Religion in Australia - History

History

At the time of European settlement, the Indigenous Australians had their own religious traditions of the Dreaming (as Mircea Eliade put it) "There is a general belief among the Australians that the world, man, and the various animals and plants were created by certain Supernatural beings who afterwards disappeared, either ascending to the sky or entering the earth." and ritual systems, with an emphasis on life transitions such as adulthood and death.

Prior to European settlement in 1788 there was contact with Indigenous Australians from people of various faiths. These contacts were with explorers, fishermen and survivors of the numerous shipwrecks. There have been countless artifacts retrieved from these contacts. The Aborigines of Northern Australia (Arnhem Land) retain stories, songs and paintings of trade and cultural interaction with boat-people from the north. These people are generally regarded as being from the east Indonesian archipelago. (See: Macassan contact with Australia.) There is some evidence of Islamic terms and concepts entering northern Aboriginal culture via this interaction.

Centuries before European sailors reached Australia, Christian theologians already speculated whether this region, located on the opposite side of the Earth from Europe, had human inhabitants and, if so, whether the Antipodes descended from Adam and have been redeemed by Jesus. The prevailing point of view, expressed by St. Augustine of Hippo, was that "it is too absurd to say that some men might have set sail from this side and, traversing the immense expanse of ocean, have propagated there a race of human beings descended from that one first man." A dissenting view, held by the Irish-Austrian St. Vergilius of Salzburg was "that beneath the earth there was another world and other men"; while not much is known about Vergilius' views, the Catholic Encyclopedia speculates that he was able to clear himself from accusations of heresy by explaining that the people of the hypothetical Australia were descended from Adam and redeemed by Christ.

By the early 18th century, Christian leaders felt that the natives of the little known Terra Australis Incognita and Hollandia Nova (still often thought as two distinct land masses) were in need of conversion to Christianity. In 1724, a young Jonathan Edwards wrote:

... And what is peculiarly glorious in it, is the gospelizing the new and before unknown world, that which is so remote, so unknown, where the devil had reigned quietly from the beginning of the world, which is larger – taking in America, Terra Australis Incognita, Hollandia Nova, ... – is far greater than the old world. I say, that this new world should all worship the God of Israel, whose worship was then confined to so narrow a land, is wonderful and glorious!

Christianity came to Australia with the first European settlers on the First Fleet. Denominations represented were predominantly Roman Catholic found amongst Irish convicts and Anglican among other convicts and their gaolers. There were certainly at least 15 Jews in the First Fleet, 14 convicts and one "free" child. Other groups were also represented, for example, among the Tolpuddle Martyrs were a number of Methodists. The First Fleet brought tensions to Australia fuelled by historical grievances between Roman Catholics and other Christians, tensions that would continue into the 20th century.

The first chaplain, Richard Johnson, a Church of England cleric, was charged by Governor Arthur Phillip with improving "public morality" in the colony, but he was also heavily involved in health and education. Christian leaders have remained prominent in health and education in Australia ever since, with over a fifth of students attending church schools at the beginning of the 21st century and a number of the nation's hospitals, care facilities and charities having been founded by Christian organisations.

Though free settlers began to arrive in the late 18th century, it was the gold rush of the 1850s that led to radically increased immigration. The new settlers brought with them their religious traditions, such as Irish Catholicism, Scottish Presbyterianism, and English Anglicanism, among others. Australian Aborigines suffered a tragic decline during this period, as they were dispossessed of their lands and diseases spread among their population. Christian churches organized missions during this period, formally intended to “civilize” Aboriginal communities and spread Christianity. The overall consequences of this activity are still disputed, but certainly contributed to the decline of indigenous languages and beliefs.

After settlement, some Muslim sailors and prisoners came to Australia on the convict ships. Afghans cameleers settled in Australia from the 1860s onwards, a number of them being Sikh. From the 1870s Malay divers were recruited (with most subsequently repatriated). Islam was not a significant minority in this period.

The Church of England was disestablished in the colony of New South Wales by the Church Act of 1836. Drafted by the reformist attorney-general John Plunkett, the act established legal equality for Anglicans, Catholics and Presbyterians and was later extended to Methodists.

Freedom of Religion was enshrined in the Australian Constitution of 1901. At the establishment of the federation - apart from a small Lutheran population of German descent, the indigenous population, and the descendants of gold rush migrants - Australian society was predominantly Anglo-Celtic, with 40% of the population being Anglican (then Church of England), 23% Catholic, 34% other Christian and about 1% professing non-Christian religions. In 1901, the government passed an act limiting immigration to those of European descent in what came to be known as the White Australia Policy. By effectively limiting the immigration of practitioners of different faiths, this policy ensured that Christianity remained the religion of the overwhelming majority of Australians for the foreseeable future and, indeed, to the present day. The first census in 1911 showed 96% identified themselves as Christian. The tensions that came with the First Fleet continued into the 1960s: job vacancy advertisements sometimes included the stipulation that "Catholics Need Not Apply". Nevertheless, Australia elected its first Catholic prime minister, James Scullin, in 1929 and Sir Isaac Isaacs, a Jew, was appointed governor-general in 1930.

Further waves of migration and the gradual repeal of the White Australia Policy, helped to reshape the profile of Australia's religious affiliations over subsequent decades. The impact of migration from Europe in the aftermath of World War II led to increases in affiliates of the Orthodox churches, the establishment of Reformed bodies, growth in the number of Catholics (largely from Italian migration) and Jews (Holocaust survivors) and the creation of ethnic parishes among many other denominations. More recently (post-1970s), immigration from South-East Asia and the Middle East has expanded Buddhist and Muslim numbers considerably and increased the ethnic diversity of existing Christian denominations.

As has been the trend throughout the world since the September 11 attacks, there has been an increasingly strained relationship between the adherents of Islam and the wider community. Attempts have been made to bridge inter-faith differences. However, the influence of the identity politics as a whole is not to be discounted in this respects; reflected in the conflicting and ambiguous interpretation of the 2005 race riots in Cronulla, near Sydney.

Religious places of worship have made their mark on Australia. Churches or chapels have been constructed in most towns, with many fine cathedrals built in the colonies during the 19th century. Synagogues, mosques and temples are also a feature of most Australian cities. The oldest mosque in Australia was built in 1888. Australia also has one of the larger Buddhist temples in the Southern Hemisphere.