200 years to the day since William Cowper first set foot in Sydney Archbishop Peter Jensen has told a Civic Thanksgiving service that Cowper was a "sensational nation-builder, making sure that the true Christian gospel was written into the title deeds of the new nation".
William Cowper arrived in NSW on 18th August 1809. As minister of St Phillip's Sydney for 49 years, he must have baptised, married or buried, most of the population.
The parish registers for the time were on display.
Cowper was instrumental in setting up many of the social institutions that helped NSW move from a penal colony to a nation. It is a gauge of his significance that when he died in 1858, Sydney closed down and 25,000 people lined the streets for the funeral. The Cowper Bicentenary was organized by his descendants and included historical talks, a family picnic and the Civic thanksgiving attended by NSW Governor Professor Marie Bashir.
Archbishop Jensen spoke of Cowper's pivotal role in institutions such as the Benevolent Society and the Bible society, but also his work among aborigines. "At a time, believe it or not, when many people regarded the aboriginal people of our land as though they were merely a link between the animal and the human kingdom, extermination and murder were practiced, Cowper stood valiantly for truth and love. Here is a part of his vision for who we should be, that is yet to be fulfilled. The original people of Australia must always be given a special place of honour and affection. In word and deed, Cowper testified to that in his day and he still speaks to our consciences. "
Aboriginal Pastor Ray Minniecon gave the acknowledgement of country at the start of the service led by St Phillip's new rector, Rev Justin Moffatt. Moffatt, who joins a parish where the incumbents have included Richard Johnson and Samuel Marsden, as well as Cowper, notes that he is one of the few rectors of St Phillip's to have young children. "There are toddlers in the rectory again" said Moffatt.
Cowper himself had six children who went on to play an important role in the development of NSW through the government, the judiciary, education, medicine, commerce and the church. His son Charles was the 2nd Premier of NSW and another son, William Macquarie, succeeded his father as at St Philip's Church and later became the first Dean of Sydney, an office he held until his death in 1902.
The choir of Kings School, with which Cowper had been involved, sang during the service and Kings cadets provided an honour guard. Actor David Baldwin, in period costume, read excerpts from Cowper’s letters to his son.
Earlier, Professor Bashir had launched Dr Peter Bolt's book “The Indispensable Parson” - the life and influence of Australia's first Parish Clergyman. Bolt sums up the secret of Cowper’s popularity as, in some ways, his ordinariness.
“For Cowper, the clergyman's duties were essential for the building of society and ordering it for good. But the ordering of society in this present life was always with a view to the heavenly life to come, which never seemed to fade from Cowper's vision. The best thing that Cowper could do for his new land was to faithfully and persistently give himself to his clerical duties, preparing people to meet their God in the life to come.”
