Links to Resources Related to Australia's Christian History

AUSTRALIAN DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY

Australia's pre-eminent dictionary of national biography online. Here are over 10,000 scholarly biographies of persons who were significant in Australian history.

Trugernanner (1812? - 1876)Sir Douglas Mawson (1882 - 1958)Vida Jane Mary Goldstein (1869 - 1949)Caroline Chisholm (1808 - 1877)William Bligh (1754 - 1817)Sir Robert Gordon Menzies (1894 - 1978)

http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/

Australian History

Resources relating to Australian History available from Project Gutenberg of Australia and Project Gutenberg in the U.S.This includes online books by William Bligh; William Dampier; Sir Ernest Scott; David Collins, Arthur Phillip; John Hunter; Watkin Tench; Sir John Franklin and many others
http://gutenberg.net.au/aust-history.html

Journals of Australian Land and Sea Explorers and Discoverers.This includes the journals of the most famous explorers such as James Cook; William Dampier; Edward John Eyre; Matthew Flinders; John and Alexander Forrest; Ernest Giles; Frank and Augustus Gregory; George Grey; Ludwig Leichhardt; John McDouall Stuart; Charles Sturt; Abel Tasman and others such as Gregory Blaxland.
http://gutenberg.net.au/explorers-journals.html

A Short History of Australia by Ernest Scott.
http://gutenberg.net.au/shorthist.html

Many other biographies such as John Batman who "founded" Melbourne; Willem Janszoon (a.k.a. Jansz); James Cook and Ludwig Leichhardt
http://gutenberg.net.au/my-site-map.html

Sir Edward MacarthurLady Jane FranklinJames CookAda CambridgeDame Nellie MelbaSamuel Marsden

DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALIAN BIOGRAPHY

http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/00-dict-biogIndex.html

Australian Discovery "1606 and early maritime contact with Australia"

with BOOKS RELATING TO THE EARLY DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA
LINK: http://gutenberg.net.au/aust-discovery.html
Constitution Education Fund - Australia (CEFA)
independent, non-partisan and non-profit organisation committed to increasing public understanding and appreciation of the Constitution, its history and contemporary relevance

New Zealand Christian History

Bicentenary Celebrations of the Gospel arriving in New Zealand 2014

Two hundred years of the Gospel in New Zealand will be commemorated in 2014. Marsden Cross Trust chairman Richard Randerson convened a meeting mid-2009 to bring together some of the groups who have an interest in this significant event. The main focus of the planning group will be the organisation of events on and around 25 December 2014, which marks the 200th anniversary of the Gospel being preached in New Zealand by the Reverend Samuel Marsden on 25 December 2014...

Link: http://www.visionnetwork.org.nz/events/marsden2014/635-marsden-bicentenary-planning.html

Link: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/missionaries/samuel-marsdens-first-service

The Reverend Samuel Marsden, Chaplain to New South Wales, (1765-1838) was the driving force behind the establishment of Anglican mission stations in New Zealand in the early nineteenth century. He was born in England and based in New South Wales, and he was a member of the Church Missionary Society (CMS). His work and that of his missionaries helped build up a relationship of trust with Maori chiefs, paving the way for the acceptance of an official Crown presence in New Zealand.

Marsden protested to the British authorities about the trade in Maori heads, the involvement of the British in tribal conflicts, and lawlessness in Kororareka, a settlement in the Bay of Islands. He had some involvement in convincing the New South Wales Governor to support the appointment of a British Resident in New Zealand to deal with perceived anarchy in British settlements, a crucial link in the chain of events that ultimately led to Britain deciding to seek sovereignty over New Zealand.

Link: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/samuel-marsden-painting

The Christian missionaries

The Classroom

Media Gallery

Agents of virtue

Map showing missionary influence

Like many things at the time, Christianity - in the form of the Church Missionary Society - came to New Zealand via Australia. Historian James Belich described the Christian missionaries as the 'agents of virtue in a world of vice' - a world the British Resident, Jame Busby, described as 'frontier chaos'.

Although not immune to moral blemish themselves, these men and women went to extraordinary lengths to bring Christianity and 'civilisation' to Maori. The early years were largely unsuccessful for missionaries in terms of saving souls; as points of contact for trade as well as a source of new ideas, missionaries had a profound impact on many Maori communities. Their introduction of the written word and the development of a written Maori language represented a massive change.

Link: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/the-missionaries

Evangelical Revivals in New Zealand by Robert Evans and Roy McKenzie

Link to pdf: http://revivals.arkangles.com/docs/EvangelicalRevivalsInNewZealand.pdf

History of Revivals in the Pacific and Australia

  • Evangelical Revivals in the Pacific. Robert Evans Plus Three Addresses on the 1972 Revival in Papua - New Guinea by Margaret Reeson, Joan Rule, and Keith Everingham.

    Compiled and Edited by Robert Evans

    Link: http://revivals.arkangles.com/docs/EvangelicalRevivalsInThePacific.pdf

  • Evangelicalism and Revival in Australia 1800-1914 by Robert Evans

    Link: http://revivals.arkangles.com/docs/EvangelicalismAndRevivalsInAustralia1800-1914.pdf

    or http://revivals.arkangles.com/docs/EvangelicalismAndRevivalsInAustralia1800-1914.odt

  • Early Revivals in Australia. Rev Robert Evans. NACL 2004

    Documented Evangelical Revivals in Australia up to 1880. NSW, Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia & Qld

    This book tells the story of movements of the Holy Spirit in this southern land up to 1880. The various denominations grew as a result of immigration from the British Isles. Most of the Protestant churches were boosted because of the revivals which had occurred in the "Home Lands." Varying Church growth also flowed from the revivals in Australia.

    The early revivals in Australia were mainly Methodist, although the spirit of Evangelicalism was widespread, and the impact of the 1859 Revival was felt by all of the churches. Before about 1860, the records of these revivals have come to us mainly through biographies. After that date, the Wesleyan Methodist denominational newspapers were the main ones which both tell the story, and have survived until the present. The main exception was in South Australia, where both the Primitive Methodists and the Bible Christians were stronger than they were in the other states, and some of their papers have survived.

    In this book, these revivals are described, and other observations are included at the end. It is the author's hope that the accounts of these revivals will not only illuminate Australia's own history, but will stir Australians to pray for greater movements of the Holy Spirit today, and in the future.

    Link: http://www.chr.org.au/fpbooks/Early%20Evangelical%20Revivals%20in%20%20Australia/Early%20Evangelical%20Revivals%20in%20%20Australia.html
Australian FlagAustralian National Flag Association (ANFA)
Australian FlagThe Meaning of our Flag(PDF 91KB)

Australian Statistics

Australian Christian Heritage Foundation

www.achf.com.au

Australian Church History