• The First Fleet
• The Yelta Mission
• The first St Margaret's Church
• Bendigo Diocese
• Our Nine Bishops

The Anglican Church in Australia
The Church of England sent a clergyman to Australia with the First Fleet of convicts. Revd Richard Johnson preached on shore for the first time on Sunday 3 Feb 1788. His sermon was from Psalm 116, verse 12 "What shall I render unto the Lord, for all his benefits towards me?"
Mary, his wife, gave birth to a daughter on Weds 3 March 1790, christened Milbah Maria, and on Thurs 19 July 1792 to a son christened Henry Martin Johnson.
'The Church' is the community of Christian believers. This may refer to a group which meets at a certain time, say 9.30 a.m. on Sundays, or to all Christian believers throughout the world. Our common links as Anglicans give us a sense of fellowship with the Johnson family ministering to the settlers from the First Fleet, and now with Christians newly arrived in our parish from many parts of the world.

The Yelta Mission.
In 1854 the Church Missionary Society in Melbourne commissioned Mr Thomas Hill Goodwin to investigate the possibility of establishing a Mission Station somewhere along the Murray river. He selected Yelta, on the Victorian side of the River Murray, opposite the junction with the Darling River, downstream from Mildura Station. His proposal was accepted and, together with Mr J Bulmer, they left Melbourne on 21 May 1855, and travelled the 500 miles to reach Yelta on 3 Aug 1855
Thomas Hill found six tribes along the Murray River, each numbering from 100 to 200 individuals occupying different homelands between the Murumbidgee River and the South Australian border.
Bishop Charles Perry, the first Bishop of Melbourne, licenced Messrs Goodwin and Bulmer as Stipendary Lay Readers and they were to read the services of the Church to both native and white people in the area.
Bishop Barker of Sydney licenced Mr Goodwin to read the services of the Church at Wentworth.
In 1862 Bishop Perry ordained Mr Goodwin, who became the first ordained Minister of the Church of England to be resident in this part of God's kingdom.

The town of Wentworth developed, and the hotel there became a constant menace to the well-being of the Aborigines, who decided with CMS to close the Mission in 1868. In 1961 two healthy date palms on the properety now owned by Mr Franz Treadwell mark this historic site. This Canoe Tree, beside the Murray River was photographed on 26 Dec 1996.

Bendigo Diocese.
Bendigo Diocese was reorganised on Sunday 13 Feb 1977 at 7.30 pm at Christ Church, Old Cathedral, St Arnaud. The clergy and laity of the former Diocese of St Arnaud officially recognised Bishop Oliver Heyward as our Bishop, and he formally accepted pastoral responsibility to his people on the western side of the Loddon River.
Our five worship centres were formerly each one of about 60 parishes in the Anglican Diocese of Bendigo. On 1 Jan 1998 we were incorporated into the Anglican Parish of Northern Mallee, under the leadership of Bishop David Bowden, and our new Rector is Archdeacon Russell Smith.

Australia is known for the tyranny of its distances, and our new parish has that problem. Modern roads and vehicles mean that the 28 kms from Red Cliffs to Merbein only take a cautious driver half an hour now. Our two most distant centres, at Meringur and Nangiloc are each over 50 kms from Mildura.
Pray for the safety of our parishioners as they cover long distances serving the Lord.