Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 1965 A History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Australia to 1900 John D. Hawkes Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Australian Studies Commons, and the Mormon Studies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Hawkes, John D., "A History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Australia to 1900" (1965). Theses and Dissertations. 4777. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4777 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. A HISTORTHISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHMSTCHRIST OF LATTERZKYLATTERDATLATTER darDAT SAINTS IN AUSTRAIZAAUSTRALIA TO 1900 A thesis submitted to the department of graduate studies in religiousreligionsinstruction brigham youngyoongyoyoungungonguniversity proveprovo utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree master of arts by john douglas hawkes august 1965 acknowledgments with sincesincerere appreciation the writer acknowledges the following for helping to make this work possible to his advisory committee drdro richard cowan and drdre howard barron of the graduate faculty of the brigham young university for their capable assistance in directing the writing of this project especially for their useful comments and criticisms to the staff of the church historianhistorians office of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints salt lake city utahsutahjutah and to the staff of the brigham young university library provo utah to harry davis of the english department of the brigham young univer- sity for careful reading and editing of the manuscript and to katherine rex for assistance in editing and typing final expressions of appreciation are reserved for the authors parents mr and mrs john Bbo hawkes for their encouragement support and assistance through allailalian of the authorauthorsls educational endeavors TABIETABLE OF CONTENTS page acknowledgments 0 it 10 0 iii MAP OF AUSTRALIA 0 4- 10 0 a 0 0 vi chapter I1 introduction purpose and procedure brief synopsis of LDS church history 2 brief synopsis of australian history 3 II11 THE FIRST missionaries IN AUSTRAUAAUSTRAIZA 6 william barret 41 6 andrew andersenanderson 8 liiIII111 THE FIRST missionariesmissionamesMISSIONAMES IN AUSTRAIZAAUSTRALIA SENT FROM urahUTAH 1851 11 john murdock and charles wandellwand elleli 11 various lardslands in australia 15 beginnings in sydney 4 16 printing in the mission 19 first baptisms of this period 19 beginnings in melbourne 0 6 0 0 0 10 20 gold rush period it 0 1 0 0 10 10 21 fartherfurtherpartherpurther ubikubrkwbrk in sydney 0 do 6 22 murdock returns home 0 10 0 24 closing comments on the life of john murdock 26 Presipresidencypresldencydenayof charles wandellkaiearWairiell 0 0 10 29 ivelveIV THE SECOND GROUP OF utaimissionariesutahmtssionariesUTaIMISSIONARIES 10 33 traveling to australia t 0 e 33 greeting the new missionaries 36 where the missionaries were sent 37 zions watchman e 38 opening of new zealand 44 opening of tasmania 46 tragedy at sea 0 0 0 0 0 47 organ building lyby ridges 0 0 0 0 10 49 wiwilliamam hyde hunters river district 52 burr frost victoria district 56 IV chapter page V presidenciesPRESIDENCIES OF ABSOLOM Ppo DOWDLE AMAND ANDREW J STEWART 60 details of traveling 61 problems in the mission 0 0 0 0 63 background of amasa potter 10 66 experiences of amasa potter 68 cyr VI UTAH wariWARWARD PERIOD AND PRESIDENpresidencyCIr OF BEAUCHAMP 0 0 73 australasian mission daringdarlngduring the utah war period 73 background and conversion of beauchamp 0 0 0 76 beauchampbeauchamps mission ends 0 0 81 VII SERIES OF presidentsPRESIDENTSp ANDREW JENSONOJENSON DIVISION OF MISSION 83 1 series of presidents in australia 0 0 1 83 headquarters of australasian mission moved to new zealand 0 0 0 0 0 86 conference and book of mormon in maori 88 visit of andrew jenson 0 0 91 division of australasian mission 0 0 0 0 0 93 effects of dividing the mission 0 0 0 0 98 APPENDIX 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 103 SELECTEDSEIAEC bibliography 109 v CHAPTER I1 introduction p1130fillobiliopurpose 88 sildilandsii procedure1008118 the purpose of this research project was to gather information concerning the history of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints in australiaaustrallaaustraliaoaustralianAustrallaoliaobecause of the extent of the material this thesis will be limited to the period of history up to 1900 although short accounts have appeared no major history of the church in australia has ever been written an australian church history will illustrate the colorfulness and importance of LDS church history within the bounds of a foreign land and emphasize that much of importance occurs outside of the center stakes of zion in utah inasmuch as the australian comonsmomonscormonsmormons make up a significant part of the latterlattery day saint churechurchyN an extensive history of the church would not be complete without including a thorough history of the saints in australia A careful study was made of all known available material pertinent to the thesis subject the major part of the research occurred in the LDS church historianhistorians office in salt lake city and the brigham toungyoungyonnguniversity library in provo utahitahoutaho some of the most valuable sources of information on the history of the church in australia were 1 history of the australian mission in manuscript foaform located in the church historianhistorians office salt lake city utah 2 church periodicals such as the millennialennialannialstar times and seasons zions watchmanjjfatghman and the newspaper deseret newsnewso 1 2 3 memoirs journals and letters of early missionaries and church members in australia and newnow zealand letters of utah church leaders to australian church officers 44eae books written on general historieshistoriesof of australia and of the mormon church the thesis follows a chronological pattern deviating only when nec- essary to keep the continuity of individual accounts brief inolmoIMOsynopsis12 sis of LDS church history this and the following sections are designed to give just the sig- nificnificantificantant details of the histories of both the LDS church and the country of australia to place this thesis into its proper setting and increase the depth of meaning of the writingwriwritingswritingetinge the church of jesus christ of latter day saints was organized in fayette new torkyorkyonk on april 6 183011830.1 the church claims that it was organ- ized by a prophet by the name of joseph smithth who was instructed and author- ized lyby god to so organize the church the church believes that there had been an apostasy from the original church established by christ and his apostles and that through revelations and visitations of heavenly messengers the true principles ordinances and priesthood authority were restored to the earth the church declares that as part of this restoration it is the duty of the church membership to share their revealed knowledge with the rest of the world every nation kirrkirdkindredireddred tongue and people nw2 As a result a missionary zeal has always been a dominant and active feature of the ldsoLDSadso church iforfor a short general history of the LDS church see joseph fielding smith essentials jin church bishishistory salt lake city deseret book company 1961 or william E berrett the restored church salt lake city deseret book company 1961 2ho1voly ribleribiebiblebibie revelation chapter 14149 verse 660 3 shortly after the church was organized in newnow yorkayorkqyork the headquarters were moved to kirtland ohio and remained in the states of ohio and missouri until 1831839 when they were moved to nauvoo lilIllinillinoiseillinoiso113 inoisanoisolsaoiso in july 1847184 the saints settled in the salt lake valley in the present state of utah ten years after the ldesLDS church was organized in america the first missionaries arrived in australia in 184018401 during the ohio and missouri per- iod of the church history the first group of missionaries to be sent to australia from utah left in 185118519 just less than four years after the saints arrived in the salt lake Vvalleyvaileyey the next group of missionaries left late in 1852 right after the LDSledossledoso church authorities announced publicly the doctrine of plural marriage the third group of missionaries arrived near the enderyl of 1856 A strong interinterrelationshiprelationship between australian church history and general LDS church history occurred in 1858 when the third group of missionaries were called home because of the utah war following the utah iferkaaryaar came a series of mission presidents and then the changing of the mission headquarters to newmew zealand when latter day saint church history began in Austraaustraliailagliagit was a part of the australasian mission this thesis is not a history of the entire australasian missionmlsMissiongslong but of necessity winwill cover the history of the australasian mission to the extent that it influenced church history in the land of australia the australasian mission was divided into the australian andaryl new Zealarzealandxi missions in 1898 g during the church presidency of wilford woodruff brief synopsissvnopsis of australian histoa3Historyhistory33 the first european