Defending the Faith: Orangeism and Ulster Protestant Identities in Colonial New South Wales

Abstract

The Orange Order was never as prominent in the Australian colonies as its own publicity asserted and its arguments against the power of Rome in Australian politics and society were more shrill than accurate. However, it held a clearly defined position as a vector of anti‐Catholicism and ultra‐Protestantism in many parts of colonial Australia, and its parades and social gatherings were important spaces for the formation of Australian Protestant identities imbued with varying levels of Irishness. The use of public space meant that the Loyal Orange Institution had a wider impact than their often small numbers might otherwise suggest. With their parades, sermons, public meetings, and demonstrations many Orangemen and women attempted to claim colonial public space not only as Protestant, but as a particularly Irish inflected anti‐Catholicism.

Sectarianism and Separatism in Colonial Port Phillip

“…In the Port Phillip settlement, meanwhile, some Scottish separatists used the language of Ulster loyalism to battle for independence. Though Orange lodges in Australia were "forums for Ulster Protestant" identity, as Dianne Hall has argued, 64 they incorporated Scottish as well as Irish migrants, including the formidable William Kerr of Melbourne. According to Ben Wilkie's recent findings, by the second half of the nineteenth century, Scottish associational culture in Melbourne exhibited a "hybrid form of British loyalty and Scottish nationalism": what can be described as "popular imperialism."…”

Lay Defender of Catholicism: Dr. Edward Swarbreck Hall in Tasmania 1833–1881

“…59 The Orange Order became "a vector of anti-Catholicism and ultra-Protestantism in many parts of colonial Australia." 60 The 1870s were marked by the growing assertion of Evangelicalism in Australia. Throughout the British Empire, Evangelicals sought not only to convert Roman Catholics, but also "to limit their political and social influence."…”