Historical Notes on the Brethren Assemblies in Australia -- By: Ian McDowell

Journal: Emmaus Journal
Volume: EMJ 04:1 (Summer 1995)
Article: Historical Notes on the Brethren Assemblies in Australia
Author: Ian McDowell


Historical Notes on the Brethren Assemblies in Australia

Ian McDowell1

The History and Situation of Australian Brethren Assemblies

The Beginnings

“Brethren” appeared throughout Australia after 1866 as a result of the efforts of the immigrant English evangelists of the 1859 revival, including Frank Brewster, John Baird, William Brown, Samuel Carter, Walter Douglas, George Grove, John Hambleton, Rice Hopkins, Thomas Manders, Harrison Ord, Charles Perrin, Henry Rainey and Henry Varley. This was the time when Donald Ross and Alexander Marshall emigrated to Canada, and Gordon Forlong and Charles Hinman to New Zealand. These men preached to large congregations, won converts and established local assemblies in halls built for the purpose. Transport was difficult over Australia’s vast distances, so they operated in fixed localities. Strong groups of assemblies in these areas, such as the north coast of the southern island state of Tasmania where Henry Varley conducted campaigns,

persist to this day. The first “Brethren” conference took place in that region in 1873.

The Expansion of the Work

John Hambleton, the converted actor, brought with him a Bible carriage provided by George Müller’s Scripture Knowledge Institution, and “Brethren” sent Frank Brewster to itinerate using it. Müller sent them literature and published their reports. Seeing the worth of this form of outreach, other workers with horse-drawn Bible carriages were commended, and about one hundred of these evangelized the interior under the name “Australian Bible Carriages.” They won converts and established assemblies in homes in sparsely settled country, but because these had no permanent buildings, they died out when families moved. Some of their converts, such as Frank Bates, Frank Bond, and Fred Woods, carried on this class of work. The coming of the interstate railways after 1881 eased the transport burden, for within a few years a network of four thousand miles linked the main cities. “Brethren” provided stability for the work by building substantial halls in these cities. Many inner-city properties have been sold since as the population moved outward, and the proceeds applied to extension of the work, so that few of the original number persist.

Cooperation and Separation

The evangelists usually worked together, but some of them believed that the only way to keep converts safe was to raise barriers between them and other professing Christian groups. They did this by teaching the necessity of baptism prior to Christian fellowship, restricting the extent to which a worker could become involved with other denominatio...

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