The Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn is one of the 23 dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia

Anglican Church of Australia

The Anglican Church of Australia is a member church of the Anglican Communion. It was previously officially known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania...

. The diocese has 60 parishes covering most of south-east New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, the eastern Riverina

Riverina

The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales , Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop...

 and the Australian Capital Territory

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...

 (ACT). It stretches from Marulan

Marulan, New South Wales

Marulan is a small town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in the Goulburn Mulwaree Council Local Government Area. It is located south-west of Sydney on the Hume Highway, although it bypasses the town proper. Marulan lies on the 150th meridian east. It has a railway station...

 in the north, from Batemans Bay

Batemans Bay, New South Wales

- Media :Radio Stations*East Coast Radio 2EC *Power FM NSW South Coast - POWER FM from Nowra can also be received in parts of Batemans Bay on FM 94.9....

 to Eden

Eden, New South Wales

Eden is a coastal town in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The town, south of the state capital Sydney near the border with Victoria, is located between Nullica Bay to the south and Calle Calle Bay, the northern reach of Twofold Bay, and built on undulating land adjacent to a...

 on the south coast across to Holbrook

Holbrook, New South Wales

Holbrook is a small town in Southern New South Wales, Australia. It is on the Hume Highway, 356 km North-East of Melbourne and 491 km south-west of Sydney between Tarcutta and Albury. The town is in the Greater Hume Shire Council area which was established in May 2004 from the merger of...

 in the south-west, north to Wagga Wagga

Wagga Wagga, New South Wales

Wagga Wagga is a city in New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, and with an urban population of 46,735 people, Wagga Wagga is the state's largest inland city, as well as an important agricultural, military, and transport hub of Australia...

, Temora

Temora, New South Wales

Temora is a town located in north east part of the Riverina area of New South Wales, south-west of the state capital, Sydney. At the 2006 census the population of Temora was 4,086.-History:...

, Young

Young, New South Wales

-Demographics:On census night, 7 August 2001, there were 6,821 people counted in Young. There were 238 people who identified as being of Indigenous origin in the 2001 Census...

 and Goulburn

Goulburn, New South Wales

Goulburn is a provincial city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Goulburn Mulwaree Council Local Government Area. It is located south-west of Sydney on the Hume Highway and above sea-level. On Census night 2006, Goulburn had a population of 20,127 people...

.

The Diocese of Goulburn was established in 1863. At that time it extended to the south and west of Goulburn to the south-western corner of New South Wales (south of the 34th degree of latitude

34th parallel south

The 34th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 34 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America....

). In 1883 the diocese was divided, with the western portion designated as the major part of the newly created Diocese of Riverina. In 1950 the name was changed to the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn. St Saviour's Cathedral

Goulburn Cathedral (St. Saviour)

St Saviour's Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Anglican diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, Australia. The Cathedral is named after the Saviour Himself. The current Dean is the Very Reverend Phillip Saunders.-History:...

, the mother church of the diocese, is located in Goulburn, New South Wales. Both the diocesan bishop and the diocesan office are located in Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

, Australia's national capital, which is 87 kilometres to the south of Goulburn.

Current bishops

The Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn is the Rt Revd Stuart Robinson, who was elected 10th bishop of the diocese on 1 November 2008 (All Saints' Day). He was consecrated and enthroned in St Saviour's Cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

, Goulburn on 31 January 2009.

The assistant bishop, since 2004, is Trevor Edwards.

Former diocesan bishops

• Mesac Thomas
  Mesac Thomas
  Mesac Thomas was an Anglican bishop in Australia.Thomas was born to Welsh parents: his father was a John Thomas of Shrewsbury. He was educated at Shrewsbury and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1840 and M.A. in 1843...
  
  : b. 1816; consecrated 25 March 1863; installed 8 April 1864; d. 16 March 1892 (in office)
• William Chalmers
  William Chalmers (bishop)
  William Chalmers was an Anglican bishop in Australia.Chalmers was born in London and educated at St Augustine's College, Canterbury and ordained in 1859. He was an SPG missionary in Borneo before emigrating to Victoria, Australia. He held incumbencies at Inglewood, Malmsbury, Kyneton, Geelong...
  
  : b. 1833; elected 9 June 1892; consecrated 1 November 1892; installed 1 November 1892; d. 13 November 1901 (in office)
• Christopher Barlow: b. 1858; consecrated 25 July 1891; elected 28 January 1902; installed 23 April 1902; resigned 31 March 1915; d. 30 August 1915
• Lewis Radford: b. 5 June 1869; elected 18 May 1915; consecrated 24 August 1915; installed 31 August 1915; resigned 31 December 1933; d. 2 April 1937
• Ernest Burgmann: b. 9 May 1885; elected 2 February 1934; consecrated 1 May 1934; installed 4 May 1934; resigned 31 December 1960; d. 14 March 1967
• Kenneth Clements: b. 21 December 1905 consecrated 29 June 1949; elected 21 February 1961; installed 15 June 1961; resigned 30 September 1971; d. 8 January 1992
• Cecil Warren: b. 25 February 1924; consecrated 21 September 1965; elected 15 November 1971; installed 31 January 1972; resigned 5 September 1983
• Owen Dowling: b. 11 October 1934; consecrated 25 March 1981; elected 15 November 1983; installed 17 December 1983; resigned 1 January 1993; d. 6 May 2008
• George Browning; 9th bishop of the diocese on 31 January 1993 and installed on 30 May 1993; laid up the pastoral staff in St Saviour's Cathedral, Goulburn, on 2 February 2008

Sources and external links

• Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn website
• A church for a nation: a history of the Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, by Tom Frame. Alexandria: Hale and Iremonger, 2000 ISBN 0-86806-695-8