Bush Brotherhood

The Bush Brotherhood refers to a series of Anglican religious orders that supplied itinerant clergy, valued for their apostolic preaching and horsemanship, to minister across the sparsely populated rural regions of Australia. The first brotherhood was founded in 1897 at Longreach, Queensland, by Canon Body, Bishop of Stepney, and Nathaniel Dawes, Bishop of Rockhampton, with the Reverend George Halford as its first leader, and its priests took temporary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Further brotherhoods followed, including the Brotherhood of St Barnabas at Herberton, Queensland, in 1902, the Brotherhood of the Good Shepherd at Dubbo, New South Wales, around 1903, the Bush Brotherhood of St Boniface in Western Australia from 1911 to 1929, a Brotherhood of St John the Baptist at Murray Bridge, South Australia, and the Bush Brotherhood of St Paul at Charleville and Cunnamulla, Queensland. The movement declined sharply by the 1960s, though the Brotherhood of the Good Shepherd continues in rural New South Wales today.