Australia, Christianity in

Australia, Christianity in. When the British Government formed a penal colony in New South Wales in 1788, the C of E was given a favoured status. The colonial government, however, also encouraged the worship of other denominations and from the 1820s paid their clergy. The large number of RC convicts were served, first by convict priests, then by official chaplains, and after 1833 by missionary priests who included W. B. Ullathorne and J. P. Polding, a Downside monk who became the first RC bishop in 1835. Congregationalists, Methodists, Presbyterians (mainly Scottish free settlers) and Baptists came. In 1836 South Australia was established as a separate colony to encourage the free settlement of dissenters, among whom were Lutheran refugees from Prussia. The various denominational missions to the Aboriginal people had little initial success.

In the second half of the 19th cent. the spread of secular views led to the withdrawal of state aid for religion. During the 1870s state school systems were established to provide ‘free, compulsory and secular’ education, and after 1880 evangelical piety declined. By the early 20th cent. most denominations had a majority of Australian-born clergy, for whom they established theological colleges. After 1918 there was a change of emphasis from denominational issues to wider social concerns. Councils of Churches were established in various states; they pursued matters of public morality and social need, but seldom theological questions.

After 1945 denominational traditions became more consciously Australian, and in 1981 the C of E became the Anglican Church in Australia. In 1977 the Methodist Church, most Congregationalists, and a majority of Presbyterians joined to form the Uniting Church in Australia. Migration brought large numbers of RCs, especially from Italy, and Greek and Russian Orthodox. In the 1996 census 27 per cent of Australians declared themselves RC, 22 per cent Anglican, and 7 per cent Uniting Church.