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| Rev Richard Johnson Source: Christian History Reserach |
Introduction
Reverend Richard Johnson was appointed to accompany the
First Fleet to New South Wales to become the first clergyman in Australia. He
is honoured by a monument in Richard Johnson Square in the centre of Sydney.
His story illustrates the significant difficulties he
experienced in establishing religious services and building a church in the
infant Colony.
Material on this topic has been drawn from Volumes one to
four of the Historical Records of Australia [published by the Library Committee
of the Commonwealth Parliament].
Overview
On 24 October 1784, Richard Johnson received a Royal Warrant
that appointed him ‘Chaplain to the settlement of New South Wales’. He took up
his appointment with the First Fleet at Portsmouth. As Chaplain to New South
Wales he was required to be the guardian of public morality.
He held the first recorded religious service on shipboard in
Australian waters at Botany Bay on 20 January 1788.
On 3 February 1788, he conducted the first religious service
in the Colony under trees at Sydney Cove. He continued to hold regular services
on a Sunday, weather permitting, prior to the construction of a wooden building
five years later that was used for church services.
Apart from some assistance after 1791 from James Bain,
Chaplain to the New South Wales Corps, Johnson undertook all the religious duties
in Sydney for six years, until the arrival of the Reverend Samuel Marsden on
the William on 10 March 1794.
On 10 June 1793, Johnson commenced construction of a temporary
church in Sydney town, which he funded from his own finances. The first service
was held the new building on 25 August 1793.The construction of the temporary
church cost Johnson over sixty seven pounds.
The position of the temporary church was near the present
‘Richard Johnson Square, on the corner of Hunter and Castlereagh streets in
Sydney. It was built of strong posts, wattles, and plaster, and was covered
with a roof of thatch. A monument now stands in Richard Johnson Square on the
approximate site of the temporary church.
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| Monument in Richard Johnson Square, Sydney |
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| Wording on Richard Johnson Monument |
The church stood for five years, and was also used as a
school, in which 150 to 200 children were educated.
When Governor Phillip was replaced by Lieutenant-Governor
Francis Grose, Johnson’s troubles began.
During 1793, Johnson was embroiled in a number of
controversies with Grose. Grose considered Johnson to be a ‘very troublesome,
discontented character’. In January 1793, Grose disapproved of the action of
Johnson in making a complaint about the method ordered by Grose of conducting divine
service in the Colony.
During August and September 1793, following the completion
of the temporary church, Johnson’s requests to be reimbursed for the
construction cost were not supported by Grose. About the same time, Johnson
made a request to have two men appointed to his service, one as a grave-digger
and a second as a Sexton to ring the church bell and to keep the church clean.
Grose refused the requests and this subsequently lead to bitterness between the
two gentlemen.
In November 1793, Grose ordered eight of the ten convict
servants provided Johnson to be taken away without notice. Communication
between the two gentlemen practically ceased after then. Grose also terminated
Johnson’s appointment as a Magistrate, following his previous appointment by
Governor Phillip.
When Samuel Marsden arrived as the second Chaplain in 1794
he found Grose and Johnson still in dispute.
The next Governor, John Hunter, had a better relationship
with Johnson. Hunter reinstated Johnson as a civil Magistrate. Following
representations by Hunter, the repayment to Reverend Johnson of the expenses
incurred in the building of the temporary church was authorised by the Duke of
Portland in England in his Despatch to Governor Hunter, dated 31 January 1797.
On the evening of 1 October 1798 Johnson’s temporary church
was burnt down. A new store shed was subsequently fitted out under instructions
by Governor Hunter to accommodate religious services.
In August 1800 Lieutenant-Governor Philip Gidley King
appointed Johnson as Treasurer of a Committee to conduct an Orphan Institution
in Sydney.
Apart from his duties as a Chaplain, Johnson was considered
one of the best farmers in the Colony.
Johnson left the Colony, with Governor John Hunter, in the Buffalo in October 1800. In 1812 Johnson
gave evidence in England before the Select Committee of the House of Commons on
Transportation. He died on 13 March 1827 in England.
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| Richard Johnson Memorial, Sydney |
SOURCES
(1) Concerns
Raised by Reverend Johnson with the English Authorities
[Extract of Letter
from Reverend Johnson to the Honourable Henry Dundas in England – Dated
3/9/1793]
“As Chaplain to this distant Colony, I humbly leg leave to
state to you these following circumstances, viz: That from my first arrival in
this country, which was at the first formation of the settlement, I trust I
have at all times endeavoured to discharge the various duties of my sacred
function with fidelity and diligence.
That in doing this I have hitherto met with many and great
inconveniences:
·
That public works of different kinds have been,
and still continue to be, so urgent that no place of any kind has yet been
erected for the purpose of performing divine service.
·
That my own health has been greatly exposed and
at times not a little injured, by this means.
·
That, for the same reasons (I mention it with
sincere concern), there has been too general and repeated neglect shown to
public worship.
·
That on these and suchlike considerations, I
have at length deemed it advisable, and even expedient, on my own accord and
account, to run up a temporary shelter which may serve the above important
purpose until a better can be provided.
·
That I began this building on the 10 June 1793
and have just at this time got it finished.
·
That the building which I have erected will seat
about five hundred people, and hold one hundred more when necessary.
·
That I have given in an estimate of the whole
expense to his Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, the real amount of which has
been upwards of sixty-seven Pounds, sixty Pounds of which I have paid in
Spanish Dollars, and the remained in provisions, at or under prime cost.
I humbly trust, Sir, that what I have done will meet with
your approbation, that it will be a means of rendering my own situation
somewhat more comfortable that it hitherto has been, and also of inducing these
unhappy people, whose reformation I do so ardently wish to see, to attend more
willingly, and consequently more regularly, upon the solemn and public worship
of God”.
(2) Criticism
of Reverend Johnson by Lieutenant-Governor Grose
[Extract of Letter of
Lieutenant-Governor Grose to the Right Honourable Henry Dundas in response to
the above letter – Dated 4/9/1793]
“I cannot pass over this business [request for
re-imbursement for building a church] without observing that Mr. Johnston, who
is one of the people called Methodists, is a very troublesome, discontented
character. His charge for this church is infinitely more than it ought to have
cost, and his attempt to make a charge of it at all surprises me exceedingly;
for, on his applications to myself for a variety of little articles with which
he has been furnished from the Stores, he has invariably stated that as he was
building his church at his own expense he hoped to be obliged, and on this
account generally was accommodated with whatever he came to ask. In compliance
with his request, I have enclosed the estimate of his expenses, but I beg not
to be understood as at all meaning to countenance his application”.
(3) Renewed Attempt
by Reverend Johnson to Receive Financial Compensation
[Extract from Letter
by Reverend Johnson to Governor Hunter – Dated 10/12/1795]
“I beg leave to state to you the following circumstances,
viz: That after having made repeated applications, first to Governor Phillip,
and afterwards to Major Grose, for a place of worship to be erected, and there
being no prospect of my application being complied with, I was at length (after
being in the Colony for about five year and a half) induced and resolved to
erect a temporary place for the purpose.
That when I had completed this undertaking I laid before the
Lieutenant-Governor Grose an estimate of the expenses requesting that he would
transmit the same to the Honourable Mr. Dundas, not doubting but these expenses
would be refunded.
But from letters which I have lately received from some
respectable friends, some doubts have arisen in my mind whether the application
and request which I have made will be complied with”.
(4) Support by Governor Hunter for Johnson’s
Request
[Extract of Letter from
Governor Hunter to the Duke of Portland in England – Dated 21/12/1795]
“In justice to Mr. Johnson I have thought it right to comply
with his request (to forward on his letter), and to say, that I believe his
entering upon the business stated in his letter proceeded from his having no
place or building of any kind appropriated for the performance of divine
service, and from his great zeal in the duties of his function”.
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If you are researching a convict ancestor, you are invited to go to the History Services NSW website at http://www.historyservices.com.au/
Blog prepared by Kevin McGuinness
Photos taken in January 2009 by Kevin McGuinness
