Editing History of Australia (section)

==== Religion ====
The [[Church of England]] was the only recognised church before 1820 and its clergy worked closely with the governors. [[Richard Johnson (chaplain)|Richard Johnson]] (chief chaplain 1788–1802) was charged by Governor [[Arthur Phillip]], with improving "public morality" in the colony and was also heavily involved in health and education.<ref name="adbonline.anu.edu.au2">{{cite book|author=K.J. Cable|title=ADBonline.anu.edu.au|publisher=ADBonline.anu.edu.au|chapter=Johnson, Richard (1753–1827)|access-date=14 July 2011|chapter-url=http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020018b.htm}}</ref> [[Samuel Marsden]] (various ministries 1795–1838) became known for his missionary work, the severity of his punishments as a magistrate, and the vehemence of his public denunciations of Catholicism and Irish convicts.<ref>{{cite book|author=A.T. Yarwood|title=ADBonline.anu.edu.au|publisher=ADBonline.anu.edu.au|chapter=Marsden, Samuel (1765–1838)|access-date=14 July 2011|chapter-url=http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020176b.htm}}</ref>

[[File:Castle Hill Rebellion (1804).jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|A painting depicting the [[Castle Hill Rebellion]] in [[Sydney]] of 1804]]

About a quarter of convicts were Catholics. The lack of official recognition of Catholicism was combined with suspicion of Irish convicts which only increased after the Irish-led [[Castle Hill Rebellion]] of 1804.<ref name="catholicaustralia.com.au2">{{cite web|title=Catholicaustralia.com.au|url=http://www.catholicaustralia.com.au/page.php?pg=austchurch-history|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324111940/http://www.catholicaustralia.com.au/page.php?pg=austchurch-history|archive-date=24 March 2012|access-date=14 July 2011|publisher=Catholicaustralia.com.au}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=O'Brien|first=Anne|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I|year=2013|pages=417–18|chapter=Religion}}</ref> Only two Catholic priests operated temporarily in the colony before Governor Macquarie appointed official Catholic chaplains in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land in 1820.<ref name="O'Brien-2013">O'Brien, Anne (2013). "Religion". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp. 419–20</ref>

The Bigge reports recommended that the status of the Anglican Church be enhanced. An Anglican archdeacon was appointed in 1824 and allocated a seat in the first advisory Legislative Council. The Anglican clergy and schools also received state support. This policy was changed under Governor Burke by the Church Acts of 1836 and 1837. The government now provided state support for the clergy and church buildings of the four largest denominations: Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian and, later, Methodist.<ref name="O'Brien-2013" />

Many Anglicans saw state support of the Catholic Church as a threat. The prominent Presbyterian minister [[John Dunmore Lang]] also promoted sectarian divisions in the 1840s.<ref>O'Brien, Anne (2013). p. 421</ref><ref>Macintyre (2020), p. 90</ref> State support, however, led to a growth in church activities. Charitable associations such as the Catholic [[Sisters of Charity of Australia|Sisters of Charity]], founded in 1838, provided hospitals, orphanages and asylums for the old and disabled. Religious organisations were also the main providers of school education in the first half of the nineteenth century, a notable example being Lang's Australian College which opened in 1831. Many religious associations, such as the [[Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart|Sisters of St Joseph]], co-founded by [[Saint Mary MacKillop|Mary MacKillop]] in 1866, continued their educational activities after the provision of secular state schools grew from the 1850s.<ref>Macintyre (2020), pp. 123–27</ref><ref>O'Brien, Anne (2013). "Religion". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp. 422–23</ref>