Four years having elapsed, in vain expectation of official help, Mr. Johnson erected, at his own cost, a wooden building: strong posts were driven into the ground, the walls consisted of wattle and plaster, and the roof was thatched: thus the first Christian temple in this hemisphere was raised by a voluntary effort. This building was maliciously destroyed. After a long season of slumber, the governor resolved to enforce the observance of the Sabbath, which had been commonly spent in "abominable dissipation." The prisoners were compelled to attend on public worship, and their officers enjoined to accompany them: a few weeks after, the church was in flames. The governor, irritated, threatened to employ the workmen on Sunday to erect another church; but a large stone store being available, it was fitted up for the purposes of devotion, and the weekly penance exacted in another form more suitable to the day (1778). Mr. Johnson returned to Great Britain: he was the first who reared orange groves, from which he realised considerable wealth.[123]
Before Mr. Johnson's removal, the Rev. Samuel Marsden arrived: a man of great intellectual and physical energy, who while he accomplished much for his family, effected more as a clergyman. Mr. Marsden was a graduate of St. John's, when he received his appointment, which was pressed upon him. His mission excited great interest. He was about to address a large assembly at Hull, when the vessel fired a signal to weigh anchor: the service was suddenly stopped, and Mr. Marsden proceeded with his bride to the boat, followed by the whole congregation, who covered the young adventurers with benedictions.
Mr. Marsden resided at Parramatta, where his agricultural success was conspicuous. Perón exclaimed—"The whole of this spot was covered with immense and useless forests. With what interest have I trodden over these new meadows, through the midst of which this respectable pastor conducted me himself with the most affectionate kindness. Who could have believed it! This residence is seven or eight miles from Parramatta, in the midst of woods; and it was over a very excellent road in a very elegant chaise that Mr. Marsden drove me. What exertions must have been taken to open such communications: these pastures, these fields, these harvests, these orchards, these flocks, are the work of eight years!" In his spiritual husbandry Mr. Marsden was not at first equally successful.
He returned to England in 1808, and the colony was left for some time without any clerical instructor. The Rev. Mr. Fulton, a protestant clergyman of Waterford, transported for sedition, was stationed at Norfolk Island, and Father Harold, an exile, a catholic priest, had returned home. "There was," says Holt, "no clergyman to visit the sick, baptise the infant, or church the women. So we were reduced to the same state as the heathen natives who had none of these ceremonies." At this period, however, many missionaries, driven from Tahiti, took refuge at Port Jackson. Some were employed as preachers, and others as schoolmasters, and several rose to considerable station and wealth, while others resumed their mission under more favorable auspices.
Mr. Marsden succeeded in arousing the attention of the ministry: additional clergymen were procured, and schools were established. The country-born children displayed an aptitude for instruction which kindled the most pleasing hopes. They exhibited a feeling, approaching to contempt, for the vices of the convicts, even when manifested in the persons of their parents.[124] "These feelings," said Sidney Smith, "convey to the mother country the first proof that the foundations of a mighty empire are laid."[125]
It is scarcely possible to imagine a condition more unfavorable to the rising race; and yet the aptitude for instruction, and the self-respect observable in the Australian youth, have been remarked by every visitor from the earliest times, not without astonishment. It is not uncommon to see children of the most elegant form, and with an open countenance, attended by parents of a different aspect, as if a new region restored the physical and mental vigour of the race.
A pleasing instance of the love of knowledge occurred during the early ministry of the Rev. Mr. Cartwright, which he related to Governor Macquarie. The river which separated them from his dwelling was swollen, and knowing the ford was impassable, he saw with great amazement his young pupils approach his Sunday school: they had tied their clothing on their heads, and swam across the stream.[126] It is asserted, that without any other instruction than a casual lesson, some learned both to read and write.
The Rev. Robert Knopwood, who arrived with the first settlers, was long the sole chaplain of Van Diemen's Land. In addition to his clerical functions he regularly sat as a magistrate. He had not much time to care for the spiritual interests of his flock, and of his success in their reformation nothing is recorded: his convivial friends are the chief eulogists of his character. His little white pony was not less celebrated. Mr. Knopwood received a pension, and was subsequently appointed chaplain to a country district: he died in 1838. The gaiety of his disposition made him a pleasant companion and a general favorite; and conciliated whatever esteem may be due to a non-professional reputation.[127] Mr. Knopwood was not, however, unwilling to tolerate the assistance of a sect whose zeal wore a different aspect from his own. The wesleyan ministers found a kindly welcome and an open field.
In the absence of clergymen, it was customary for the magistrates to conduct public worship, or where that was not possible, to assemble the prisoners and accompany the inspection with a few words of advice.[128]
The attention of the London committee of the wesleyan mission was aroused by their agents stationed at Port Jackson, who referred to this colony as "a settlement called the Derwent, two weeks' sail distant." The Rev. B. Carvosso, on his passage to New South Wales, touched at Hobart Town, in the month of May, 1820. He embraced the opportunity thus offered. He was introduced by the Rev. Mr. Knopwood to the governor, who authorised and protected his teaching. Mr. Carvosso stood on the steps of a dwelling-house; his congregation partly within and partly without: his wife conducted the psalmody. The text which initiated the wesleyan ministry was characteristic of its style and results: "Awake thou that sleepest!" The colony required such addresses. Mr. Carvosso's description of the inhabitants may be imagined: they were kindly, but dissolute. At New Norfolk and at Pittwater, with a population of several hundreds, no religious service had been performed. A seriously-minded soldier, by diligent inquiry, found out a settler said to be religious. To converse with this person, he took a journey of fifteen miles, and found him swearing!