The Anglican Church of Australia is a member church of the Anglican Communion, previously known as the Church of England in Australia (renamed in 1981).
When the First Fleet was sent to New South Wales in 1787, the Reverend Richard Johnson was licensed as chaplain to the Fleet and the settlement. In 1825, the Rev. Thomas Scott was appointed Archdeacon of Australia under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Calcutta. The Rev. William Grant Broughton, who succeeded Scott in 1829, was consecrated the first (and at the only) Bishop of Australia in 1836. In 1842 the Diocese of Tasmania was created, and in 1847 the remainder of the Diocese was split into the three separate Dioceses of Adelaide, Newcastle and Melbourne. Over the following eighty years, the number of dioceses increased to twenty-five.
Since January 1 1962 the Australia Anglican Church has been autocephalous, headed by its own primate, currently the Archbishop of Perth, the Most Reverend Peter Carnley .
It consists of twenty-three dioceses, arranged into provinces (except for Tasmania), with metropolitical sees in the capital cities. The dioceses are:
- The Province of New South Wales
- Armidale
- Bathurst
- Canberra & Goulburn
- Grafton
- Newcastle
- Riverina
- Sydney
- The Province of Queensland
- Brisbane
- North Queensland
- The Northern Territory
- Rockhampton
- The Province of South Australia
- Adelaide
- The Murray
- Willochra
- The Province of Victoria
- Ballarat
- Bendigo
- Gippsland
- Melbourne
- Wangaratta
- The Province of Western Australia
- Bunbury
- North West Australia
- Perth
- Extra Provincial Diocese
See also
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