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Australian Christian Resources |
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Companions, Prophets, Hosts & other Australian Mission Models
White settlement of Australia began with the landing of the First Fleet of convicts in New South Wales on 26 January 1788. In-cluded on board was Australias fi rst church leaderthe chaplain Richard Johnson. On the first Sunday Johnson conducted a church service of thanksgiving, though the fi rst few days were marked more by drunken revelry than by heartfelt prayer. In the early days of white settlement, the church and its pastoral leaders had a state-sanctioned chaplaincy role, but this did not always best facilitate the mission of the church. Johnsons successor Samuel Marsden, for example, became known as the flogging parson because he mixed his pastoral duties with those of a magistrate. Such a reputation in the formative period of the colony did not help the relationship of the church and its representatives with the average Australian.
