Reformed Presbyterian Church of Australia
The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Australia is a Calvinist denomination in Australia. It is a small Presbyterian denomination numbering slightly over 200 persons with its largest congregation in the area of Geelong, Victoria. The first church, in Geelong, was started in 1858. It links itself historically with those in the Covenanter movement in Scotland who did not accept the settlement of Presbyterianism in that country in 1690, and has sister denominational relations with the Reformed Presbyterian Churches of North America, Ireland, and Scotland. Fraternal relations exist with the very similar Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia.
Background
A number of Reformed Presbyterians had migrated from Scotland or Ireland to Australia. A number who did not join other branches of the Presbyterian Church were against occasional hearing, and they wanted a minister of their own. They wrote to the parent church requesting this. The Rev. A. M. Moore eventually answered. He was ordained in Belfast 18 August 1857, and arrived in Melbourne in late December 1857, to commence the work in Geelong which he served until his death in 1897. Geelong was the only congregation for many years, the most notable minister after Moore being H.K. Mack who served 1909-46. Congregations were begun in McKinnon, Victoria (1933 begun/1946 organised, Rev. W. R. McEwen), Frankston, Victoria (1971/1977), and Sunbury, Victoria (1979/1981, closed 2006).
