Australia’s Christian Heritage
Posted on February 27, 2015
Filed under Australia, History
Weekend reading, new in our Resources section:
Associate Professor Stuart Piggin gave this address at a gathering on 3rd February 2015 to commemorate the First Christian Service in Australia.
Held in Richard Johnson Square, Sydney, the gathering was close to the site of the first service, conducted by the Rev. Richard Johnson, Chaplain to the Colony, on 3rd February 1788.
“We are at the site of:
• the First Christian service on Australian soil,
• the first sermon preached,
• the first church and
• the first schoolhouse
The preacher at that service, held under a ‘great tree’, beginning at 10 o’clock on 3 February 1788, a hot midsummer’s day, was the Rev Richard Johnson, Australia’s
• first minister,
• first educator,
• first carer for orphans,
• first carer for aboriginal children …”
Click here to open the PDF file of Dr. Piggin’s address in a new window.
Photos: Ramon Williams, Worldwide Photos.
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