Nathaniel Dawes (24 July 1843 – 12 September 1910) was an Anglican bishop in Australia. He was the first Bishop of Rockhampton in Queensland, from 1892 to 1909. He was the first bishop to be consecrated in Australia.

Early life

Dawes was born in

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, England, and educated at Montpelier College, Brighton, and

St Alban Hall, Oxford St Alban Hall, sometimes known as St Alban's Hall or Stubbins, was one of the medieval halls of the University of Oxford, and one of the longest-surviving. It was established in the 13th century, acquired by neighbouring Merton College in the ...

. He was an engineer who was involved in the construction of Blackfriars Bridge.

Ordained ministry

Dawes was ordained a deacon in 1871 and priest in 1872. His first post was as a

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

St Peter's Church, Vauxhall St Peter's, Vauxhall, is a Church of England church on Kennington Lane, Vauxhall, London SE11. The church was planned in 1860 by John Loughborough Pearson, and built in 1863-4 together with schools, orphanage and vicarage, and is one only a few ...

, from 1871 to 1877 after which he was vicar of Charterhouse, Somerset, before emigrating to Australia to become the rector of St Andrew's South Brisbane. He was then appointed

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

of Brisbane and later its first

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...

before translation to

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

in 1892. He was consecrated a bishop on 1 May 1889 at

St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney St Andrew's Cathedral (also known as St Andrew's Anglican Cathedral) is a cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney in the Anglican Church of Australia. The cathedral is the seat of the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan o ...

, by Alfred Barry, Bishop of Sydney. In 1897 he was involved in the establishment of the

Bush Brotherhood The Bush Brotherhood was a group of Anglican religious orders providing itinerant priests to minister to sparsely-settled rural districts in Australia. They were described as a "band of men" who could "preach like Apostles" and "ride like cowboys" ...

, an order of itinerant

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

priests. Dawes travelled to England in 1907 for medical treatment. On 27 May 1908, on medical advice, he reluctantly resigned his see and was succeeded by George Halford.

Death

Dawes died on 12 September 1910 in Malvern, Worcestershire, England.

References

External links

1843 births Anglican archdeacons in Australia Anglican bishops of Rockhampton Assistant bishops in the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane 19th-century Anglican bishops in Australia 20th-century Anglican bishops in Australia 1910 deaths Alumni of St Alban Hall, Oxford Archdeacons of Brisbane {{Australia-anglican-bishop-stub