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STUDIES OF RELIGION HSC COURSE
FOUNDATION STUDY 2: INFLUENCE OF RELIGION IN AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY FROM 1901 TO THE PRESENT
MINISTRY IN RURAL AND OUTBACK AUSTRALIA
In this lesson:
1. You will learn about the responses by some religious traditions to social change and
initiatives in community development from 1901 to the present through their ministry
in rural and outback Australia.
2. You will learn about the interrelationship between the Australian physical and cultural
environment and the development of Christian ministry in rural and outback Australia.
3. You will learn to demonstrate the influence of religion in Australian society in the
period from 1901 to the present.
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS
Advocacy
Speaking or arguing on behalf of a disadvantaged group of people.
AIM
Australian Inland Mission.
Anglo-Catholic
Very similar in belief and worship to Roman Catholicism, except that AngloCatholics owed their allegiance to the Archbishop of Canterbury rather than the Pope.
BCA
Bush Church Aid Society.
Denomination
A group or variant within Christianity having a distinct interpretation of the Christian
faith and usually its own organisation.
Ordination
A sacrament resulting in priesthood.
Padre
An ordained priest or minister who works in the army.
Work in groups of three to devise your own Christian Outback Ministry for today.
Some points to consider –
 How will the ministry be distinctly Christian?
 What are the needs of rural and outback Australians?
 Give a name to your mission.
 How would it operate?
 Where would you get funding for it to operate?
 What would be the purpose of your mission?
Present your work in the form of a poster.
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The Australian Inland Mission
The Work of John Flynn
John Flynn was born in 1880. While studying to become a minister in the Presbyterian Church, he went
on a mission to shearers in 1909. Realising how hard life was in the outback, Flynn produced The
Bushman’s Companion, which had information on elementary first aid through to service for burial in the
absence of clergy. After his ordination in 1911, Flynn was sent to Dunesk Mission in South Australia. Soon
he began to feel great compassion for the settlers living in outback regions. They were deprived of so many
things that people in the cities and towns took for granted, including regular contact with clergy and decent
medical services. He convinced the Presbyterian Church to start the Australian Inland Mission (AIM) in
1912, and was appointed superintendent. While Flynn saw this ministry as a form of Christian outreach, he
also sought benefit for the whole nation, not just the Christians, let alone the Presbyterians, within it.
A padre in the army works with any soldiers who seek his or her help. A chaplain in a school relates to
all the staff and student, not just those of the school’s religious affiliation. Likewise, the ministry of the
AIM to all the people it encountered, not just to the Presbyterians, is shown in the fact that from the outset
the clergy employed were called padres.
The challenges about to confront the AIM can be seen in the stories of ministers and their families who
took up appointments as AIM staff. One padre, Reverend Brady was stationed at Broom, Western Australia.
He died from malaria after a patrol trip of 1700 miles to Halls Creek.
Reverend Lewis was appointed to Port Hedland and the Pilbara in Western Australia. As with most
outback workers, the desert sands and lack of water meant that the most appropriate means of travel was by
camel buggy. It was not unusual for a single patrol by Lewis to be of 400 miles, frequently to places not
visited by any church. Lewis enlisted in World War I and died of wounds in 1917. The AIM policy was to
do work that could be self-supporting or for which government could assume responsibility. So in 1937 the
Port Hedland work was transferred to the government who undertook oversight of the region.
In these early years Flynn describe Katherine in the Northern Territory as having three buildings, “the
inn where the weary seek rest; the police station where the weak seek protection; and the post and telegraph
office where the curious seek news.” One patrol by Gibson who was stationed there was by horse for more
than 1200 miles. It took three months and was through tin fields where there had been a malaria outbreak.
The malaria outbreak led the AIM to start the Maranboy Nursing Home.
In 1912 Reverend Plowman stationed at Oodnadatta set off with five camels. He covered the 2510
miles from Oodnadatta to a place towards Tenant Creek in a period of six months. On this trip there was one
period of six weeks in which he covered 770 miles and during which he saw a total of 33 white men and no
white women. “Such is our task,” he said. “In places we just go on until the remotest inlanders know that
we are a part of their life and their lives part of ours.”
While Plowman was gone, nurse Bett minded the Oodnadatta base. This meant that she –

Tended outpatients.

Distributed books from parcels received.

Gave a daily Bible lesson to school children.

Taught Sunday School each Sunday morning.

Run church services on Sunday evenings.

Arranged funerals, telegrams, registrations and the conduct of grave-side services.
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
Made home visits to accident cases.

Escorted patients who needed to be taken by train to the hospital in Port Augusta 550 miles away.
In 1917 there was a tragedy in the Kimberleys. A patient from a station was brought on a nightmare
journey to Halls Creek. Here a telegraph officer (under directions telegraphed over 2300 miles of line from
a doctor in Perth) sought to carry out emergency surgery. It appeared that this and two later operations were
successful. A doctor travelled by steamer from Perth to Derby and thence by car to Halls Creek. This was a
journey of 13 days. When the doctor arrived, however, it was to find that the patient had died 22 hours
earlier. This tragedy gripped the Australian public. The Australian government approached the AIM to start
a hospital, which they did. This AIM hospital served the district until 1953.
Flynn realised that the scarce population of the outback and rural areas could not support doctors. He
had a vision of creating a mantle of safety which needed three components – a network of nursing homes, an
aerial medical service and radio communication.
Hudson Fysch, one of the founders of Qantas and a man by the name of McKay entered into discussions
with Flynn about the development of the wireless. The McKay trust donate 2000 pounds. Traeger of
Adelaide joined in. Traeger was the man ultimately responsible for the design of a pedal set. Power for the
radio was provided by a generator driven by someone pushing a pair of bicycle pedals. As a result of their
combined efforts, Flynn started the world’s first Flying Doctor Service. A Qantas plane based at Cloncurry
was fitted as an ambulance for the use of an AIM doctor.
Consistent with his belief that the church should mainly be involved with things no one else could do or
would do, Flynn wanted the Flying Doctor Service to eventually become independent of the AIM. The
service got great support from the Australian public and so in 1939 it was made an independent body with
the name The Royal Flying Doctor Service. The Royal Flying Doctor Service has not been affiliated with
any religious group since 1939.
In 1933, a southern patrol started in South Australia. This patrol initiated summer holiday and health
camps near Adelaide for inland children. The Far North Children’s Health Scheme later superseded this.
Other padre patrols opened before World War II, although during the war most of the padres volunteered for
active service and AIM properties were requisitioned by the military.
In 1949 the first of the Old Timer’s Homes opened in Alice Springs. Flynn died in 1951.
Continuation of the Australian Inland Mission After the Death of Flynn
The absence of white women from much of the inland in the early years was largely due to the absence
of medical care. Flynn’s work had led to increasing numbers of white women in the inland. This in turn
meant that there were an increasing number of Anglo/European children growing up in the outback. A
school was started at Halls Creek. Students were coming from isolated properties that were hundreds of
kilometres, sometimes over a thousand kilometres, from Halls Creek. The government asked the AIM to run
a hostel to accommodate these students who could not possibly go home overnight and return to school next
morning. The AIM obliged.
In the 1960’s the Ord River scheme led to the development of a new town of Kununurra. Kununurra
became the base for an Ord River patrol. Rather than simply run an outpatient’s service to which Aboriginal
families brought their children, an itinerant health sister was appointed in East Kimberley. This led to a
remarkable improvement in the health of Aboriginal children and an impressive reduction in the infant
mortality rate in this region.
It was not until 1966 that the AIM was able to purchase its first aircraft for its own use. The Reverend
McCahon based at Carnarvon became the first AIM padre to fly an aeroplane on regular patrol work.
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Inland settlement increased with the quickening pace of mineral searches and discoveries, especially in
Western Australia. With Australia’s post World War II immigration schemes and the development of
mining towns, new social pattern emerged. Mining towns typically had single workers who went to these
isolated towns for the good money paid to miners. Many miners married and had children but there were
very few extended families, grandparents or even people aged over 45. When children of miners reached
high school age, couples either sent their children to boarding school or moved to larger cities. A distinctive
AIM response in these mining areas was to establish and run pre-school kindergartens. Kindergartens were
begun at Tom Price in 1968, Dampier in 1969 and Karratha in 1972. In Karratha, a community health sister
was also appointed.
At Exmouth, deaconess Wilma Clarke was appointed a community worker in 1966. She combined
kindergarten work with other activities amongst construction workers’ families, including English language
classes in the evenings for miners and their families. This led to the establishment of a full Christian
education program integrated with other ministries in the town.
Make a summary of how Australian Inland Mission has responded to the social needs of
outback Australia by completing the table below
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AUSTRALIAN INLAND MISSION
Denomination:
Problems associated with living in the outback
Founder:
How the Australian Inland Mission responded
Formation of the Uniting Church
The Uniting Church in Australia was inaugurated in 1977. It was formed by the union of the
Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches. Frontier Services became the new name for the
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continuing work of the AIM, now run by the Uniting Church. In the nearly 25 years since that time, Frontier
Services has continued to do the jobs that needed to be done. Most of the same problems that were present
in 1912 are still present.
The Contribution of Frontier Service to Areas in Australian Society
Medical and health care
The heath of remote and rural communities continues to lag behind the rest of the country. The Social
Health Atlas of Australia graphically reveals the disadvantage of distance in category after category of health
statistics. Remote areas have higher rates of infant, young and middle aged mortality than other areas. The
impact of social disadvantage on health is more pronounced in remote areas, and isolation from support
services others take for granted adds to the risk of ill health.
For outback people, the frailty of age or disadvantages of disability are often made worse by distance
from services and resources. One of the worst things that can happen is removal from their natural
community at their time of greatest need. Frontier Services overcomes this in the remote areas of three
states by the provision of a range of home-based Home and Community Care Services and, in the Northern
Territory and Western Australia, by providing residential services for aged and disabled people.
Education
As children grow, outback families are often forced to recognise their need to leave home. Many
children who have lived in isolated circumstances find the prospect of a boarding school daunting. Costs are
also prohibitive. These children need affordable quality accommodation within a family-like atmosphere.
Frontier Services plays its part in supporting isolated families in the education of their children through
Student Group Homes in Atherton, Charleville and Mount Isa. Dedicated house parents provide a home
away from home, enabling students from remote communities and properties to participate fully in school
life in town.
Outback areas have much higher percentages than Australia as a whole of young people who leave
school early. Queensland has the highest ratio of all. Younger children living long distances from other
children also need special opportunities to socialise. They also need vital early childhood education.
Frontier Services’ Remote Area Families Services provide advice and support to parents and early childhood
activities for children in remote communities and on isolated properties who have no access to mainstream
services.
Social Welfare
The role of Frontier Services in strengthening and supporting remote communities has grown steadily.
In many outback towns, Frontier Services provides advocacy, counselling and other support services, both
formally and informally. An example is the Migrant Settlement Services in the Pilbara. Here, Frontier
Services assists recent arrivals to become established in a new country and a new community, accessing
appropriate services and maximising the potential of life in Australia. In Meekatharra, the work is
concentrated with young people to foster activities that allow participation and the development of a sense of
self-worth. At Tenant Creek there are Frontier Services units for crisis accommodation.
Conclusion
In the year 2000, Frontier Services funds 17 Patrol Ministries that between them cover approximately
70% of the land mass of Australia. Altogether, the number of services provided by Frontier Services is
sixty.
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34
Make a summary of how Frontier Services has responded to the social needs of outback
Australia by completing the table below
FRONTIER SERVICES
Denomination:
Problems associated with living in the outback
Founder:
How the Frontier Services responded
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The Bush Brotherhoods
Australia’s vast outback was a major problem for all denominations at the turn of the twentieth century.
If was difficult to maintain normal church parishes or congregations throughout this area as the land was too
sparsely, with great distances between people and clergy. Poor roads and slow transport facilities added to
the problem. Many clergymen complained of loneliness or lack of financial support.
Beginning in 1897, the Anglican Church began establishing bush brotherhoods. They had ten bush
brotherhoods operating throughout the inland regions of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and
Western Australia. Among the earliest was the Brotherhood of the Good Shepherd, established around the
turn of the century in Dubbo, New South Wales. Members of this brotherhood agreed to live in strict
poverty, chastity and obedience. They worked in pair, keeping each other company while travelling from
place to place and ministering to people. The brothers spoke to everyone they met and stopped at every
dwelling they passed. They conducted church services wherever they could – in old churches, hotel bars,
farm sheds, bush huts, and out in the open air. In such places they also conducted baptisms, marriages and
funerals. Some of the people they met hadn’t seen a clergyman for several years.
While the brotherhoods made a significant contribution in providing support in the bush, there was
opposition to brotherhoods and sisterhoods, as the idea smacked of Roman Catholicism. Indeed, the
brotherhoods had a decidedly Anglo-Catholic stance under the influence of the English brothers, mostly
upper-middle-class graduates from Oxford and Cambridge universities. After the First World War, the
majority of the English brothers did not have university degrees, but they continued to come to Australia,
and proved a hardy and resourceful lot in the main.
The brothers kept to the pastoral districts before 1920. They visited individuals, families and small
groups. The brotherhoods extended their services to settled districts like Grafton in New South Wales after
the First World War, but these settlements were, generally speaking, not successful.
The successes of the brotherhoods were varied from the time of the First World War. Many of the
English brothers enlisted for service in the British regiments. Many died or did not return to Australia.
Some new brotherhoods flourished between the world wars, but quickly fell into decline. Well into the
twentieth century, the concept of loyalty to the British Empire was disappearing in Britain. English clergy
no longer felt the same sense of duty to travel across the world to serve the church as a bush brother. Of
course, there were Australian brothers, but local Anglicans were never as inclined towards a romanticised
style of lonely, celibate life that seems to have drawn the English brothers from afar.
In January 1972, the remaining assets of the brotherhoods were moved into a holding company, and the
brotherhoods of Saint Paul, Saint Barnabas, and the Good Shepherd ceased to exist as bush brotherhoods.
The current incorporated Brotherhood of the Good Shepherd uses the proceeds from its investments to foster
church projects in rural districts. Perhaps the best-known Anglican brotherhood, the Brotherhood of Saint
Laurence, was formed in 1930 in Newcastle, moving to Melbourne in 1933. The brotherhood of Saint
Laurence is recognised Australia-wide for its social service, but it was never a bush brotherhood.
The achievements of the brotherhoods are perhaps best measured by the degree to which they have
become a part of Australian Anglican culture. An extraordinary number of English brothers were made
bishops – twenty in all, eighteen of them in Australia. The brotherhoods carried a pastoral ministry to the
farthest reaches of the continent. The ministry of the bush brotherhoods is responsible for the presence of
High Church Anglicanism in many rural regions.
Make a summary of how bush brotherhoods have responded to the social needs of outback
Australia by completing the table below
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BUSH BROTHERHOODS
Denomination:
Problems addressed by bush brotherhoods
Significant achievements of bush brotherhoods
The Bush Church Aid Society
The Bush Church Aid Society was an attempt by the Evangelical Sydney Anglicans, with their strong
anti-Anglo-Catholic stance, to capture the diocese from the clutches of the bush brotherhoods. There was
another concern. In 1916, anti-Catholic sentiment had been rekindled by the comments opposing
conscription by the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Daniel Mannix. Anglicans feared Catholic
ministries in the bush. Social services, such as child welfare and education, were almost entirely under the
control of Catholic nuns and brothers, who had established convent schools in placed the married Anglican
clergy had refused to go.
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A mission to the bush was also an escape route for the more conservative Sydney Evangelicals, who felt
threatened by the increasingly liberal forces around them. The Bush Aid Society for Australia and
Tasmania, known as the BCA, was launched in 1919, with its married clergy and army of female volunteers,
took over in places where the bush brotherhoods had failed, particularly the settled rural areas and
townships.
BCA’s purpose is –

To proclaim Christ so that all people may respond to him.

To nurture Christians in their faith and ministry.

To strengthen local Christian communities in their mission.

To provide services of Christian care and advocacy.

To develop an understanding of Christ’s mission.

To promote active partnership throughout the church.
The work of the BCA can be illustrated in the following newspaper extract from The Real Australian
(1st August 1925):
The success of the BCA was built partly on the patriotism generated by the war. Post-war church
leaders eagerly sought to capitalise on the bush soldier ideal.
In an age when women were mostly restricted to fetes and flowers in the service of the church, the BCA
was noteworthy for its pioneering use of women missionaries, and they were the backbone of the Society.
For example, in the 1920’s, Bishop George Harvard Cranswick recruited women missionaries from England.
Although they were deaconesses, not priests, he referred to them as “ordained” and as “the Reverend
Deaconesses” and gave them sole responsibility for a rural area. Australian women took up the challenge,
too, as hostel sisters and nurses.
The BCA developed a reputation for health care services, its hostels for young people, and its innovative
use of aeroplanes. The hostels – models of Christian service rather than attempts to convert people to
Anglicanism – ensured the welcome of the BCA and their long life in the bush. The BCA is still working in
some of the areas it pioneered in the 1920’s.
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Today, the BCA has answered the call along with Anglicare to work with Aboriginal peoples by
providing a nurse practitioner to work in Darwin. There is a great need in this area, with Aboriginal people
having a higher rate of kidney disease than any other cultural groups in Australia.
Make a summary of how Bush Church Aid Society has responded to the social needs of outback
Australia by completing the table below
BUSH CHURDH AID SOCIETY
Denomination:
Problems addressed by Bush Church Aid Society
Significant achievements of Bush Church Aid Society
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Visit the following Web site: http://www.bushchurchaid.com.au/frames1.htm
Investigate the kinds of ministries carried out by the BCA in five different areas.
Area
Ministries carried out by the CBA
References
(Bartlett, 2000; Breward, 2000; Bush Church Aid Society, 2001; Hayward, 1994, 2000; Lovat &
McGrath, 1999; McClish, 1999; Morrissey et al., 2001)
Bartlett, T. (2000). New studies of religion HSC course: foundation study 2, The influence of religion in
Australian society from 1901 to the present. Unpublished.
Board of Studies. (1999). Stage 6 syllabus: studies of religion. Sydney: Board of Studies New South
Wales.
Breward, I. (2000). The influence of Christianity in Australian society. In D. Parnham (Ed.), Exploring
religion (2nd ed., pp. 53-94). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Bush Church Aid Society. (2001, 2001). Welcome to BCA Australia, [Online]. Bush Church Aid
Society of Australia. Available: http://www.churchbushaid.com.au/frames1.htm [2001, October 6].
Hayward, P. (1994). The Australian Bush Church Aid (Notes). Cronulla: De La Salle College.
Hayward, P. (2000). Frontier services (Notes). Sydney: De La Salle College.
Lovat, T., & McGrath, J. (Eds.). (1999). New studies in religion. Katoomba: Social Science Press.
McClish, B. (1999). The Australian church story. Melbourne: HarperCollinsReligions.
Morrissey, J., Mudge, P., Taylor, A., Bailey, G., Gregor, H., McGillion, C., O'Reilly, P., Magee, P., &
Mills, L. (2001). Living religion (2nd ed.). Sydney: Longman.
©
Emmaus Publications (2002). Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge all materials used. This material may be
photocopied for educational use only.