This remote town feels like heaven to some, but it has a great gospel need

Posted on December 2, 2023 
Filed under Australian dioceses

“Photographs of Exmouth show endless clear blue-water beaches, with expansive horizons.

The nearby Ningaloo Coast is world heritage listed. It is known for its reef, for whale sharks, sea turtles, rays, humpback whales, and a network of underground caves.

The town is gateway to the reef, where people dive and swim.

It’s in a 6504 square kilometre municipality, but most people live in Exmouth itself, a town of 2800.

Its population swells in winter, as people visit during the cooler months. Many people in town spend their spare time fishing, or just enjoying the environment.

Exmouth residents, the Venerable Simon Roberts and Alison Roberts, can see much lostness, just as anywhere. Some people are escaping difficulties, others just living for the enjoyment of life, a hedonistic lifestyle in a beautiful location.

Mr and Mrs Roberts are there for neither. Instead, they hope to bring people something that will satisfy more deeply than either escape or enjoyment: a relationship with God.

They moved to Exmouth around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, Mr Roberts is rector of Exmouth and Onslow Anglican Church and archdeacon of the Pilbara. …”

– The Melbourne Anglican has this story on Simon and Alison Roberts and the churches in Exmouth and Onslow. Food for prayer.

Map: Diocese of North West Australia. Exmouth and Onslow circled.