Reformed Churches of Australia

The Reformed Churches of Australia is the name of the church established by post-war Dutch immigrants of the Reformed faith in Australia. It is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Dutch Reformed Church. The first Reformed Church of Australia was established at Kingston in 1952. Its name was chosen to make clear the desire to integrate into the Australian community and to remove the stigma of being Dutch and 'foreign'. Nevertheless, it was based on the principles of orthodox Reformed theology so that its members were predominantly former members of the Gereformeerde Kerken in the Netherlands.

As Dutch migration to Tasmania continued in the 1950s and 1960s, Reformed Churches were established in Ulverstone, Penguin, Hobart and Howrah. Since the 1970s, the ethnic diversity of its membership has increased.

Further reading: Reformed Churches of Australia, Yearbook, Kingston, 1961; and Yearbooks, Geelong, 1965–82.

Roberta Julian