Clergy Training College, Goulburn

This article is about the former Anglican theological college in Goulburn, New South Wales. For the former theological college in Perth, Western Australia, originally known as the Clergy Training College, Perth, see St John's Theological College, Perth.

The Clergy Training College (also known as the Goulburn Diocesan College) was a short-lived Australian educational institution in Goulburn, New South Wales, established in 1906. It trained candidates for ordination in the Anglican Church of Australia (which, at the time, was called the Church of England in Australia).

The Rt Rev Christopher Barlow (1858-1915) was Bishop of Goulburn from 1902 to 1915. Barlow was strongly opposed to 'party', and considered that the needs of a bush diocese required a broad theological training.[1] It was also the era of many of the Australian dioceses establishing their own theological colleges.[2] In 1906 Barlow established the Clergy Training College.[3] The first Warden was the Rev Wentworth Wentworth-Sheilds, formerly the Archdeacon of Wagga.[4] Barlow and Wentworth-Sheilds were cousins.[5]

By 1907 there were seven students, with a further 10 accepted for admission. Those seven were in a rented house, but Barlow's intention was to erect a permanent building next to St Saviour's Cathedral.[6]

It is unclear exactly when the college closed. Fundraising was still taking place at the end of 1908, but there is no apparent press coverage after that.[7] Wentworth-Sheilds (later the Bishop of Armidale from 1916 to 1929) became Rector of St James' Church, Sydney in 1910, and there is no indication of a successor having been appointed as warden.[8] Barlow died in 1915, shortly after retiring as Bishop, and left £1,000 to the diocese for clergy training, but not, specifically, to the college.[9] It is implicit that it had closed by 1921, for in that year St John's College, Armidale was proposed to be the theological college for the country dioceses of New South Wales;[10] in the previous year it had already been described publicly in such terms.[11] It must have closed by 1918, as in that year Barlow's successor Lewis Radford offered Bishopthorpe to the founders of the Community of the Ascension, with one of the aims being to establish a theological college along the lines of Mirfield or Kelham, although, in fact, nothing came of this particular proposal.[12]

The later St Mark's National Theological Centre in Canberra, within the renamed Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn, which was established by Barlow's successor, the Rt Rev Ernest Burgmann, in 1957, is unrelated to the 1906 college.

  1. ^ "Christopher George Barlow (1858–1915)". Australian Dictionary of Biography: Christopher George Barlow. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  2. ^ Kyme, Brian, Six Archbishops and their ordinands, (2005 thesis: Edith Cowan University), p 30.
  3. ^ "Christopher George Barlow (1858–1915)". Australian Dictionary of Biography: Christopher George Barlow. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  4. ^ "Wagga Wagga Express: "The Training of Clergy", 15 Feb 1906, p 2, via Trove". Wagga Wagga Express. 15 February 1906. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Goulburn Evening Penny Post: "Death of Bishop Barlow", 31 August 1915, p 4, via Trove". Goulburn Evening Penny Post. 31 August 1915. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Sydney Morning Herald: "Goulburn Diocesan College", 9 May 1907, p 10, via Trove". Sydney Morning Herald. 9 May 1907. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  7. ^ "The Bega Budget: "Goulburn Theological College", 5 December 1908, p 3, via Trove". Bega Budget. 5 December 1908. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Goulburn Evening Penny Post: "Rev W.F. Wentworth Sheilds", 26 November 1910, p 4, via Trove". Goulburn Evening Penny Post. 26 November 1910. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  9. ^ "Christopher George Barlow (1858–1915)". Australian Dictionary of Biography: Christopher George Barlow. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  10. ^ St John's College Armidale-Morpeth, 1898-1948, Jubilee Book, (1948: St John's College), p 23.
  11. ^ "Sydney Morning Herald: "Theological College", 11 September 1920, p 7, via Trove". Sydney Morning Herald. 11 September 1920. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  12. ^ Ball, Gail Anne, The Best Kept Secret in the Church: The Religious Life for Women in Australian Anglicanism, 1892-1995, (2000: University of Sydney Thesis), p 128.