The Diocese of Riverina is one of 23 dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia. The diocese covers 37% of New South Wales, including the Riverina and the far west of the state. The diocese was established in 1884 when the Diocese of Goulburn was divided.
Diocese of Riverina | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
| Location | |
| Country | Australia |
| Ecclesiastical province | New South Wales |
| Metropolitan | Archbishop of Sydney |
| Coordinates | 34°44′S 146°33′E / 34.733°S 146.550°E |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Established | 1884 |
| Cathedral | St Alban's Cathedral, Griffith |
| Current leadership | |
| Parent church | Anglican Church of Australia |
| Bishop | Donald Kirk |
| Dean | Thomas Leslie |
| Website | |
| anglicanriverina | |
Parishes and ministry
The diocese has 23 parishes and covers main population centres of Griffith, Broken Hill, Deniliquin, Leeton, Narrandera and Corowa.
However, only 15 of the parishes have full-time clergy. In 2003 funding pressures lead the diocese to a joint funding arrangement with the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn and the Diocese of Bathurst for several ministry services.[1]
List of diocesan bishops
| Bishops of Riverina | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinal | Incumbent | Term start | Term end | Time in office | Notes |
| 1 | Sydney Linton | 1884 | 1895 | 10–11 years | Linton established the see and cathedra in Hay and was instrumental in setting up the first synod for the Church of England in Australia in 1887.[2] |
| 2 | Ernest Anderson | 1895 | 1925 | 29–30 years | Despite his episcopacy being dogged by prolonged drought and financial hardship, Bishop Andserson managed to double the nunmber of parishes in the diocese. |
| 3 | Sir Reginald Charles Halse CMG, KBE | 1925 | 1943 | 17–18 years | On completion of his term, Halse was translated to Archbishop of Brisbane.[3] |
| 4 | Charles Herbert Murray | 1944 | 1950 | 5–6 years | Bishop Murray was consecrated bishop on 2 February 1944. Together with Norman Blow, the Dean of Newcastle, he was killed on 26 June 1950 when the A.N.A. Skymaster "Amana" crashed on a return flight from Perth.[4] |
| 5 | Hector Robinson | 1951 | 1965 | 13–14 years | In 1953 Bishop Robinson transferred the administrative centre of the diocese to Narrandera, with accommodation for the bishop and registry. Hay, however, remained the site of the pro-cathedral of the diocese. |
| 6 | Sir John Grindrod | 1966 | 1971 | 4–5 years | Bishop Grindrod, an Englishman, came to Riverina via Queensland. He travelled widely to the remote parts of the diocese (in a small VW Beetle) and was a keen bird-spotter. He later became Bishop of Rockhampton, Archbishop of Brisbane and Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia. He died in January 2009. |
| 7 | Barry Hunter | 1972 | 1992 | 19–20 years | Bishop Hunter was a keen poet and the first and only pilot-bishop of the diocese, flying a Cessna across the diocese for many years. He developed strategies to help lesson the sense of isolation of parishes and clergy. During the centenary year of the diocese, the church of St Alban in Griffith was designated as the cathedral. In 1992 St Martin's College was established as an Anglican residential college at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga by both the Riverina and Canberra-Goulburn dioceses. |
| 8 | Bruce Quentin Clark | 1993 | 2004 | 10–11 years | Bishop Clarke served the wider church as chairperson of the Provincial Education Committee. During his episcopacy the financial base of the diocese was strengthened by the establishment of the Riverina Anglican Foundation and the receipt of the Faulks bequest. |
| 9 | Douglas Stevens | 2005 | 2012 | 6–7 years | Bishop Stevens was consecrated and enthroned as the ninth bishop of the diocese on 29 November 2005 at the Cathedral Church of St Alban the Martyr, Griffith. He formerly served in the Newcastle and Grafton dioceses in the parishes of Toronto, Merriwa, Newcastle Cathedral, Bolton Point, Wingham, Nambucca Heads and Tweed Heads. He is married to Denise (née Hull) and they have two daughters, Aisling and Erin.[5] He served the wider church as Anglican co-chair of AUSTARC (the Australian Anglican and Roman Catholic dialogue group) and the New South Wales Provincial Education Commission.[6] Stevens resigned as the Bishop of Riverina on 11 November 2012.[7] |
| 10 | Alan Robert "Rob" Gillion | 2014 | 2018 | 9–10 years | Bishop Gillion, formerly the Rector of Upper Chelsea in London, England, based at Holy Trinity Sloane Street, was consecrated and installed at Griffith Cathedral on 15 August 2014. |
| 11 | Donald Kirk | 2019 | incumbent | 4–5 years | Most recently rector of Hamilton in the Diocese of Ballarat, and Dean of Grafton prior to that. |
Cathedral
St Alban's Cathedral in Griffith is the cathedral of the diocese. Initial ground work for the cathedral building begun as early as 1937, but substantive construction was not until 1954 and the foundation stone being laid in 1954. However, the building did not actually become the cathedral until 1984 as part of the diocese's centenary celebrations.
The cathedral was invested in honour of the World War II fallen and in 1956 the Archbishop of Brisbane dedicated the cathedral's honour roll.
Parishes
Christ The King Anglican Church (Hillston)St Peters Anglican Church (Leeton)
References
Further reading
- Clyde, Laurel (1979). In a Strange Land: A History of the Anglican Diocese of Riverina. Melbourne: Hawthorn Press.