Australian Church

The Australian Church was an independent Christian church active in Australia between 1885 and 1957. It was founded by Charles Strong, a Scottish-born Presbyterian minister, after he resigned from the Presbyterian Church of Victoria while facing heresy charges. The church was politically and theologically liberal, advocating for pacifism, women's rights, and social reform. At its peak, the church's membership included many influential members of Melbourne's intellectual, political and business elite, including the future prime minister Alfred Deakin and the feminist Vida Goldstein.

The church's founder, Charles Strong, was educated at the University of Glasgow and was influenced by the teachings of the liberal theologian John Caird. Strong moved to Australia to take up the position of minister at Scots Church, Melbourne, in 1875, but soon attracted suspicion from more conservative members of the Victorian clergy for his liberal views. He faced commissions of inquiry after writing a controversial essay on the doctrine of atonement and inviting Supreme Court Chief Justice George Higinbotham to deliver a lecture on the relationship between religion and science. Strong resigned from his position while his case was being heard before the Presbyterian Assembly in 1883. He founded the Australian Church soon after and constructed an opulent church building on Flinders Street for his approximately 1000-member congregation.

The church's theology was characterised by a rejection of sectarianism and rigid theological doctrine. Strong aspired to create a single national church, free of traditional dogmas, that would contribute to the development of an Australian "national sentiment". The church and its members founded a number of affiliated organisations to operate social welfare initiatives and to advocate for political causes, including pacifism, prison reform, and labour rights.

By the 1890s the church began to experience financial strain—in part due to the substantial mortgage it had taken out to construct its Flinders Street premises—which worsened during the First World War after many members left the church due to Strong's strident pacifism and increasingly radical preaching. In 1922, the church sold its premises on Flinders Street and moved to a smaller building. It continued to operate after Strong's death in 1942, but held its final service in 1955 and was formally wound up in 1957.