ABSTRACT
The Christian Bible begins with the words: In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth the earth was formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. When Europeans arrived in Australia they did not find a 'formless void.' Instead they found a land inhabited by hundreds of Indigenous Nations each with their own unique history, law, culture, language and origin stories. The chapter evaluates whether or not Australia ever had a formal de jure establishment of any specified church/es or religion/s with particular focus on the early colonial period. The most likely church to have been the established church in the Australian colonies is the Church of England. The position of the senior Church of England clergy on the first Legislative Council would indicate that the Church of England was the established church of the colony.
