of moral degeneration' the Bishops said the Catholic faith in Australia had remained strong over the last 10 years with the number of Catholics across the country now numbering more than 80000. Without any government assistance the faithful; now support about 900 priests, 400 teaching brothers and more than 3000 nuns. Australia has 22 colleges for boys and young men, 114 boarding schools for girls and around 800 primary schools and 62 charitable institutions. The newsletter said there were more than 100000 children attending Catholic schools across the colonies.







1901 Presbyterians unite

THURSDAY, 25 JULY A vast crowd gathered in the Sydney Town Hall yesterday to celebrate the union of the Presbyterian Churches of the Commonwealth of Australia. The celebrations mark the successful end to more than 20 years of planning and debate between the various separate churches in each of the former colonies.



The Reverend James Cameron D. D., Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of NSW, was elected chairman and addressed the gathering. 'In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only King and Head of the Church and by the authority of the Supreme Courts of the Presbyterian Churches of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia, I declare the union of these Churches now consummated, and the Presbyterian Church of Australia.'







1902 Methodist churches unite

WEDNESDAY, I JANUARY From today, all the Methodist Church sects will worship under the one, united denomination. Methodists do not drink, and oppose lotteries, gambling, mixed bathing and sport on Sundays. They number more than half a million 'in Australia. The Reverend J. Berry of SA explained that the merger was in line with trends already set in Great Britain, Canada and New Zealand. He said 'Wesleyans' , 'Bible Christians, 'Primitive Methodists' and 'United Free Churchmen' had combined to form the national Methodist faith.

'This, too, has been brought about without shedding of one drop of blood or the surrender of one principle, or the change of one item of our doctrine or relaxing one item of our discipline, Reverend Berry said.





1941 Pacifist sect banned

FRIDAY, 17 JANUARY The Federal Government decided yesterday to ban the Christian sect known as the Jehovah's Witnesses. Effective upon gazettal, the organisation, which is also known as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, will become illegal. The decision follows the closure last week of four B-class radio stations in which Jehovah's Witnesses have an interest. One of the stations, 2HD in Newcastle, had broadcast a sponsored session by Jehovah's Witnesses every night. Gordon Edwards, 2HD announcer who belongs to the sect, was imprisoned on Monday for refusing to take the oath under the compulsory military training regulations. He was sentenced to three months hard labour. The other stations, 4AT Atherton, 5KA Adelaide, and 5AU Port Augusta, were simultaneously closed by Po stmaster- General Senator McLeay, apparently following complaints by one of the fighting services. The Minister for the Navy, Mr Hughes, commented that while there wasn't conclusive information to convict sect members, there was sufficient basis to warrant the closures. 'if I see a man coming from a fire with a petrol tin and matches, I draw my own conclusion,' he said. In announcing the government's ban on the organisation, Prime Minister Mr Robert Menzies added that the stations would not have their right to broadcast restored until their ownership had been thoroughly investigated.