The Anglican Church in Australia dates back to the colonial settlement of New South Wales in 1788. The Church of England was the most common denomination in Australia until 1986 (when Roman Catholicism took its place). Many institutions for children in New South Wales had close links with the Church of England/Anglican Church - Anglicans were very keen to ensure that dependent children grew up in their faith. However, such organisations were organised locally, at diocesan level. Each diocese in New South Wales funded its own committees and agencies to run welfare programmes and run children's homes.
Sources used to compile this entry: Annual report of the Home Mission Society of the Diocese of Sydney, Home Mission Society (NSW), 1912-1971; Anderson, Donald George, 'The bishop's society, 1856 to 1958: a history of the Sydney Anglican Home Mission Society', Department of History and Politics, University of Wollongong, PhD thesis, 1990. Also available at http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/1440/; Church of England Homes (ed.), The Pleader: The organ of the Church of England Homes, 1916-1972, 8 pp; 'The Pulpit: Home Missions', The Sydney Morning Herald, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/18004930; Sydney Anglicans: Gateway to the Anglican Church in Sydney, Sydney Anglican Network, http://sydneyanglicans.net/; Thinee, Kristy and Bradford, Tracy, Connecting Kin: Guide to Records, A guide to help people separated from their families search for their records [completed in 1998], New South Wales Department of Community Services, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998, https://clan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/connectkin_guide.pdf.
Prepared by: Melissa Downing and Naomi Parry
Created: 3 March 2011, Last modified: 18 May 2014