ABSTRACT
The conservative Evangelical drive to preach reform to an irreligious, immoral, disordered society so evident in the early days of the colony is still very much part of the Sydney mentality, as has been made explicit so recently in Peter Jensen's mission programme. All the Protestant churches share this propensity in Sydney though, often seeing themselves in open confrontation with the wider community. Evangelicalism increasingly became a force in England, particularly at the University of Cambridge. Its proponents raised funds for the training of sympathetic clergy and laity to work both in England and in overseas missions, and by the early nineteenth century, Evangelical Anglicans were becoming bishops, and more influential in the Church of England. Sydney's consistent posture of independence from the national church is not surprising, given the nature of the Anglican Church of Australia. Under its constitution, adopted in 1961 and implemented in 1962, real power in the Australian church remains in the hands of individual dioceses.
