, chaplain to the
First Fleet, was charged with the organisation of schooling. , c.1890. students and building, 1914 in 2005 with students from his Australian alma mater,
Geelong Grammar. The permanent presence of
Christianity in Australia came with the arrival of the
First Fleet of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788. As a British colony, the predominant
Christian denomination was the
Church of England. In early colonial times, Church of England clergy worked closely with the
governors.
Richard Johnson, Anglican chaplain to the First Fleet, was charged by the governor,
Arthur Phillip, with improving "public morality" in the colony, but he was also heavily involved in health and the organisation of schooling. The first schools in Australia were Christian schools established by the Church of England in the early days of British settlement in the late 1700s. Free "charity schools" run by other denominations gradually came into existence later. Roman Catholic convicts were initially compelled to attend Church of England services and their children and orphans were raised by the authorities as Anglicans. At the instigation of the then British Prime Minister and the
Duke of Wellington - and with the patronage of
King William IV - Australia's oldest surviving independent school,
The King's School, Parramatta, was founded in 1831 as part of an effort to establish grammar schools in the colony. The Church of England lost its legal privileges in the Colony of
New South Wales by the
Church Act of 1836. Drafted by the reformist
attorney-general John Plunkett, the act established legal equality for Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Presbyterians and was later extended to Methodists. In 1872, Victoria became the first Australian colony to pass an education act providing for free and secular public education. The other colonies followed over the following two decades. The
Anglican Education Commission was re-established by the Synod in 2007 in an effort to advance the Sydney diocese's commitment to bolstering Christian education and assisting both teachers and workers involved in education to do so through the lens of the Gospel's values. In the 21st century, the church remains a significant provider of social welfare and education. There are around 145
Anglican schools in Australia, providing for more than 105,000 children. Church affiliated schools range from low-fee, regional and special needs schools to high-fee leading independent schools such as
Geelong Grammar (whose
alumni include
Prince Charles and
Rupert Murdoch);
Melbourne Grammar School (alma mater to
Barry Humphries) and Sydney's
King's School,
Abbotsleigh,
Sydney Church of England Grammar School,
SCEGGS Darlinghurst,
Canberra Grammar School and
The Southport School in Queensland. ==Administration and funding==