ABSTRACT
The Methodist presence in Newfoundland began with an Irishman, Laurence Coughlan. Newfoundland remained separate from Canada, with its own Dominion status from 1907, until 1949. Methodism took a different line. Ministers moved from District to District. The Canadian mainland was first colonized by the French and came under British rule after Wolfe's capture of Qubec in 1759. After the War of Independence, Britain could no longer send convicted criminals to the American colonies and settled on New South Wales for the purpose. In Western Australia John Smithies, who had previously worked in Newfoundland, had a different approach. For twelve years from 1840 he combined his colonial pastorate with his determination to serve the native Australians. Methodism rose to the challenge of the gold rush. Many of the prospectors came from South Australia, leaving the churches there half-emptied. Australian Methodism was nearly half a century ahead and thereafter its history and that of the Missionary Society divide.
