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Church and State in Western Australia: Implementing New Imperial Paradigms in the Swan River Colony, 1827–1857

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2010

ROWAN STRONG
ROWAN STRONG
Affiliation:
Theology Program, Murdoch Univeristy, South Street, Murdoch, Western Australia6250; e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article examines, through the work and attitudes of its first four governors, the relations between Church and State in the last Australia colony to be established. It covers the period from the foundation of the colony in 1829 to the arrival of the first resident bishop of Perth in 1857. It challenges the prevailing historiography of a colonial administration wedded to Anglican privilege, and discusses the persistence of an erastian mind-set among the colonial governors in the 1840s despite the advent of a new paradigm of autonomous imperial engagement by the Church of England.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 61 , Issue 3 , July 2010 , pp. 517 - 540
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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References

1 Pamela Statham-Drew, James Stirling: admiral and founding governor of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA 2003, 203–4.

2 Margaret Pitt Morison and John White, ‘Builders and buildings’, in C. T. Stannage (ed.), A new history of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA 1981, 517; R. T. Appleyard, ‘Western Australia: economic and demographic growth, 1850–1914’, in Stannage, New history of Western Australia, 212, 215.

3 Bishop Augustus Short to secretary, 7 Nov. 1848, SPG archive, Bodleian Library, Oxford, USPG/CLR/205, fos 123–6

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7 Rowan Strong, Anglicanism and the British Empire, c. 1700–1850, Oxford 2007, ch. iv.

8 Ross Border, Church and State in Australia, 1788–1872: a constitutional study of the Church of England in Australia, London 1962, 48–50.

9 Strong, Anglicanism, 32.

10 John Barrett, That better country: the religious aspect of life in eastern Australia, 1835–1850, Melbourne 1966, 34.

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12 G. R. Quaife, ‘Religion in colonial politics: state and sectarianism in Victoria, 1856’, JRH x (1978), 179; Patricia Curthoys, ‘State support for Churches, 1836–1860’, in Bruce Kaye (ed.), Anglicanism in Australia: a history, Melbourne 2002, 48.

13 Brian Fletcher, ‘The Anglican ascendancy, 1788–1835’, in Kaye, Anglicanism in Australia, 27; Curthoys, ‘State support’, 32–3.

14 Border, Church and State, ch. ix.

15 Curthoys, ‘State support’, 47–8.

16 Lieutenant-Governor James Stirling's instructions, 30 Dec. 1828, State Library of Western Australia: http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/wa2_doc_1828.pdf, accessed 16 Jan. 2008, fos 7, 9, 13–14.

17 ‘Fixed salary list of the civil establishment in the colony of Western Australia’, n.d., SROWA, ACC 49/5.

18 Major published works on the religious history of Western Australia beyond parish histories and histories of church organisations or religious orders in recent decades are sparse and somewhat dated, with Roman Catholicism among the best represented. They include: Richard K. Moore, All Western Australia is my parish: a centenary history of the Baptist denomination in Western Australia, 1895–1995, Perth 1996; Christine Choo, Mission girls: Aboriginal women on Catholic missions in the Kimberley, Western Australia, 1900–1950, Nedlands, WA, 2001; Marian Aveling, ‘Western Australian society: the religious aspect (1829–1895)’, in Stannage, New history of Western Australia, 575–98; D. F. Bourke, The history of the Catholic Church in Western Australia, 1829–1979, Perth 1979; George Russo, Lord abbot of the wilderness: the life and times of Bishop Salvado, Melbourne 1980; William McNair and Hilary Rumley, Pioneer Aboriginal mission: the work of Wesleyan missionary John Smithies in the Swan River Colony, 1840–1855, Nedlands, WA 1981; John Tonkin, Cathedral and community: a history of St George's Cathedral, Perth, Nedlands, WA 2001; John Tonkin (ed.), Religion and society in Western Australia, Nedlands, WA 1987; and Colin Holden, Ritualist on a tricycle: Frederick Goldsmith: Church, nationalism and society in Western Australia, 1880–1920, Nedlands, WA 1997. This is in contrast to publications on the history of Anglicanism in Australia more generally, a topic which has seen a revival in recent decades. Some major publications include David Hilliard, Godliness and good order: a history of the Anglican Church in South Australia, Adelaide 1986; S. Judd and K. J. Cable, Sydney Anglicans: a history of the diocese, Sydney 1987; B. Porter, Melbourne Anglicans: the diocese of Melbourne, 1847–1978, Melbourne 1997; T. Frame, A Church for the nation: a history of the Anglican diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, Sydney 2000; and Kaye, Anglicanism in Australia.

19 Aveling, ‘Western Australian society’, 577.

20 Bourke, Catholic Church in Western Australia, 27–8.

21 Eugene McKenna, ‘The influence of ecclesiastical and community cultures on the development of Catholic education in Western Australia, 1846–1890’, unpubl. PhD diss. Murdoch 2005, 22.

22 McNair and Rumley, Pioneer Aboriginal mission, 54–5.

23 Aveling, ‘Western Australian society’, 576.

24 Strong, Rowan, ‘The Reverend John Wollaston and colonial Christianity in Western Australia, 1840–1863’, JRH xxv (2001), 261–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

25 John Wollaston to Governor Charles Fitzgerald, 9 June 1848, SROWA, WAS 1187, Cons 136.

26 Captain Richard Spencer rn, Government Resident, Albany, to secretary, SPG, 6 July 1837, SPG, USPG/CLR/200, fos 71–3; colonial secretary. to J. B. Wittenoom, 16 Feb. 1842, SROWA, ACC 49/15, fo. 262; colonial secretary to Wollaston, 20 Mar. 1846, ACC 49/22, fo. 121; George King to secretary, SPG, 15 Feb. 1845, SPG, USPG/CLR/201, fos 324–8.

27 Colonial secretary to Resident, York, 11 Mar. 1842, SROWA, ACC 49/16, fos 83–4.

28 For further comments see Strong, ‘Wollaston’, 262–4.

29 Western Australian Government Gazette, 19 Dec. 1848, 2, 5, 6.

30 Lord. Russell to Governor John Hutt, 4 Aug. 1841, SROWA, 41/1178/5, fos 247–9.

31 McNair and Rumley, Pioneer Aboriginal mission, 54.

32 Russell to Hutt, 4 Aug. 1841, SROWA, 41/1178/5, fos 247–9.

33 Hutt to Russell, 24 Feb. 1841, ibid. 390/1166/3, fos 255–61.

34 Russell to Hutt, 1 Sept. 1841, ibid. 41/1178/6, fo. 74.

35 Colonial secretary to King, 11 Apr. 1842, ibid. ACC 49/16, fo. 112; colonial secretary to King, 12 May 1824, ACC 49/15, fo. 295.

36 Colonial secretary to William Mitchell, 29 Sept., 11 Nov. 1842, ibid. ACC 49/15, fos 382, 422.

37 Colonial secretary to Committee of the Wesleyan Chapel Fremantle, 21 Sept. 1843, ibid. ACC 49/18, fos 194–5.

38 McNair and Rumley, Pioneer Aboriginal mission, 54.

39 Bourke, Catholic Church in Western Australia, 8–11.

40 Colonial secretary to trustees of the Roman Catholic Church property, 31 May 1844, SROWA, ACC 49/17, fo. 436.

41 Fitzgerald to Earl Grey, 25 Jan. 1848, ibid. 390/1166/5, fos 113–18.

42 Colonial secretary to chairman of the trustees of Church Property, 22 Jan. 1842, ibid. ACC 49/15, fos 226–7.

43 Hutt to Lord Stanley, 19 June 1843, ibid. 390/1166/4, fos 86–8.

44 Michael Roe, ‘1830–1850’, in Frank Crowley (ed.), A new history of Australia, Melbourne 1974, 88.

45 Peter Burroughs, Britain and Australia, 1831–1855: a study in imperial relations and church land administration, Oxford 1967, 3, 5–6.

46 Hutt to Stanley, 19 June 1843, SROWA, 390/1166/4, fos 86–8.

47 Colonial secretary to W. H. Mackie and G. F. Moore, corresponding agents of Western Australian Missionary Society, 9 Aug. 1836, ibid. ACC 49/9, fo. 191.

48 Statham-Drew, James Stirling, 289.

49 Aveling, ‘Western Australian society’, 577.

50 Laadan Fletcher, ‘Education of the people’, in Stannage, New history of Western Australia, 554.

51 In the North American colonies Anglican establishment in some colonies and at home was never able to overcome local Dissenter and lay resistance to the foundation of a colonial bishopric: John Frederick Woolverton, Colonial Anglicanism in North America, Detroit 1984.

52 Pamela Statham, ‘Swan River Colony, 1829–1850’, in Stannage, New history of Western Australia, 209–10.

53 Appleyard, ‘Economic and demographic growth, 213–16.

54 James Horn, ‘Tobacco colonies: the shaping of English society in the seventeenth-century Chesapeake’, in Nicholas Canny (ed.), The Oxford history of the British empire: the origins of empire, Oxford 1998, i. 187.

55 Judith Fingard, The Anglican design in Loyalist Nova Scotia, 1783–1816, London 1972, 115.

56 Ibid. 25–6.

57 Government notice, 13 Feb. 1830, SROWA, ACC 49/2, fo. 35.

58 Colonial secretary to Wittenoom, 16 Feb. 1830, ibid. ACC 49/2, no. 568.

59 Colonial secretary to Wittenoom, 8 July 1830, ibid. no. 954.

60 Colonial secretary to Wittenoom, 26 Nov. 1830, ibid. ACC 49/3, no. 1320.

61 Colonial secretary to Wittenoom, 1 Dec. 1830, ibid. no. 1345.

62 Colonial secretary to Wittenoom, 14 Apr. 1839, ibid. ACC 49/12, fo. 167.

63 Colonial secretary to Wittenoom, 21 Nov. 1841, ibid. ACC 49/15, fos 153–4.

64 Colonial secretary to Wittenoom, 16, 24 Feb. 1842, ibid. fos 262, 276.

65 Colonial secretary to all six Anglican clergy, 8 June 1844, ibid. ACC 49/18, fos 231–3.

66 Colonial secretary to Wollaston, 20 Mar. 1846, ibid. ACC 49/22, fo. 121.

67 Colonial secretary to Wollaston, 28 Mar. 1846, ibid. fo. 138.

68 Hutt to Bishop William Broughton, 30 Jan. 1845, ibid. 390/1166/4, fos 260–3.

69 Hutt to Stanley, 30 Jan. 1845, ibid. fos 259–60.

70 Hutt to Stanley, 8 Sept. 1845, ibid. fos 333–7.

71 Ibid.

72 Judith M. Brown, Augustus Short, DD, bishop of Adelaide, Adelaide 1974, 22.

73 Colonial secretary to W. R. Postlethwaite, 11 Feb. 1848, SROWA, ACC 49/24, fo. 217.

74 Colonial secretary to Postlethwaite, 7 Sept. 1848, ibid. ACC 49/25. fo. 107.

75 Colonial secretary to Postlethwaite, 26 Dec. 1848, ibid. fo. 345.

76 Colonial secretary to Wittenoom, 20 Mar. 1849, ibid. ACC 49/27, fo. 78.

77 Colonial secretary to Mitchell, 17 Apr. 1849, ibid. fo. 108.

78 Colonial secretary to Bishop Short, 2 May 1849, ibid. fo. 120.

79 Colonial secretary to Mr Brown, trustee of the York Church, 7 July 1849, ibid. ACC 49/26, fo. 86.

80 Colonial secretary to William Mears, 13 July 1849, ibid. fo. 90.

81 Colonial secretary to Mears, 21 July 1849, ibid. fos 93–4.

82 Colonial secretary to Charles Harper, 25 July 1849, ibid. fo. 96.

83 Fitzgerald to Grey, 18 Mar. 1851, ibid. 42/1180/9.

84 Government notice 173, 21 Dec. 1841, ibid. ACC 49/14, fo. 104.

85 G. P. Shaw, Patriarch and prophet: William Grant Broughton, 1788–1835: colonial statesman and ecclesiastic, Melbourne 1978, 205.