The Australian protestant tradition has its origins in the British evangelical movement of the late eighteenth century. This form of protestantism, with its emphasis on social reform, remained the dominant christian tradition in Australia during the colonial years. The British evangelicals comprised many liberal theorists at the spearhead of social reform and they expressed their influence on a wide range of platforms. They campaigned for the abolition of slavery, reforms in the factory system and in the care of prisoners and hospital patients, animal liberation, and better working conditions for children. By the 1820s, British evangelicals were drawn to the idea of the new colonies for the opportunity they offered for non-secular government and religious freedom, opportunities denied at home. Many influential British evangelicals were also deeply concerned with the indigenous populations of the empire. Enlightenment philosophers such as Diderot and Rousseau promoted the law of nature by glorifying the natural. They encouraged the concept of equitable treatment for indigenous populations under European laws. Evangelicals took this concept one step further by promoting christianity not only as vital in itself to human salvation, but also as the means by which all people could become civilized. In this theological climate a series of mission societies sprang up: the Baptist Missionary Society (1792), the non-denominational, but firmly evangelical, London Missionary Society (1795); the Church Missionary Society (1799) and the British and Foreign Bible Society (1804). A group of imperially-minded British evangelicals were led by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who promoted systematic colonisation. Influenced by the writing of Bentham and Malthus, the colonisers saw the Australian colonies as ideal receptacles for Britain's 'surplus population'. The parallels between the motivations of the evangelicals and the innovations of the Wakefield planners can be seen in the interests of Sir James Stephen. Stephen was the influential assistant under-secretary at the colonial office in the 1830s and shortly to become under secretary of state. He wanted to mitigate some of the hardships of emigration and was critical of the practices of some major trading companies in the Empire in their skirmishes with the local populations. The nephew of William Wilberforce, whom he greatly admired, he maintained an abiding compassion for the indigenous people of the colonies. A member of the powerful Clapham Sect, Stephen was a staunch member of the Church Missionary Society. He supported the colonisation of Australia, but maintained his belief that new settlers and the indigenous population should live in harmony. It was with this background that John Saunders preached so evocatively in pleading for tolerance and acceptance of the indigenous population of the Australian colonies. Charismatic and enthusiastic, he arrived in New South Wales in 1834 in response to a plea to the Baptist Missionary Society to pastor a Sydney congregation. His ministry in Sydney was 'remarkably broad' and characterised by an evangelical dissenting influence. Originally trained as a solicitor, Saunders served as an agent for the London Missionary Society, opposed transportation, and demonstrated his concern for newly-arrived immigrants through his involvement with the benevolent society. Reflecting his evangelical bias, he gave public lectures on scientific themes, and expressed his deep compassion for the indigenous population by becoming a founding member of the Aborigines Protection Society, and by making public pleas for justice for the Aborigines. The involvement of several leading British evangelicals in female emigration was a further expression of their concern for the colonisation process. The London Emigration Committee, formed in 1834, operated in a transitional period of government action. The government used paid contractors to transport convicts, but until the formation of this committee, there was no system in place to encourage and transport free emigrants. The London Emigration Committee commenced as a sub-committee of the Refuge for the Destitute. The Refuge was founded in 1805 as a home for former prisoners and to provide life-enhancing options for Britain's destitute. Two of the founding members were Zachary Macaulay and William Wilberforce, who became one of the Refuge's vice-presidents in 1818. The Emigration Committee furthered members' interests in the emigration movement. As enthusiastic colonisers, the Refuge committee took on the role of government servants in the emerging field of government action and social reform. Freely promoting the concept of emigration for Britain's 'redundant women', they actively promoted the scheme in the dissenting churches of the southern counties. Composed of a mix of evangelicals, dissenters and Quakers, they were enlightened, with a rational, scientific approach to life, and blended scientific reasoning with their interests in moral themes. This powerful combination of religious, commercial and scientific ideologies can be traced in the interests of the various members of the committee. Edward Forster was a London banker who was raised on the principles of Rousseau and maintained a life-long interest in science and philanthropy. The Chairman of the Emigration Committee, he was also treasurer of the Refuge for the Destitute for thirty years. With several other committee members, he was a member of the Linnean Society (becoming vice-president in 1818) and published several critically exact papers on British birds and plants. His brother, Benjamin, had wide-ranging scientific and humanitarian interests, including capital punishment and emancipation. Also on the committee for the Refuge for the Destitute, he was a member of the 1788 committee against the slave trade. He also joined the societies for the suppression of chimney sweeps, for preventing cruelty to animals (he was conscientiously opposed to field sports), and he helped to frame the child-stealing act. The Quakers were represented by Samuel Hoare, another London banker. Married to Elizabeth Fry's sister, Louisa Gurney, he was fully involved with the work of the Emigration Committee and shared with the Fry family an active involvement in prison reform. The evangelical Anglicans were represented by Nadir Baxter who had wide-reaching interests in evangelism, missions and philanthropy, and John Stuckey Reynolds, who was one of three evangelical Anglicans who secured control of the Record newspaper in 1828. Many of the Committee members had connections with colonisation through their associations with the East India Company (Thomas Lewin and the brothers, the Liberal MPs, Charles and Stephen Lushington). Sir Edward Parry, Arctic explorer, had expressed his interest in the development of the Australian colonies by taking up a position as Commissioner of the Australian Agricultural Company prior to his involvement with the Emigration Committee. When the scheme for female emigration ceased in 1836, the Emigration Committee members turned their attention to the founding of South Australia. This new colony presented them with new opportunities, particularly for their dissenting members, as civil liberty, social opportunity and equality for all religions were the professed ideals. Charles Lushington was one of the so-called Adelphi planners, and Samuel Hoare and Sir John Pirie were involved in the South Australian Land Company. Pirie was one of the most prominent Emigration Committee members, a wealthy shipowner who later became Lord Mayor of London. His wife was a great friend and supporter of Elizabeth Fry in her prison reform work. Another Committee member with South Australian connections was Charles Holte Bracebridge, who, like John Abel Smith (a Refuge vice-president) was one of Wakefield's supporters on the committee for the National Colonisation Society. At the
outset of white settlement of the eastern seaboard
forty years previously, the British government
claimed ownership of all land for the crown,
ignoring any aboriginal claims, and the first
white settlers subscribed to the current orthodoxy
of a close relationship between church and state.
By the 1830s, evangelical influence in Britain and
the colonies challenged such assumptions and
questioned the attitudes and policies adopted by
the white settlers to the indigenous population,
the reception and absorption of sometimes
overwhelming numbers of free immigrants, and the
extent to which independent churches could access
state aid. These issues have continued to
challenge the churches and have contributed to the
shaping of Australian society. Suggested reading: Dickey, Brian, The Australian Dictionary of Evangelical Biography, The
Evangelical History Association, Sydney, 1994
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