Richard Johnson — First Christian Church in Australia

Richard Johnson — First Christian Church in Australia

The Reverend Richard Johnson and his wife, Mary, were the only Christian clergy to accompany this first convict colony to Australia. Johnson would be the sole chaplain to the 790 men, women, and children who survived the voyage from England. “Amazing Grace” hymn writer, John Newton, was so excited by the possibility of a base for Christian missionary work in the Pacific that he called Reverend Johnson the “Patriarch of the Southern Hemisphere.”

What awaited these first Western settlers in Australia was one of the most challenging places on the planet. Terra Australis, or the “Land of the South,” was a massive continent stretching 2,000 miles from north to south, 2,400 miles from east to west, and surrounded by 12,000 miles of coastline. It was a land of long summer droughts and deserts so hot that explorer Charles Sturt said they were “like the entrance into Hell.”

It was a tough life for the Richard Johnson and his wife. They lived in a hut their first year and their first child died during birth. Yet Johnson was undaunted in his mission. He wrote:

“I am sorry to see so little good yet done amongst the prisoners … They prefer their lust before their souls, yea, most of them will sell their souls for a glass of grog, so blind, so foolish, so hardened are they.”

“It is my duty to preach to all, to pray for all, and to admonish everyone.” 

The Reverend Richard Johnson led the first public Christian worship service in Australian history. It occurred on Sunday, February 3, 1788, under a “great tree” near the edge of the water. Johnson preached from Psalm 116:12: “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.” 

A junior officer in attendance recalled, “We had a very good sermon . . . the behavior of the convicts was regular and attentive.”

The Reverend Johnson later wrote a Gospel tract for the prison colony, the first piece of Christian literature in Australian history. In it, he said:

“I do not address you as Churchmen or Dissenters, Roman Catholics or Protestants, as Jews or Gentiles . . . But I speak to you as mortals and yet immortals. The gospel proposes a free and gracious pardon to the guilty, cleansing to the polluted, healing to the sick, happiness to the miserable and even life for the dead.” 

Despite opposition and the hardships of Australian life, Johnson and his wife gained a reputation for generosity and compassion. Many of the convicts loved and respected them. They provided spiritual guidance, treated the sick, and shared food out of their own rations. Over time, this kindness made an impression on the convicts, and the Christian congregation grew to over 600 people.

Richard Johnson — First Christian Church in Australia