The Anglican Diocese of Grafton is one of the 23 dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia. The diocese is located in north-east New South Wales and covers the area from the Queensland border to Port Macquarie in the south and west to the Great Dividing Range.
Diocese of Grafton | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| Ecclesiastical province | New South Wales |
| Coordinates | 30°S 153°E / 30°S 153°E |
| Statistics | |
| Parishes | 22 |
| Churches | 54 |
| Schools | 5 |
| Information | |
| Cathedral | Christ Church Cathedral, Grafton |
| Current leadership | |
| Bishop | Murray Harvey |
| Website | |
| graftondiocese.org | |
Created in 1914 as a result of a division of the previous Diocese of Grafton and Armidale it has 22 parishes and 3 transitional ministry districts and an Anglicare organisation seeking to support community and social needs within the diocese. The cathedral church is the Cathedral Church of Christ the King in Grafton.
The Church of St Thomas at Port Macquarie was built by an early Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Brisbane. It is the fifth oldest church building in Australia.
The current Bishop of Grafton, Murray Harvey, is the 12th bishop of the diocese. He was installed at Christ Church Cathedral, Grafton, on 29 September 2018.
Sarah Macneil the 11th Bishop of Grafton become the first woman to lead an Australian diocese as bishop. Macneil announced her resignation on 17 November 2017, to be effective from 3 March 2018.[1]
The bishop is based in Grafton.
Bishops
| Bishops of Grafton | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
| 1 | 1914 | 1921 | Cecil Druitt | Previously Coadjutor Bishop of Grafton and Armidale; died in office. |
| 2 | 1921 | 1938 | John Ashton | |
| 3 | 1938 | 1945 | William Stevenson | Previously Archdeacon of Brisbane; died in office. |
| 4 | 1946 | 1955 | Christopher Storrs | Previously Archdeacon of Northam. |
| 5 | 1956 | 1961 | Kenneth Clements | Previously bishop coadjutor in the Diocese of Goulburn; translated to Canberra and Goulburn. |
| 6 | 1961 | 1973 | Gordon Arthur | Previously an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn. |
| 7 | 1973 | 1985 | Donald Shearman | Previously Bishop of Rockhampton; later resigned his holy orders and was defrocked. |
| 8 | 1985 | 1998 | Bruce Schultz | Previously Dean of Grafton. |
| 9 | 1998 | 2003 | Philip Huggins | Previously an Assistant Bishop of Perth; later an Assistant Bishop of Melbourne. |
| 10 | 2003 | 2013 | Keith Slater | [2] |
| 11 | 2014 | 2018 | Sarah Macneil | Previously an archdeacon in the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn and Dean of Adelaide. |
| 12 | 2018 | present | Murray Harvey | Consecrated and installed 29 September 2018. |
| Source(s):[3] | ||||
Cathedral
The cathedral church is Christ Church Cathedral in Grafton which was designed by John Horbury Hunt and commenced in 1884 during the episcopacy of Bishop James Turner and completed to its present stage in 1937.[4] The building is of brick construction in a Gothic Revival style with towering arches and ornate stained glass windows. An organ was installed in 1884 by George Fincham of Melbourne which was replaced in 1992 by a 1903 instrument brought from London by Peter D.G. Jewkes Pty Ltd of Sydney.[5]
The cathedral is a National Trust listed building.[6]
Deans of Grafton
The following individuals have served as Deans of Grafton:
| Ordinal | Name | Term start | Term end | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arthur Edward Warr | 1949 | 1965 | |
| 2 | Roderick William Bowie | 1966 | 1968 | |
| 3 | Henry St John Edwards | 1969 | 1978 | |
| 4 | Bruce Allan Schultz | 1979 | 1983 | Afterwards Bishop of Grafton, 1985 |
| 5 | Richard Warwick Hurford | 1983 | 1997 | Later Bishop of Bathurst, 2001 |
| 6 | Peter Charles Catt | 1997 | 2007 | Afterwards Dean of Brisbane, 2008 |
| 7 | Donald Kingsley Kirk | 2007 | 2017 | Later Bishop of Riverina, 2019 |
| 8 | Gregory Charles Jenks | 2017 | 2022 | |
| 9 | Naomi Cooke | 2023 | Current | Installed 12 August 2023 |
Church schools
The diocese also has a number of church-based schools providing education across a range of age groups.
| Founded | School | Enrollment | Years | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School | 1100 | P-12 | Tweed Heads |
| 1993 | Bishop Druitt College | 1192 | K-12 | Coffs Harbour |
| 1998 | Emmanuel Anglican College | 388 | P-12 | Ballina |
| 1998 | Clarence Valley Anglican School | 297 | P-12 | Grafton |
| 2002 | St Columba Anglican School | 680 | P-12 | Port Macquarie |