The South Australian League for the Maintenance of Religious Freedom was a religious lobby group formed to combat the State-Aid Legislation put in place by Governor Robe between 1847 to 1851. The League strived for freedom of religious practice in South Australia and a separation of church and state unlike the other Australian colonies before them. This was to uphold the beliefs of the founders of South Australia who wanted the colony to be a place of refuge for those of religious dissent in their own homeland.
Foundation of Religious Liberty
When the state of South Australia was proclaimed in 1836 there was a communal belief between founders that the colony should not have a dominant church. This ideal allowed South Australia to be a promising location for settlers as it was a safe haven for religious practice free from the persecution they escaped from in their previous homelands. Three prominent members of this belief were Robert Gouger, George Fife Angas and Edward Gibbon Wakefield who believed in the movement of no favoured state church and that no religion should have a higher status to another. Angas especially hoped that South Australia would “provide a place of refuge for pious Dissenters of Great Britain”. Yet despite this communal spirit, the proposed laws set in place by the government were based on English statutes which favoured the Anglican church due to the rule of the monarchy and their position as both the head of state and of the church. To combat legislations deemed inappropriate to the beliefs of the colony, many religious individuals from different faiths would unify to attest their displeasure to unequal religious treatment within the colony.
The 1842 Marriage Act
One of the first pushes towards religious freedom in South Australia was the Marriage Act in 1842. Prior to this legislation, the early colonial laws allowed marriages to be performed in the Anglican Church by Rev. Charles Howard. By 1839 there was already discussions to implement a new marriage act; however, the bill that was put forward was based on the English model which still placed precedent on Anglican worship as it was well established as the primary belief in English law. On March 10th 1841, a committee wrote to Governor Gawler to express the community’s belief of religious liberty and state the needed changes to proposed act; allowing civil recognition of non-Anglican marriages and provide legitimacy of practice by other religious groups through a certified minister. The committee named themselves the “Provisional Committee of the Society for the Preservation of Religious Freedom in South Australia” and was formed to express the religious liberty they sought and were promised when emigrating to South Australia. Names attached to this letter comprised of an array of different beliefs including early church ministers such as Rev. Thomas Stow (Congregational Church), Rev. Ralph Drummond (Presbyterian); early horticulturalist and businessman A.H. Davis; and the eventual chair of the League for the Maintenance of Religious Freedom, Edward Stephens. Governor George Grey instead was able to push the bill forward by abandoning “all the most objectionable clauses of the atrocious marriage bill” by 27 November 1841. The Marriage Act was passed on 22nd March 1842 which allowed other Protestant ministers and Rabbis the authority to perform marriage ceremonies as well as certifying Civil Registration. Two years later a further law was placed with also incorporated the Roman Catholic Church.
The South Australian League
The most contested issue for religious liberty was avoiding a state-aided church. The formation of the Marriage Act in 1842 helped divert the possibility for the government to place priority and funds to one sole church or faction early on into the formation of the state. Yet once again lobbying and pressure from the religious communities were required once again from 1846. Governor Robe with the assistance of John Morphett introduced state aid to religion in South Australia much to the displeasure of the colonists within the state. In his history of South Australia, Edwin Hodder argues that Governor Robe was unable to apprehend the colonial principals of religious freedom that South Australia was found upon and believed South Australia was backwards due to its refusal of state aid to religion which the other states followed. Through the guidance of Governor Robe, Morphett insisted that the voluntary resources towards religion was not substantial enough to uphold the religious needs of the colony and that the government is required to promote “the moral and religious well-being of the community”. Legislation was put in place in July 1846 with the plan to provide aid to religions based on their numbers within the census. Based on the ruling of this grant, more of the governments wealth was to be placed into churches with higher congregations which meant less funding to Lutheran, Catholic and Jewish communities. Some congregations and churches approved this approach but it was also met with hard opposition by other constituents. Whilst some viewed that it noticed and accepted variety of religion throughout the colony in this scheme, the underlying belief by dissenters was that it played favouritism and elitist to the Church of England which made up half of the colonies religious factions. During its inaction between 1847 and 1851, outlying religious groups would refuse government funding or reluctantly accept due to a need to finance places of worship for their congregation.
From the early onset of State Aid legislation, another league was formed to oppose government funding named “The South Australian League for the Maintenance of Religious Freedom”. Similar members from the last faction joined their numbers maintaining the belief that religion should be placed on the voluntary act of individuals. Despite initially addressing their public concerns to Governor Robe and demanding amendments to the legislation when it was first put forward to members of the Church of England, the Governor dismissed their deputation stating “I have no remarks to make, Gentlemen”. These actions confirmed the league’s beliefs that the recent legislation allowed the state to make religion subservient to their political agenda. Their primary argument to this act was the understanding that an individual should not have their taxes be given to religions the individual does not believe in. The government legislation saw opposition from between 400 to 500 members of the league who met regularly to find ways to petition these beliefs and the early colonial foundation of freedom of religion. Six petitions were drawn by the league with as many as 2,000 signatures on one which was addressed and made its way to Queen Victoria. League members took to arguing their cause in the press, on political platforms and pulpits to raise public awareness. The heated arguments and disagreements of this legislation became a platform during the elections of Legislative Council in 1851, resulting in a win that narrowly allowed it to be overturned with three votes. With only four years of this legislation in place, South Australia was the first state to dissolve the governments relationship with state religion due to the strong communal belief of religious liberty that the early colonists founded the state upon.
