A Brief History

The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Australia is a small Australian denomination tracing our history and teaching to the Protestant Reformation especially in Scotland and Ireland. We have has denominational relations with the Reformed Presbyterian Churches of North America, Ireland, and Scotland.

A number of Reformed Presbyterians had migrated from Scotland or Ireland to Australia and in the 1850s wrote to the church in Ireland requesting a minister. The Rev. A. M. Moore eventually answered. He was ordained in Belfast 18 August 1857, and arrived in Melbourne in late December 1857, to begin the work in Geelong which he served until his death in 1897. Geelong was the only congregation for many years. In 1959, the Rev. A. Barkley, RP minister in Geelong, became the founding principal of the Reformed Theological College.

Congregations were begun in McKinnon, Victoria (begun in 1933/organised in 1946 – founding minister Rev. W. R. McEwen), Frankston, Victoria (1971/1977, closed in 1989, reestablished 2008), and Sunbury, Victoria (1979/1981, closed in 2006). In 1974, the Australian Presbytery petitioned the RPC-Ireland, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland, and was made a separate denomination on 12 June.

Here are some documents which represent the historical position of Reformed Presbyterians. Some Reformed Presbyterians still agree with the position put forward in these documents. However, these positions are not binding on Reformed Presbyterians today.

Having said this, though, we are not a church that holds doctrines because they are traditional. We hold doctrines because we believe they are the doctrines scripture teaches.