The Methodist Church of Australasia was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

denomination based in Australia. It existed from 1902 to 1977, when the

Uniting Church in Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a united church in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most Wiktionary:congregation, congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church o ...

was formed. It did missionary work in Australia through two organisations: the Methodist Overseas Mission (founded 1916), which focused mainly on

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

, and the Methodist Inland Mission (founded 1926), which served settler communities in remote parts of Australia.

History

On 1 January 1902, ten years after the publication of ''Methodist Union in Canada'' by W. F. James, five Methodist denominations in Australia – the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Primitive Methodists, the Bible Christian Church, the United Methodist Free and the Methodist New Connexion Churches came together to found a new church. Its organisational structure mainly followed the Wesleyan Methodist Church. This Methodist Church of Australasia established a General Conference, meeting triennially, for Australasia (which then included New Zealand) in 1875, with Annual Conferences in the

states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. The church ceased to exist in 1977 when most of its congregations joined with the many congregations of the Congregational Union of Australia and the Presbyterian Church of Australia to form the

Missionary work

Methodist Overseas Mission

The

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

-based Methodist Missionary Society of Australasia (MMS; 1916–1930s), later named the Methodist Overseas Mission (MOM; 1930s–?) was run by the Methodist Church of Australasia. From around 1916 it established missions in

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territorial capital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...

in northern Australia, moving across the islands from west to east, including Goulburn Island, Milingimbi Island, and Elcho Island, before planning missions on the mainland at Yirrkala (founded 1935) and Caledon Bay. Around this time, MOM was encouraging their senior staff to study

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

under A. P. Elkin at

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, to learn more about

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

culture, in particular the Yolngu people who lived in Arnhem Land.PDF
/ref> Superintendents at Yirrkala included founding superintendent Wilbur Chaseling, Harold Thornell, and Edgar Wells, who wrote about their experiences there. The residents were free to come and go as they wished and the interaction was on the whole positive in those early days, with a lack of dogmatism by the missionaries, and the Yolngu people accommodating Christianity within a version of their own beliefs. Mitchell Library in Sydney holds records of the Methodist Overseas Mission, including more than 300 boxes of

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

s; photographs; slides; negatives; and 159 reels of film. The films include the master copy of the documentary film ''Faces in the Sun'' (1064), directed by Cecil Holmes for MMS. Others include ''Man Dark No More'' (1953) and ''Man of Two Worlds (1965)''. These films provide insight into the Stolen Generations brought about by the policies of

cultural assimilation Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society's Dominant culture, majority group or fully adopts the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group. The melting pot model is based on this ...

pursued by the government of the day.

Methodist Inland Mission

The Methodist Inland Mission (MIM), also known as the Federal Methodist Inland Mission (FMIM), was missionary organisation of the Methodist Church of Australia that existed between 1926 and 1977. While the Methodist Overseas Mission performed missionary work among Aboriginal people, the Methodist Inland Mission served settler communities in the remote areas of the bush. The Federal Methodist Inland Mission was established at the General Conference of the Methodist Church of Australasia in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

in May 1926, and had its first board meeting in Melbourne in November of that year. Five ministers were appointed in the first year, two to cover Victoria, and one each to

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, and

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. Its first ministers were appointed in regional Queensland, including the towns of Boulia, Cloncurry, and Normanton. Rev. Ernest Ball established the first Methodist Inland mission base at Boulia. In July 1929, the Methodist Hall was transported from the town of Duchess to Mount Isa, and was the first church building. The aim of the Methodist Inland Mission, which was run by the Methodist Inland Mission Board, was to send missionaries into remote parts of Australia "to implant the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ". At the beginning, it relied on the work of travelling preachers, who worked in collaboration with the Presbyterian Inland Mission. Much of their work was administering medical help, including conveying people in their

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

s. While their main mission was with white people, they also observed the suffering of many Aboriginal people, and some ministers, in particular Rev. Athol McGregor, championed their cause. In May 1936, Rev. A. J. Barclay (president-general of the Methodist Church of Australia), at the request of the Methodist Federal Inland Mission Board and the Methodist Overseas Mission Board, was due to travel to every station in the West Australian sector of the Methodist Inland Mission, calling in at Port Hedland, Derby, Broome, Wyndham, and Darwin, by boat, and then, with Rev. S. T. Vickery, whose headquarters are at Port Hedland, travel overland to will travel to Marble Bar, Nullagine, and Roy Hil. In 1945, Reverend Harry Griffiths was responsible for the creation of Griffiths House in

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

in 1941, originally designed to be a hostel for young single people who had moved to Alice Springs for work, but by the time it was opened, it was converted in to a social club for soldiers stationed in Alice Springs. After the war it became hostel accommodation for children from remote areas of

Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and ...

so that they could attend school. After the Methodist Church became part of the Uniting Church of Australia in 1977, Frontier Services took responsibility for the missionary work.

Other Methodist congregations

There are still independent Methodist congregations in Australia, including congregations formed or impacted by Tongan immigrants. The Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia is derived from the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America and did not join the Uniting Church in Australia.

Presidents-General

The triennial conference was led by the President-General. There were a total of 25 Presidents General over the life of the Methodist Church of Australasia, from its formation in 1902 until the Uniting Church in 1977.

References

{{Authority control Methodism in Australia Uniting Church in Australia

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Religious organizations disestablished in 1977 1902 establishments in Australia 1977 disestablishments in Australia Mission stations in Australia