Anglican Church of Australia

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Religious movements, traditions and organizations

Arms of the Anglican Church of Australia

The Anglican Church of Australia, a member church of the Anglican Communion, was previously officially known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania (renamed in 1981). It is the second largest church in Australia, behind the Roman Catholic Church in Australia.

When the First Fleet was sent to New South Wales in 1787, the Reverend Richard Johnson was licensed as chaplain to the Fleet and the settlement. In 1825 the Revd Thomas Scott was appointed Archdeacon of Australia under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Calcutta. The Revd William Grant Broughton, who succeeded Scott in 1829, was consecrated the first (and only) Bishop of Australia in 1836. In 1842 the Diocese of Tasmania was also created. In 1847 the rest of the Diocese of Australia was divided into the three separate dioceses of Adelaide, Newcastle and Melbourne. Over the following eighty years the number of dioceses increased to twenty-five.

Since January 1, 1962 the Australian church has been autocephalous and headed by its own primate. The current primate is the Archbishop of Brisbane, the Most Reverend Phillip Aspinall.

The Australian church consists of twenty-three dioceses arranged into five provinces (except for Tasmania) with the metropolitical sees in the states' capital cities.

Provinces and dioceses

The provinces and dioceses are listed with each dioceses's bishop or archbishop:

Inside St Mary the Virgin Church in South Perth. View is from the entrance towards the altar, note that the Stain glass windows are only on the northern side of the church

• The Province of New South Wales (Metropolitan: The Most Revd Peter Jensen)
  • Armidale (The Right Revd Peter Brain)
  • Bathurst ( The Right Revd Richard Hurford)
  • Canberra and Goulburn (The Right Revd George Browning)
  • Grafton (The Right Revd Kenneth Slater)
  • Newcastle ( The Right Revd Brian Farran)
  • Riverina ( The Right Revd Douglas Stephens)
  • Sydney (Archbishop: The Most Revd Peter Jensen)
• The Province of Queensland (Metropolitan: The Most Revd Phillip Aspinall)
  • Brisbane (Archbishop: The Most Revd Phillip Aspinall)
  • North Queensland (The Right Revd John Noble)
  • The Northern Territory (The Right Revd Philip Freier)
  • Rockhampton (The Right Revd Godfrey Fryar)
• The Province of South Australia (Metropolitan: The Most Revd Jeffrey Driver)
  • Adelaide (Archbishop: The Most Revd Jeffrey Driver))
  • The Murray (The Right Revd Ross Davies)
  • Willochra (The Right Revd Garry Weatherill)
• The Province of Victoria (Metropolitan-Elect: The Right Revd Philip Freier)
  • Ballarat (The Right Revd Michael Hough)
  • Bendigo (The Right Revd Andrew Curnow)
  • Gippsland (The Right Revd John McIntyre)
  • Melbourne (Archbishop-Elect: The Right Revd Philip Freier)
  • Wangaratta (The Right Revd David Farrer)
• The Province of Western Australia (Metropolitan: The Most Reverend Roger Herft)
  • Bunbury (The Right Revd David McCall)
  • North West Australia (The Right Revd David Mulready)
  • Perth (Archbishop: The Most Reverend Roger Herft)
• Extra Provincial Diocese
  • Tasmania (The Right Revd John Harrower)