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	March 2004
		Two hundred years of Anglican worship in Tasmania by Alan Dwight
			Just 200 years ago, on 20 February 1804, Europeans set up tents in what became Hobart. On the 26th red-coated soldiers and ill-clad convicts formed uneven lines as puzzled aborigines watched from a distance. The chaplain, the Rev. Robert Knopwood conducted a service from the Book of Common Prayer on a site near the present Hobart Town Hall. His text: 'Whoso is wise, and will consider these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.' (Psalm 107:43). In his service Knopwood thanked God for water, the land, the aborigines and the British Empire. First This is regarded as the first formal Christian service in the settlement. Probably the first baptism in the colony was that of a three-year-old aboriginal boy orphaned in the Risdon Massacre. Knopwood baptised aboriginal and white children, and Roman Catholics asked for baptism. This may have been because only the baptised could be buried in the consecrated ground. Lieutenant Governor David Collins and Knopwood marked out the first burial ground (now St David's Park) in April 1804. Collins was interred there on his death in 1810 and a monument built in 1838 marks the altar of the first church which was built in 1810. Later services were held in a carpenter's shop with thatched roof, earth floor and wooden slabs for seats. A flimsy wooden church, hurriedly erected in 1810, was blown down in a storm two years later and services were then held on the verandah of the old Government House, the prison or barracks. The beauty of worship The foundation stone of old St David's was laid on 19 February 1817 on the present cathedral site and Knopwood conducted the first service on 25 April 1819 in a windowless church. It could seat 832 people with 442 (convicts) in the galleries. Knopwood's text was: 'Other foundations can no one lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.' (1 Corinthians 3:11). St David was chosen as patron of the church because of Collins' Christian name. King George III had provided silver Communion vessels, with Knopwood providing prayerbooks, Bibles, altar linen and hangings. He introduced psalm singing, a choir and a small orchestra. He believed in the beauty of worship and was tireless in the administration of the sacraments. Affable Knopwood was well-liked, kind and affable. He travelled widely in the colony, ministering to convict road-gangs as well as settlers. He was often ill (alcohol his only relief from pain) yet received no help until in 1819 the Rev. John Youl arrived; but he died in 1827. The Rev. William Bedford arrived to take charge in 1822, but neither priest approved of the other. Bedford was very proper and soon became unpopular: 'Holy Willy', as the convicts called him, was very different from Knopwood. On the first Sunday in 1838 Knopwood preached his last sermon to a very full church. His text: 'My times are in his hand.' (Psalm 31:15) Faithful servant Some writers have concentrated on the later Knopwood - the sick, alcoholic and embittered old man. They forget the faithful priest who had worked hard to build up the church from mainly convicts - often vicious liars, cheats, murderers and drunkards. We can acknowledge faults, but should see him as a faithful servant. He died in September 1838, buried at St Matthew's, Rokeby. His close friend, the first Roman Catholic priest in the Colony (arrived 1821), died in August 1839. Lloyd Robson remarks, 'So came to a close an early chapter in the development of the ecumenical movement in Australia.' (History of Tasmania I. p.287) Acknowledgement for some material is given to The Anglican Church in Tasmania: a Diocesan history to mark the sesquicentenary 1992, by Geoffrey Stephens, published by the Trustees of the Diocese of Tasmania; and A history of Tasmania. Volume I, Van Diemen's Land from the earliest times to 1855 by L.L. Robson, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1983.