2. In 1810, the first Congregational Communion service was held in Sydney by William Crook. In 1828, a new Congregational cause began and five years later the Congregational Church in Sydney was formally founded. A Congregational Church in Richmond, Tasmania.

3. A significant event in Congregational history was the merger of most churches with the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977. The Congregational Federation of Australia, in 1999, had a total of 30 ministers, 20 congregations, 2 402 regular attenders and 1663 members. General history in Australia St Michael's Church, originally the central Congregational church for the city of Melbourne, now part of the Uniting Church in Australia

4. General Beliefs and Practices Belief in simplicity of faith and worship based on the authority of the Bible and the autonomy of each local congregation. Services of worship are held weekly on Sunday and are similar to services in other Protestant churches. The children of Christian parents may be baptised by sprinkling with water

5. General patterns of organisations Each local church is autonomous. The meetings of members, often held on a monthly basis, make most decisions to elect people to positions of responsibility. Congregational church in north Adelaide

6. Biographies /Stories of Followers Rice Thomas Hopkins 1842- 1916 He was born in Plymouth and grew up in the Welsh Congregational Brethren tradition He began preaching at 16 He is remembered as a evangelist of the Open but more restricted or conservative Brethren tradition. Robert Browne (1550 - 1633) After school at Stamford near Lincoln, he studied theology at Corpus Christi College at Cambridge. Browne argued churches should be constituted by those who showed their faith through changed lives and by the ways they administered the sacraments and proclaimed the message of the Bible

7. Statistics! According to the 2001 Census there were a total of 4805 Congregationalists in Australia. Congregationalists were greatest in number in New South Wales, 43% of them living in Sydney. Brisbane had the second highest number with 21% living in there.. 54% of all Congregationalists were female and 46 per cent male.