Anglican Diocese of Tasmania

For the Catholic church in Tasmania, see Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hobart.

42°49′59″S 147°19′37″E / 42.833°S 147.327°E / -42.833; 147.327

Diocese of Tasmania
Coat of arms
Location
Country	Australia
Territory	Tasmania
Ecclesiastical province	Extra-provincial
Headquarters	Level 1 125 Macquarie Street Hobart TAS 7000
Statistics
Population - Total	103,839^[1]
Parishes	51
Churches	156
Information
Denomination	Anglican
Rite	Book of Common Prayer An Australian Prayer Book A Prayer Book for Australia
Established	21 August 1842 (1842-08-21)
Cathedral	St David's Cathedral, Hobart
Current leadership
Parent church	Anglican Church of Australia
Bishop	Richard Condie (since 2016)
Assistant bishop	Christopher Jones (since 2008)
Dean	Richard Humphrey (since 2009)
Website
anglicantas.org.au
Logo of the Diocese

The Anglican Diocese of Tasmania includes the entire Tasmanian state of Australia and is an extraprovincial diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia.^[2]

The cathedral church of the diocese is St David's Cathedral in Hobart. The twelfth Bishop of Tasmania, ordained as bishop and installed on 19 March 2016, is Richard Condie.

Churchmanship

Tasmania is a low church/evangelical diocese. In contrast to the Diocese of Sydney's long heritage of evangelicalism or Brisbane or Ballarat's unwavering liberal Anglo-Catholicism, Tasmania's churchmanship has varied over time but it has now returned to its evangelical roots.^[3]

In its earliest days, the diocese had a decidedly low church outlook, with priests such as Richard Deodatus Poulett Harris condemning "popery".^[4]

During the 1940s, high churchmen had the "experience of being a ‘Lone Scout type Catholic’ in conservative evangelical Tasmania. One of those who attended the occasional meetings of the Tasmanian state branch of the Australian Church Union in the 1940s recalled the conspiratorial atmosphere: 'they were quite delicious really, because everyone was called Father, and we could say the Hail Mary without anyone getting into trouble’".^[5]

Since the 1980s, the Diocese has reverted to a strongly evangelical orientation. The last two bishops, John Harrower and Richard Condie, have both supported this stance. Most of the current clergy in the Diocese are trained at the evangelical Ridley College.^[6]

Bishop Condie is also the Chairman of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and a member of GAFCON.^[7]

History

Robert Knopwood, a member of the original settlement in 1803, was responsible for the initial establishment of Anglicanism in the colony.^[8] Also important for the development of Anglicanism in the colony was the arrival of the Bible Society in 1819.^[9] Although most of the mainline denominations were well represented in Tasmania, Anglicanism was well established by the 1830s.^[10]

Church control of the educational system was a contested issue of the 1840s, with a division between Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics.^[11] On 21 August 1842, Tasmania became the first independent Anglican diocese in Australia by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Queen Victoria and Francis Nixon was appointed first Bishop of Tasmania.^[12][13] In 1842 (shortly after her erections), her jurisdiction was described as "Van Diemen's Land" (but not "Norfolk Island").^[14] Nixon initiated the creation of a synodical structure in 1858, combining clergy and laity governance of the diocese, mirroring similar measures in the dioceses of Adelaide and Melbourne.^[15] In 1866, there were two archdeaconries: Rowland Robert Davies was Archdeacon of Hobart Town and Thomas Reibey of Launceston.^[16]

In 1977, the diocese held a youth synod "to encourage informed discussion on religious and social issues", which eventually became the National Anglican Youth Gathering.^[17]

Schools

There are three schools associated with the diocese: Hutchins School, Launceston Church Grammar School and St Michael's Collegiate School.^[18]

Welfare and social justice

The diocese has various charitable organisations such as the welfare provider Anglicare and the Mission to Seafarers.^[19]

There is a strong Christian pacifist subculture in the diocese. In 2012, a priest of the diocese, the Reverend Nathanael Reuss, was elected global chairman of the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship.^[20][21]

Issues

Although General Synod passed legislation to authorise the ordination of women to the priesthood in 1992, Tasmania had already given a deaconess, Marie Kingston, individual responsibility for the parish of King Island during the 1960s.^[22]

From 1997 to 1998, a public inquiry was held which unearthed a number of cases of clerical child abuse, involving nine priests, which had occurred from 25 to 30 years previously.^[23]

As a result of these finding, the diocese provided compensation. More recently the diocese has focused on providing safe ministry with the bishop, John Harrower, saying during his episcopate that "the church is committed to stamping out child sexual abuse within its ranks".^[24] He also lobbied the federal government about this issue.^[25]

The diocese was called before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in November 2014^[26] and January 2016.^[27]

Demography

A report from the General Synod, using National Church Life Survey and Australian Bureau of Statistics data, found that average weekly attendance across the state in 2001 was 4,800.^[28] This is from the high-water mark in 1961, when 45.42% of the population declared themselves affiliated with the Anglican Church in Tasmania, the highest percentage of all the Australian states.^[29]

In the diocese there are 107 active clergy and 51 parishes.^[30]

Bishops of Tasmania

This section is an excerpt from Anglican Bishop of Tasmania.[edit]

Bishops of Tasmania
No	From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1	1842	1863	Francis Nixon	Consecrated 24 August 1842.
2	1864	1882	Charles Bromby	Later Assistant Bishop of Lichfield and Assistant Bishop of Bath and Wells.
3	1883	1889	Daniel Sandford FRSE	Later coadjutor bishop to two successive Bishops of Durham.
4	1889	1901	Henry Montgomery KCMG	Father of Field-Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
5	1902	1914	Edward Mercer	Later Archdeacon of Macclesfield.
6	1914	1919	Reginald Stephen	Previously Dean of Melbourne; translated to Newcastle.
7	1919	1943	Robert Hay	Previously Dean of Hobart; died in office.
8	1944	1963	Geoffrey Cranswick
9	1963	1981	Robert Davies CBE	Previously Assistant Bishop of Newcastle.
10	1982	2000	Philip Newell	Previously Archdeacon of Lilley.
11	2000	2015	John Harrower	Later Assistant Bishop assisting the Primate of Australia.
12	2016	present	Richard Condie	Previously an archdeacon in the Diocese of Melbourne; consecrated 19 March 2016.

John Vernon Kestell Cornish (13 October 1931 – 26 January 1982)^[31] was consecrated 19 May 1979 at St George's Cathedral, Perth, to serve as Assistant Bishop of Perth. He was elected Bishop of Tasmania (to succeed Davies) in 1981, but died suddenly, after moving to Hobart but before his scheduled enthronement;^[32][33] Newell was elected in his stead the same year.^[34]

Assistant bishops

These men have served as assistant bishops (some of whom were styled "missioner bishops"^[35]) in the diocese:^[36]

• William Rothwell Barrett (previously Warden of St Wilfrid's Theological College, Cressy 1924-29 and then Warden of Christ College (University of Tasmania) thereafter), consecrated 21 December 1955
• Henry Allingham Jerrim, consecrated 21 December 1974
• Mervyn Richard Stanton, consecrated 21 December 1985^[37]
• Christopher Randall Jones, Assistant Bishop (Vicar-General)^[38] (2008–present)
• Ross John Nicholson, Assistant Bishop (Mission)^[39] (2008–2017)

See also

• Anglican Diocese of Sydney
• Anglican Diocese of North West Australia
• Anglican Diocese of Armidale
• Anglican Pacifist Fellowship
• Church Missionary Society
• The Mission to Seafarers
• Anglicare
• Ridley Theological College
• Evangelical Anglicanism
• Low church
• Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans
• GAFCON

References

1. Wayne Brighton,Attendance Statistics For the Anglican Church of Australia(NCLS:2004): 18.
2. Angela Grutzner, The Australian Anglican Directory (Melbourne: Publishing Solutions, 2009): 7.
3. Frame, Anglicans in Australia, p. 132.
4. Poulett Harris, Intercession for Rulers, a Christian Duty: Being the Queen's Birthday, and the First Sunday After the Public Holiday Appointed in Honour of the Marriage of the Prince of Wales with the Princess Alexandra, 3, Examiner Steam Press, Hobart, 1863.
5. The Anglo-Catholic Tradition in Australian Anglicanism
6. "Anglican Church Of Australia Missionary Diocese Of Tasmania Diocesan Directory 2017-2018" (PDF). 31 August 2017.
7. . Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
8. Lloyd Robson, A History of Tasmania: Van Diemen's Land from the Earliest Times to 1855 (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1983)
9. Bruce Kaye, Anglicanism in Australia (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2002): 13
10. Ian Breward, A History of the Australian Churches (St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1993): 223
11. Breward, A History of the Australian Churches., 40.
12. "History of St David's Cathedral". Retrieved 24 December 2012.
13. Frame, Anglicans in Australia (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2007): 58.
14. The Colonial Church Atlas, Arranged in Dioceses: with Geographical and Statistical Tables (second ed.). London: SPG. May 1842. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
15. Frame, Anglicans in Australia, 74.
16. The Clergy List for 1866 (London: George Cox, 1866) p. 466
17. Kaye, Anglicanism in Australia, 131.
18. 'Anglican Organisations and Societies' Diocesan Directory 2008–2009 (Hobart: Anglican Church of Tasmania, 2008): 5–6.
19. 'Anglican Organisations and Societies' Diocesan Directory 2008–2009 (Hobart: Anglican Church of Tasmania, 2008): 5–6.
20. "APF 80th Anniversary Day & our new Chair". 3 November 2017.
21. "A Drowned-Out Truth".
22. Kaye, Anglicanism in Australia, pp,. 33–135.
23. . Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 12 November 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
24. "Church welcomes sexual abuse report", ABC News (18 June 2009), [1]. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
25. . Archived from the original on 19 February 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
26. "Special notice from the Headmaster regarding the Royal Commission hearing | Latest news | The Hutchins School, Hobart Tasmania". www.hutchins.tas.edu.au. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
27. Gramenz, Emilie (26 January 2016). "Sexual abuse inquiry to focus on Hobart's Church of England Boys' Society". ABC News. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
28. Wayne Brighton, Attendance Statistics for the Anglican Church of Australia (NCLS:2004): 18.
29. Frame, Anglicans in Australia, 127.
30. Grutzner, The Australian Anglican Directory, 15 & 109–111.
31. "Cornish, Rt. Rev (John) Vernon (Kestell)". Who's Who. A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U163156. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
32. "Briefly ..." The Living Church. 28 February 1982. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
33. Holland, Right Rev'd Dr Jonathan (8 March 2021). "Who Is This Vernon Cornish?". Anglican Focus. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
34. All Saints Anglican Network Tasmania — Biographies § Henry Jerrim
35. cavdom (19 December 2007), , archived from the original on 17 May 2021, retrieved 27 September 2016
36. . Archived from the original on 21 September 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
37. . www.anglicanarchives.org.au. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
38. . www.anglicantas.org.au. Archived from the original on 26 September 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
39. . www.anglicantas.org.au. Archived from the original on 26 September 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.

Further reading

• Boyce, James (2001). God's Own Country?: The Anglican Church and Tasmanian Aborigines (PDF). Hobart: Anglicare Tasmania. ISBN 1864590696.

External links

• Diocese of Tasmania website