Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES [5.17 p.m.]: After we celebrate Christmas Day we have a recovery day on Boxing Day, which was called originally the Feast of St Stephen. Stephen was the first Christian deacon and martyr. You can read about him and his death in Acts 6 and 7 of the Bible. Stephen was honoured wherever Christians served the poor, the widows and the orphaned, and where Christians died for their faith. The lovely old church across the road from Parliament House is also called St Stephens and has a fascinating history. It was founded in the middle of the nineteenth century by a group of dissenters from the Scots Presbyterian Church, which had been founded in 1823 by the brilliant Reverend John Dunmore Lang, who later became an outstanding parliamentarian in this very Legislative Council. In fact, it is said that Reverend John Dunmore Lang while in this Chamber is owed much of the credit for the development of New South Wales as a free country, rather than as a convict settlement, due to his foresight and vision.
But his approach to ministry apparently did not please everyone and the resulting dissenters first met in a small hall in Macquarie Place, later ending up in a building across from the Mint in the Wesleyan Chapel and then relocated to Pitt Street, where subsequently I became its minister. In 1848 the Presbyterian Church relocated to the independent chapel in Pitt Street near the School of Arts. Then during the Gold Rush years a prefabricated iron church was imported from Glasgow and erected in 1855 next to Parliament House, between here and the Mitchell Library. Such iron churches were very popular at the time in Britain, and of course we in the Legislative Council are sitting in one such church. The new iron church next door could seat 800 worshippers but, being made of iron, it was exceedingly hot in summertime, and bitterly cold in wintertime. Later it was moved to the Lidcombe hospital, where it became the chapel. In front of the new section of the Mitchell Library on the footpath there is a bronze picture-plaque of that church.
It was around this time that the traditional name of St Stephen’s was chosen for this church opposite Parliament House. It was considered to be traditional because Westminster Parliament in England had met in its St Stephen’s Chapel at Westminster for many hundreds of years. The very fact that members of Parliament sit opposite each other on benches is because the first Parliament in Britain sat in the choir chapel of St Stephen’s. By 1875 the Presbyterian congregation of St Stephen’s combined with another meeting in Phillip Street and became the leading centre of Presbyterianism. It was not until 1935 that St Stephen’s opposite Parliament House became a handsome, newly built church building, which stands on its present position. As members can easily see, the church is currently having a sandstone facelift.
The church has seen some outstanding churchmen in its history, one of whom was John Ferguson. In August 1894 Ferguson was inducted into St Stephen’s, which was by then the largest Presbyterian congregation in Sydney. Ferguson’s first address, which was later published as The Economic Value of the Gospel, caused enormous controversy and was highly praised and distributed by Labor Party and trade union leaders. The Labor politician Billy Hughes, who later became the Prime Minister of Australia, said at the time that Reverend Ferguson “grapples with the problems of poverty, he insists on justice being done, though the heavens fall. I advise every citizen to read every word of it!”
St Stephen’s most famous minister was Reverend Gordon Powell, the extremely popular Australian preacher. More than 1,000 people would attend his Wednesday lunchtime services and Sunday mornings were always packed. Another contribution worth mentioning is that for many years St Stephen’s in Macquarie Street, Sydney, had a brilliant choir led by Peter Dodds McCormick, who was the author of the anthem Advance Australia Fair, which was first sung in St Stephen’s on St Andrew’s Day in 1878. St Stephen’s in Macquarie Street later became a part of the Uniting Church in Australia upon the union of the Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches in 1977. Since its beginnings it has played a significant part in the heart of Sydney’s business and political districts. With God’s blessing, it will continue its ministry for years to come.