Australia’s First Christmas 2

Captain David Collins, Judge Advocate for the Colony, reports that on December 25, 1788.

“… the Christmas Day was observed with proper ceremony. Mr. Johnson preached a sermon adapted to the occasion, and the major part of the officers of the settlement were afterward entertained at dinner by the governor.”

Collin’s description of the day is brief yet there is so much more to be said of the day that was not reported.

On the morning of December 25, 1788, all persons in the colony were required to attend the Christmas service – as attendance of church services was mandatory. Most sat on the ground while others were able to stand in the shade of the trees to find relief from the rising sun and the summer heat. The 4,200 Bibles and prayer books that Revd. Johnson brought with him would have been distributed and it was the perfect occasion for Surgeon Worgan’s  piano to be set up at the front of the gathering for the singing of hymns.

The service was conducted by Revd. Richard Johnson, who was of the lower-church, or evangelical wing, of the Church of England. He had been a member of the Clapham Street Christian society, and had been influenced by the great John Wesley and was a friend of William Wilberforce. Indeed, it was Wilberforce that requested Prime Minister Pitt have Johnson sent out to New South Wales as its chaplain. Johnson believed in social reform and social kindness and would endeavour to bring the gospel of care and concern to the new colony.

Christmas in Sydney was to be celebrated, as much as was possible, in the traditions of British society. Christmas, at this time, was a season rather than a single day’s celebration. It was a season of the 12 days of Christmas that ran from Christmas Day to Epiphany, where, by tradition, the three wise men had appeared in the stable to greet the child, Jesus. While, at this time of the 1780s, there were no giving of Christmas cards, or decorations of trees, there was certainly no Santa Clause – which was an invention of the Coca Cola Company out of its Chicago office in 1932.

The Catholic Church and Church of England had three essential festivals: Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. It was the Methodist revival of the 1700s which  stimulated Christmas to become the season of joy and celebration. It became, as Charles Dickins would write, a social feast. It was in this period that the emphasis of Christmas grew to be a time of  intimacy with families coming together to share a meal of thanksgiving. It also became an expression of material prosperity by a growing middle class and a time to share and give. The benevolence of Christian giving and charity was important: Christmas was a season to ‘give as God gave to us’.

The Methodists gave the church music and song like never before. Christmas was now filled with the singing of Christmas carols such as: Silent Night, Oh Come All ye Faithful, Hark the Herald Angels sing’ Joy to the World and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

When Collins writes “the Christmas Day was observed with proper ceremony”, the whole colony would have sung some of these carols. Revd. Johnson would have enthusiastically lead the worship and delivered his sermon. The congregation would have ‘passed the peace’ by wishing each other a merry Christmas. Aborigines stood on the edge of the gathering watching this celebration.

It was Governor Phillip’s desire to give to each person extra rations of flour, as he did in years to come, but during this first year in the settlement with restricted supplies, this was not possible. But certainly, extra rations of wine and rum would have been made available.

After the ceremony, people were free to continue to celebrate as they desired and were able. No doubt, people pooled their food supplies in order to cook themselves a Christmas lunch. The officers were invited and attended a Christmas dinner with the Governor where they were ‘entertained’ with more singing, laughter and stories of home and of their recent adventures. No doubt, there would have been more consumption of the ‘cheap wine’ that the King had ordered be bought in Cape Town on the way to New South Wales.

And, throughout the Day, people toasted the health of King George and enjoyed the occasion as a Merry Christmas.