Public Christian Symbols in Australia
Download a collection of Public Christian Symbols
The original East End Market Adelaide SA, Eastern end of Grenfell Street on the northern side. Picture supplied by Rev Ian Clarkson
The Bible Garden at Palm Beach Sydney.
Please visit:
http://palmbeachbiblegarden.org/
Plaque and monument at Sublime Lookout high up the escarpment above Austinmer on the Illawarra Coast south of Sydney. Pictures supplied by Tas Walker
The La Perouse Expedition
The La Perouse expedition arrived off Botany Bay on 24 January 1788, just as Captain Arthur Phillip was attempting to move the colony from there to Sydney Cove in Port Jackson. The First Fleet was unable to leave until 26 January because of a tremendous gale, which also prevented Lapérouse's ships from entering Botany Bay.
The expedition included two Catholic priests, Abbé Jean-Andre Mongez, the senior Chaplain and Fr Claude-Francois Joseph Louis (Laurent) Receveur, Receveur never recovered from earlier injuries inflicted to his eye by Somoans and died on 17 February 1788. He was buried near the expeditions camp and was the first Catholic priest and possibly the second non-indigenous person to be buried in Australia. Apparently two Masses were said on board either on Saturday, 26th January, the Feast of St. Polycarp or Sexagesima, Sunday 27th January, 1788 in accordance with the duties of chaplains in the French navy of the ancien régime as specified in a royal ordonnance of 1765.
Faith in Public Office: The Meaning, Persistence and Importance of Oaths:
Professor Nicholas Aroney University of Queensland - TC Beirne School of Law
Abstract:
Oaths of office are strangely ubiquitous in liberal-democratic regimes. They bind office-holders to their duties of office, but they do so by invoking divine or religious sanction for the performance of those duties. This divine witness to the oath of office appears to stand in as a guarantor of the political order, but also looms large as an authority that is separate from, and in some sense stands above, the political order. This opens up the possibility that this other sovereign may make moral demands that supersede those of the political order and the duties incumbent upon the office holder. This is the paradox of the oath of office. It both guarantees the performance of official duties and subjects the content of those duties to external judgement. It is a paradox embedded in the very nature of the oath of office, which captures within its short compass the very large question of the relationship between religious conviction, moral principle and political power.
Through a study of the use of oaths in our political systems (including their secular adaptation, the affirmation of office), much light can be shed on the nature of faith in public office.
Freedom of Religion and Section 116 of the Australian Constitution
Professor Nicholas Aroney University of Queensland - TC Beirne School of Law
Read this abstract from a paper on 'Freedom of Religion as an Associational Right'
History of underground church services at Jenolan Caves
There is a Christmas Church Service, deep underground, in the Cathedral Chamber of the Lucas Cave. All are welcome to this free, non-denominational service. Note that it is 252 steep stair steps to reach the Cathedral Chamber. Once inside, you can sit, relax, hear the Christmas message. After catching your breath, you can sing well-known Christmas Carols and enjoy a beautiful solo, in the acoustically perfect chamber.
Some letters of Rev. Richard Johnson, B.A.
First Chaplain to New South Wales With Introduction, Notes and Commentary by George Mackaness
Some private correspondence of the Rev. Samuel Marsden and family 1794-1824
Compiled by George Mackaness
Correspondence from Rev Samuel Marsden
First Aboriginal convert to christianity over 500 years ago?
a half millennium of hope the voyage of the espoir to the southland and the southland's call to christendom 1503 - 1505
Harvey W. Brice
Re-Visioning Australian Colonial Christianity:
New Essays in the Australian Christian Experience 1788-1900
by Stuart Piggin
Essays on the History and Experience of Revival and Revivalism in Australian Christianity,
Chapter 15: Rainbow or the Serpent?
Observing the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Revival, 1979 and now.
by John Blacket
ANZACs
Gen. Harry Chauvel, The Liberation of Jerusalem, and the Influence of a Christian heritage.
By Harvey Brice
Monuments and memorials in Australia to individual people involved in the religious life of Australia
Don't go to Gilgandra or you will get converted:
the story of the Aboriginal Naden family
by Robyn Walton, Coo-ee Calls 103, Jan 2008, pp1-10
