ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the evolution of the relationship between the State and religion in Australia in relation to education from the arrival of the first fleet in 1788 through to the second High Court challenge to the federal government's National School Chaplaincy Programme in 2014. However, Section 116 has not been completely absent from the changes that have taken place in the relationship between the State and religion since Federation. The chapter explains the beginning of education in the very early colony before going on to examine the attempts by the State to establish a Church of England monopoly over education. The Church of England dominance in education began to be challenged both at an individual level and at a more organised systematic level. The schools under the Church of England clergyman Rev Cowper's management were required to follow the 'Rules for the management of the Public Schools at Sydney, New South Wales.'
