| Anglican Church of Australia | |
|---|---|
 Arms
| |
| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | Anglican |
| Scripture | Holy Bible |
| Theology | Anglican doctrine |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Primate | Mark Short |
| Territory | Australia |
| Independence | 1962 |
| Members | 3,881,000 (2017) |
| Official website | anglican.org.au |
TheAnglican Church of Australia, originally known as theChurch of England in Australia and Tasmania,[1] is a Christian church inAustralia and an autonomous church of the worldwideAnglican Communion. In 2016, responding to a peer-reviewed study published in theJournal of Anglican Studies byCambridge University Press, the Anglican Church of Australia reported that it had 4,865,328 total baptised members.[2] In 2017,Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion: 1980 to the Present, published byRoutledge, collected research reporting there were 3.8 million members of the church.[3] In reporting to theWorld Council of Churches, the church claimed 3,881,000 total members.[4] The Church of England Yearbook 2024 reported 3,679,688 members.[5] According to the2021 Census, 2.5 million Australians (9.8% of the population) self-identified as Anglicans.[6] It is the second largest church in Australia after theRoman Catholic Church.[7][8]
For much of Australian history since the arrival of theFirst Fleet in January 1788, the church was the largest religious denomination. In recent times, however, Anglicanism in Australia has mirrored the steep decline in church membership and attendance experienced in many first-world nations.
The church is one of the largest providers of social welfare services in Australia.
When theFirst Fleet was sent toNew South Wales in 1787,Richard Johnson of theChurch of England was licensed as chaplain to the fleet and the settlement. In 1825Thomas Scott was appointedArchdeacon of Australia under the jurisdiction of theBishop of Calcutta,Reginald Heber.William Grant Broughton, who succeeded Scott in 1829, was consecrated the first (and only) "Bishop of Australia" in 1836.
In early Colonial times, the Church of England clergy worked closely with thegovernors. Richard Johnson was charged by the governor,Arthur Phillip, with improving "public morality" in the colony, but he was also heavily involved in health and education.[9]Samuel Marsden (1765–1838) hadmagisterial duties and so was equated with the authorities by the convicts. He became known as the "flogging parson" for the severity of his punishments.[10] Some of the Irish convicts had been transported to Australia for political crimes or social rebellion in Ireland, so the authorities were suspicious of Roman Catholicism for the first three decades of settlement and Roman Catholic convicts were compelled to attend Church of England services and their children and orphans were raised by the authorities as Anglicans.[11][12]
The Church of England lost its legal privileges in the Colony of New South Wales by theChurch Act of 1836. Drafted by the reformistattorney-generalJohn Plunkett, the act established legal equality for Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Presbyterians and was later extended to Methodists.[13]
TheChurch Missionary Society established a mission to Aboriginal people in 1832 in the Wellington Valley, New South Wales, but it ended in failure: indigenous people in the 19th century demonstrated a reluctance to convert to the religion of the colonists who were seizing their lands.[14]
In 1842 the Diocese of Tasmania was created. In 1847 the rest of the Diocese of Australia was divided into the four separate dioceses ofSydney,Adelaide,Newcastle andMelbourne. Over the following 80 years the number of dioceses increased to 25.
Sectarianism in Australia tended to reflect the political inheritance ofBritain and Ireland. Until 1945, the vast majority of Roman Catholics in Australia were of Irish descent, causing the Anglo-Protestant majority to question their loyalty to theBritish Empire.[12] TheAustralian Constitution of 1901 provided forfreedom of religion. Australian society was predominantly Anglo-Celtic, with 40% of the population being Anglican.
In the early years of the 20th century the Church of England transformed itself in its patterns of worship, in the internal appearances of its churches, and in the forms of piety recommended by its clergy. The changes represented a heightened emphasis on the sacraments and were introduced by younger clergy trained in England and inspired by the Oxford and Anglo-Catholic movements. The church's women and its upper and middle class parishes were most supportive, overcoming the reluctance of some of the men. The changes were widely adopted by the 1920s, making the Church of England more self-consciously "Anglican" and distinct from other churches.[15][16] Controversy erupted, especially in New South Wales, between the politically liberal proponents of theSocial Gospel, who wanted more church attention to the social ills of society, and conservative elements. The opposition of the strong conservative evangelical forces within the Sydney diocese limited the liberals during the 1930s, but their ideas contributed to the formation of the influential post-World War II Christian Social Order Movement.[17]
The church remained the largestChristian denomination until the 1986 census. AfterWorld War II, the ethnic and cultural mix of Australia diversified and Anglicanism gave way to Roman Catholicism as the largest denomination. The number of Anglicans attending regular worship began to decline in 1959 and figures for occasional services (baptisms, confirmations, weddings and funerals) started to decline after 1966.[14] In recent times, the Anglican and other Christian churches in Australia have been active inecumenical activity. The Australian committee for the World Council of Churches was established in 1946 by the Anglican and mainline Protestant churches. The movement evolved and expanded with Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches later joining and by 1994 theRoman Catholic Church was also a member of the national ecumenical body, theNational Council of Churches in Australia.
Since 1 January 1962 the Australian church has beenautocephalous and headed by its ownprimate. On 24 August 1981 the church officially changed its name from the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania to the Anglican Church of Australia.[18]
Although theBook of Common Prayer remains the official standard for Anglican belief and worship in Australia,An Australian Prayer Book (AAPB) was published in 1978 after a prolonged revision of liturgy. Another alternative service book,A Prayer Book for Australia (APBA), was published in 1995.[14]
In 1985 the general synod of the Australian church passed a canon to allow theordination of women as deacons. In 1992 the general synod approved legislation allowing dioceses to ordain women to the priesthood. Dioceses could choose to adopt the legislation. In 1992, 90 women were ordained in the Anglican Church of Australia and three others who had been ordained overseas were recognised.[19] After decades of debate, women's ordination is rejected in a minority of dioceses. As of November 2024, only two (Sydney andNorth-West Australia) of the 23 dioceses have never ordained women as priests. A third diocese (Armidale) has ordained two women as priests but limited their service to the Anglican girls school and does not ordain women as priests for its churches. In 2008,Kay Goldsworthy was ordained as an assistant bishop for theDiocese of Perth, thus becoming the first woman consecrated as a bishop of the Anglican Church of Australia.[20]Sarah Macneil was elected in 2013 to be the first female diocesan bishop in Australia.[21] In 2014 she was consecrated and installed as the first female diocesan bishop in Australia (for the Diocese of Grafton in New South Wales).[22]
The church remains a major provider of education and welfare services in Australia.[23] It provides chaplains to theAustralian Defence Force, hospitals, schools, industry and prisons.[14] Senior clergy such asPeter Jensen, former Archbishop of Sydney, have a high profile in discussions on a diverse range of social issues in contemporary national debates.[24] In recent times the church has encouraged its leaders to talk on such issues as indigenous rights; international security; peace and justice; and poverty and equity.[25] The current primate isMark Short,bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, who commenced in the role on 1 November 2025. Short is the first-ever non-metropolitan bishop to serve as primate and the firstevangelical to hold the post sinceMarcus Loane ofSydney retired in 1982.[26]
Like other religious groups, the church has come under criticism in light of cases of sexual abuse by clergy and others.[27][28]
On 16 August 2022, the church experienced a split when someconservatives formed the breakawayDiocese of the Southern Cross. It is led by a formerArchbishop of Sydney,Glenn Davies. The split was principally caused oversame sex marriage among other issues.[29] The diocese is backed by the current Archbishop of Sydney,Kanishka Raffel, and theBishop of Tasmania,Richard Condie.[30][31] In September 2022, theDiocese of Sydney voted to declare the church to be in a state of "deep breach of fellowship" as a result of the division. The diocese vowed to provide support for conservative Anglicans both within the Anglican Church of Australia and the breakaway Diocese of the Southern Cross.[32]
Since the arrival of theFirst Fleet in 1788, the Anglican Church of Australia had been the largest religious denomination until the 1986 census,[34] after which Roman Catholics outnumbered Anglicans by an increasing margin. The percentage of Anglican affiliation peaked in 1921 at 43.7%,[citation needed] and the number of persons indicating Anglican affiliation in an Australian census peaked in 1991 at 4,018,779.[35]
In the 2011 Census, 3,679,907 people named their religious affiliation as Anglican.[36] In the 2016 Census, 3.1 million Australians self-identified as Anglicans.[37] Five years later, in the 2021 Census, the total was 2,496,273 – a decline of almost one-third, 32 per cent. Those figures represented 17.1% and 9.8% respectively of the census populations, a decline of 42%.[38] In 2016, theJournal of Anglican Studies stated that of approximately 4,865,328 total members claimed by the church, the number of active members was 437,880.[39][40] In 2017, another peer-reviewed study, published by Routledge Press, reported that the average weekly Anglican attendance had fallen to 155,000 in 2011 from 191,600 in 1991.[3] The steep decline in church membership and attendance has mirrored the experience in many first-world, mostly post-modern nations.[39]
| Percentage of respondents stating religious affiliation as Anglican in Australian censuses | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State / territory | % 2021[41] | % 2016[42] | % 2011[36] | % 2006[43] | % 2001[44] |
| Australian Capital Territory | 8.2 | 10.8 | 14.7 | 16.7 | 18.5 |
| New South Wales | 11.9 | 15.5 | 20.0 | 21.8 | 23.8 |
| Northern Territory | 6.0 | 8.4 | 11.4 | 12.3 | 14.7 |
| Queensland | 11.3 | 15.3 | 18.9 | 20.4 | 22.5 |
| South Australia | 7.2 | 10.0 | 12.6 | 13.7 | 15.2 |
| Tasmania | 14.4 | 20.4 | 26.0 | 29.3 | 32.4 |
| Victoria | 6.5 | 9.0 | 12.3 | 13.6 | 15.3 |
| Western Australia | 10.1 | 14.3 | 18.8 | 20.4 | 22.6 |
| Total Australia | 9.8 | 13.3 | 17.1 | 18.7 | 20.7 |
One explanation for the reduced prevalence of Anglicanism relates to changes inAustralia's immigration patterns. Before theSecond World War, the majority of immigrants to Australia had come from the United Kingdom – though most of Australia's Roman Catholic immigrants had come from Ireland. After World War II, Australia's immigration program diversified and more than 6.5 million migrants arrived in Australia in the 60 years after the war, including more than a million Roman Catholics.[citation needed]
Unlike other churches, the Anglican Church of Australia does not publish churchwide attendance statistics.[45] In 2011, theNational Church Life Survey estimated that 155,000 Australians attended an Anglican church weekly, down from 191,600 in 1991.[46] However, the church does tabulate figures on clergy, which are used to allocate diocesan representation at General Synod. In 2015, there were 2,441 active bishops, priests and deacons in the church, up from 2,340 in 1991.[45]
The Australian church consists of twenty-threedioceses arranged into five provinces (except forTasmania) with themetropolitical sees in the states' capital cities. Anglican clergy are concentrated in Australia's major cities, with the five metropolitical dioceses accounting for 64 per cent of active clergy. When adding the mixed urban and rural dioceses ofCanberra and Goulburn,Newcastle,Northern Territory andTasmania, urban areas account for 79 per cent of active clergy.[45] The evangelicalDiocese of Sydney is by far the largest diocese: in 2011, its 58,300 weekly attenders[47] accounted for 37.6 per cent of the Anglican Church's weekly attendance, and in 2015, the diocese's 688 active clergy accounted for 28.1 per cent of the active clergy across the church.[45]
Broughton Publishing is the church's national publishing arm.[48]
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council (NATSIAC) appoints two Indigenous bishops for national work withIndigenous Australians: the NationalAboriginal Bishop (currentlyChris McLeod) is based in South Australia (as an assistant bishop of theAnglican Diocese of Adelaide); while the NationalTorres Strait Islander Bishop (currently vacant) is based atThursday Island, Queensland (as an assistant bishop of theAnglican Diocese of North Queensland).Gloria Shipp was the first woman elected Chair of NATSIAC.[49]
Anglicans have played a prominent role in welfare and education since Colonial times, whenFirst Fleet chaplainRichard Johnson was credited by one convict as "the physician both of soul and body" during the famine of 1790 and was charged with general supervision of schools.[9] Today the church remains a significant provider of social welfare with organisations working in education, health, missionary work, social welfare and communications. Welfare organisations includeAnglicare andSamaritans.[23] The Anglicare network comprises 9000 volunteers beyond paid staff, who assisted some 940,000 Australians in 2016 in areas such as emergency relief, aged care, family support and assistance for the homeless.[50]
There are around 145Anglican schools in Australia, providing for more than 105,000 children.[23] Church schools range from low-fee, regional and special needs schools to high-fee leading independent schools such asGeelong Grammar (whosealumni includeCharles III andRupert Murdoch) andThe Kings School in Sydney. Anglican Schools Australia is the national schools network of the general synod.
The first Church of England edifice was built in the colony of New South Wales in 1793.[51] Today, most towns in Australia have at least one Christian church. One of Australia's oldest Anglican churches isSt James' Church in Sydney, built between 1819 and 1824. The historic church was designed byGovernor Macquarie's architect,Francis Greenway – a former convict – and built with convict labour. The church is set on a sandstone base and built of face brick with the walls articulated by brick piers.[52] Sydney's Anglican cathedral,St Andrew's, was consecrated in 1868 from foundations laid in the 1830s. Largely designed byEdmund Thomas Blacket in thePerpendicular Gothic style reminiscent of English cathedrals. Blacket also designedSt Saviour's Cathedral inGoulburn, based on theDecorated Gothic style of a large English parish church and built between 1874 and 1884.[53]
St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, from a foundation stone laid in 1880, is a Melbourne landmark. It was designed by the distinguished English architectWilliam Butterfield inGothic Transitional.[54]
Tasmania is home to a number of significant colonial Anglican buildings including those located at Australia's best preserved convict era settlement,Port Arthur. According to 19th century notions of prisoner reform, theModel Prison incorporates a grim chapel, into which prisoners in solitary confinement were shepherded to listen (in individual enclosures) to the preacher's Sunday sermon – their only permitted interaction with another human being.[55] Adelaide, the capital ofSouth Australia has long been known as theCity of Churches and itsSt Peter's Anglican Cathedral is a noted city landmark.[56]
The oldest building in the city ofCanberra is the picturesqueSt John the Baptist Church in Reid, consecrated in 1845. This church long predates the city of Canberra and is not so much representative of urban design as it is ofthe Bush chapels which dot the Australian landscape and stretch even into the farOutback.
A number of notableVictorian era chapels and edifices were also constructed at church schools across Australia. Along with community attitudes to religion, church architecture changed significantly during the 20th century.
Since 1985 the church has permitted the ordination of women on a diocesan basis. The first woman to be ordained wasMarion Macfarlane, ordained to the Female Diaconate in 1884 in the Diocese of Melbourne.[57]In 1992, the first women were ordained as priests, initially in the Diocese of Perth and then around the country.[58] In 2008, theDiocese of Perth consecrated the first female bishop, the Rt RevdKay Goldsworthy.[59] In 2014, the Diocese of Grafton consecrated and installed the first female diocesan bishop, the Rt RevdSarah Macneil. Bishop Kay Goldsworthy became the second female diocesan bishop when she was enthroned as bishop ofGippsland[60] then in 2018 she was installed as Archbishop of Perth. The dioceses ofSydney,North West Australia and formerlyThe Murray did not ordain women as priests.[61] In 2017, theDiocese of The Murray ordained its first female deacon, becoming the last diocese to ordain women to the diaconate.[62] In August 2017, the Anglicans of Western Australia elected the Anglican Church of Australia's first female archbishop, Kay Goldsworthy.[63] In a statement representing a conservative andcomplementarian view, Bishop Gary Nelson said that Archbishop Goldsworthy "would not be recognised in her new role" as the metropolitan for the province.[64]
In June 2023 the Synod of The Murray voted to allow the ordination of women as priests[65] and on 12 August 2023, BishopKeith Dalby ordained three women and one man to the priesthood.
Of the 23 Anglican dioceses in Australia, only two have never ordained women to the priesthood: theDiocese of Sydney and theDiocese of North West Australia. TheDiocese of Armidale does not generally ordain women to the priesthood but two women were ordained priest for the Anglican girls school.[66]
In the Seventeenth Session of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia in 2017, the Anglican Church passed a motion recognising "that the doctrine of our church, in line with traditional Christian teaching, is that marriage is an exclusive and lifelong union of a man and a woman, and further, recognises that this has been the subject of several General Synod resolutions over the past fifteen years".[67] In 2018, the then-Primate of Australia and Archbishop of Melbourne,Philip Freier, released anad clerum reiterating the current position that clergy cannot perform a same-sex marriage, though they could offer prayers and other forms of pastoral support for same-sex couples.[68] In 2020, the church's highest court, the Appellate Tribunal, ruled that a diocese may authorise the blessing of persons in same-sex unions.[69][70][71] At the same time, the church does not have an official stance on homosexuality itself.[72]
During a meeting, the House of Bishops stated that they "accept the weight of 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10 and the 2004 General Synod resolutions 33, 59 and 61–64 as expressing the mind of this church on issues of human sexuality ... and understand that issues of sexuality are subject to ongoing conversation". A former primate, Peter Carnley, supported the blessing of same-sex relationships and supported "recognition of lifelong friendships between two homosexuals which would give them the same legal status as a heterosexual married couple".[73][74] A spokesman forPhillip Aspinall, the Archbishop of Brisbane, stated that "In effect it is an undertaking not to ordain, license, authorise or appoint persons whom the bishop knows to be in a sexual relationship outside of marriage."[75] At the same time, Archbishop Aspinall stated that he personally does not take an official position.[76] Despite what the spokesman said, however, an Anglican priest came out as gay in 2005 in Melbourne.[77] In theDiocese of Perth, "there are gay and lesbian clergy serving in the priesthood."[78] Archbishop Roger Herft, as a diocesan bishop, "support[ed] blessing gay unions".[79] In 2012, a bishop "appoint[ed] a gay priest in a same-sex partnership to aGippsland parish."[80] TheAnglican Diocese of Sydney, the largest of the country, has expressed its opposition to same-sex unions and has been involved in theAnglican realignment as a member of theFellowship of Confessing Anglicans.[81] However, many clergy and bishops support same-sex unions. TheWangaratta andBallarat dioceses have voted to support the blessing of same-sex civil unions.[82][83] The dioceses of Wangaratta andNewcastle have approved of blessing rites for same-sex marriages.[84][85] Blessings for same-sex unions are also permitted in theDiocese of Brisbane.[86] In 2012, theDiocese of Gippsland appointed an openly partnered gay priest.[87][88] In 2013, the Diocese of Perth voted in favour of recognising same-sex unions.[89] ArchbishopRoger Herft vetoed the Perth motion.[90] In 2015, theBishop of Wangaratta endorsed same-sex marriage legislation and some diocesan clergy offered to perform gay marriages when allowed to do so.[91][92] In theDiocese of Grafton, former bishop Sarah Macneil took an affirming stance.[93] BishopGreg Thompson of theDiocese of Newcastle had taken a stance in favour of gay rights.[94]
In 2015, an arm of theAnglican Church in Southern Queensland voted in favour of same-sex civil unions.[95][96] Also, BishopKay Goldsworthy appointed an openly gay and partnered priest to another post.[97] In response, the Sydney synod passed a resolution criticising the actions of the Dioceses of Gippsland and Wangaratta, and declaring a break "of collegiality and fellowship" with the dioceses.[98] In 2016, the Bishop of Ballarat declared his support for same-sex marriage.[99] In April 2016, a parish in the Diocese of Perth blessed the union of a same-sex couple.[100] At its general synod in 2017, a resolution was passed criticising the Scottish Episcopal Church for its acceptance of same-sex marriage as well as an additional resolution calling for the church in Australia "to have a series of conversations on its understanding of sexuality".[101] Also in 2017, the Diocese of Perth in Western Australia elected BishopKay Goldsworthy as its archbishop. Goldsworthy said that she supports an "inclusive" approach to same-sex marriage.[102] "Archbishop Goldsworthy revealed that she had voted Yes in the same-sex marriage survey."[64] In 2022, Goldsworthy ordained an openly gay man in acivil partnership in Perth.[103]
Regarding transgender issues, there are dioceses and congregations with serving transgender clergy. In 2017, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall asked for "prayerful support" for the RevdJosephine Inkpin who had transitioned andcome out as a transgender woman.[104] "The Archbishop of Brisbane Dr Phillip Aspinall supported Dr Inkpin and passed on her statement to clergy in July 2017, along with his wish that 'unhelpful speculation' might be avoided."[105] Inkpin continues to serve in the Brisbane diocese.[106] She shared that the bishops and leaders of the Diocese of Brisbane "have assisted in arrangements for enabling [her] public recognition of gender." Inkpin, who is married to the Revd Penny Jones, one of the first female priests ordained in Australia, is the first openly transgender priest in Australia.[107] TheState Library of Queensland interviewed Inkpin and her wife about the intersection of gender, faith, religion and identity for their "Dangerous Women" podcast.[108]
Controversy over LGBT issues caused a split from the church in 2022: a former Archbishop of Sydney,Glenn Davies, alongside two congregations, left the Anglican Church of Australia to form the newly-formedDiocese of the Southern Cross which is affiliated to the conservativeGlobal Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON).[109][110] The split was endorsed by theBishop of Tasmania,Richard Condie and theArchbishop of SydneyKanishka Raffel, but was described as "dangerous for the Church" by theArchbishop of Canterbury,Justin Welby.[111][112]
The whole church is led by the primate,Mark Short,bishop of Canberra and Goulburn.The provinces and dioceses are listed with each diocese's bishop or archbishop:
| KEY to province colours | New South Wales | Victoria | Queensland | Western Australia | South Australia | Extraprovincial |
A number of former dioceses have been merged into the current diocese or have formed other Anglican churches:
The church is a member of theChristian Conference of Asia.
TheAnglican Diocese of Sydney has been a leading name in theAnglican realignment, since they first opposed the sexuality policies of theEpiscopal Church of the United States and theAnglican Church of Canada. ArchbishopPeter Jensen attended the firstGlobal Anglican Future Conference, in June 2008, inJerusalem, and was the chairman of GAFCON. TheAnglican Diocese of Sydney and theAnglican Diocese of North West Australia have declared themselves in full communion with theAnglican Church in North America, started in June 2009, which representsAnglican realignment in United States and Canada.[113][114]
TheFellowship of Confessing Anglicans was launched in Australia on 26 March 2015, in a conference held inMelbourne that reunited 460 members, including 40 fromNew Zealand, and was attended by ArchbishopEliud Wabukala, from theAnglican Church of Kenya, their international chairman, ArchbishopStanley Ntagali, from theAnglican Church of Uganda, and ArchbishopGlenn Davies, from theAnglican Diocese of Sydney. The then archdeacon of theAnglican Diocese of Melbourne, now bishopRichard Condie, of theAnglican Diocese of Tasmania, became chairman of FCA Australia.[115]
The Anglican Church of Australia passed a motion at their General Synod on 7 September 2017, condemning theScottish Episcopal Church decision to approve same-sex marriage as "contrary to the doctrine of our church and the teaching of Christ", and declaring itself in "impaired communion" with the province. It also expressed "support for those Anglicans who have left or will need to leave (...) because of its redefinition of marriage and those who struggle and remain", and presented their prayers for the return of SEC "to the doctrine of Christ in this matter" and the restoration of the impaired communion.[citation needed]
The Anglican Church of Australia was represented atGAFCON III, held inJerusalem on 17–22 June 2018, by a 218 members delegation, which included ArchbishopGlenn Davies ofSydney and bishopsRichard Condie ofTasmania,Gary Nelson ofNorth West Australia andIan Palmer ofBathurst.[116][117]
In 2022 theDiocese of the Southern Cross, established as a company, became the first Anglican diocese in Australia to form outside the Anglican Church of Australia.[118][119]
This Wikipedia article incorporatesCC BY 4.0licensed text from:"Dangerous Women Podcast. Episode 4".State Library of Queensland.State Library of Queensland. 2 October 2020. Retrieved27 May 2021.| General |  | |
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