Methodist Church of Australasia

The Methodist Church of Australasia was a Methodist denomination based in Australia.

History

On 1 January 1902, five Methodist denominations in Australia – the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Primitive Methodists, the Bible Christian Church, the United Methodist Free and the Methodist New Connexion Churches came together to found a new church. Its organisational structure mainly followed the Wesleyan Methodist Church. This Methodist Church of Australasia established a General Conference, meeting triennially, for Australasia (which then included New Zealand) in 1875, with Annual Conferences in the states.
The church ceased to exist in 1977 when most of its congregations joined with the many congregations of the Congregational Union of Australia and the Presbyterian Church of Australia to form the Uniting Church in Australia.

Missions

The Sydney-based Methodist Missionary Society of Australasia (MMS; 1916–1930s), later named the Methodist Overseas Mission (MOM; 1930s–?) was run by the Methodist Church of Australasia of Australia. From around 1916 it established missions in Arnhem Land in northern Australia, moving across the islands from west to east, including Goulburn Island, Milingimbi Island, and Elcho Island, before planning missions on the mainland at Yirrkala (founded 1935) and Caledon Bay. Around this time,  MOM was encouraging their senior staff to study anthropology under A. P. Elkin at Sydney University, to learn more about Aboriginal Australian culture, in particular the Yolngu people who lived in Arnhem Land.

Superintendents at Yirrkala included founding superintendent Wilbur Chaseling, Harold Thornell, and Edgar Wells, who wrote about their experiences there. The residents were free to come and go as they wished and the interaction was on the whole positive in those early days, with a lack of dogmatism by the missionaries, and the Yolngu people accommodating Christianity within a version of their own beliefs.

Mitchell Library in Sydney holds records of the Methodist Overseas Mission, including more than 300 boxes of manuscripts; photographs; slides; negatives; and 159 reels of film. The films include the master copy of the documentary film Faces in the Sun (1064), directed by Cecil Holmes for MMS. Others include Man Dark No More (1953) and Man of Two Worlds (1965). These films provide insight into the Stolen Generations brought about by the policies of cultural assimilation pursued by the government of the day.

Other Methodist congregations

There are still independent Methodist congregations in Australia, including congregations formed or impacted by Tongan immigrants. The Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia is derived from the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America and did not join the Uniting Church in Australia.

Presidents-General
The triennial conference was led by the President-General. There were a total of 25 Presidents General over the life of the Methodist Church of Australasia, from its formation in 1902 until the Uniting Church in 1977.

See also
 Rupert Grove
Freer Helen Latham
Coralie Ling
Laura Francis (missionary)

References

Methodism in Australia
Uniting Church in Australia
Australia
Religious organizations disestablished in 1977
1902 establishments in Australia
1977 disestablishments in Australia
Mission stations in Australia