This cache starts at the sight of the first church building in Australia. It is marked by a monument that many people walk past every day without knowing why it is there. When I set out to discover more about it I discovered a fascinating history behind this site, the man responsible for the building that once stood here and life in the early Sydney settlement.
In January 1788 eleven ships and their companies, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip RN, and carrying 759 people arrived on the east coast of what is now Australia to establish a penal colony. The Chaplain of this, the First Fleet, was the Rev Richard Johnson and he conducted the first Christian service in Australia on 3 February 1788. What I found most fascinating was Johnson's difficult relationship with the colonial authorities and how the some of the debates and misunderstandings of those early settlers have continued on to this day.
Unlike the convicts and marines, he had volunteered to give up the comfort and familiarity of life in England for what he must have known would be the hardship and isolation of the new colony. Johnson had married just five months before the First Fleet set out. After arriving at Port Jackson, Johnson was as busy as anyone in the new colony. He conducted the first Christian service just over a week after the First Fleet arrived. However, it took five months before he was able to house his wife in a little cottage built from cabbage tree palms and thatched rushes. Fortunately, Johnson was an industrious worker and by the end of 1788, he was growing enough vegetables for his own needs and later became known as the best farmer in Sydney Town.
Governor Arthur Phillip and Johnson didn't get on, in what was probably Australia's conflict between church and state. Apparently Governor Phillip wanted to use Johnson to instill moral values in the convicts and his marines as this would reinforce his position and make it easier to enforce law and order in the Colony. However, Johnson was a chaplain who read his bible and was committed to teaching what he found there - a Jesus who challenged the authorities of his day and cared for the wek and the powerless.
Rather than preaching a God that rewarded or punished people based on their deeds, Johnson preached that all people, whether convict, marine, chaplain or governor equally fall short of the standard expected by God. Johnson's message put everyone on an equal footing, which undermined Phillip's strict military hierarchy and authority. Johnson also preached that God had taken the penalty that people deserved onto himself by coming to earth as a man and dying in their place and that everyone, no matter their social status or whether convict or free needed to accept God's redemption.
In 1792, Johnson published a booklet addressed to the inhabitants of the Colony, setting out the message that he believed that it was his job to preach:
"I have told you again and again, that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and that there is no coming to God with comfort, either in this world, or in that which is to come, but by him. He has told you so himself. And the apostle assures you, that there is no other name under heaven, given unto men, whereby they can be saved. Look unto him, and you shall be saved; if not, you must be damned. This is the plain truth, the express declaration of the Bible. Life and death are set before you.
Permit me then, as your minister, your friend, and a well-wisher to your souls, to press these serious and weighty considerations home upon your consciences once more. I hope and believe that I have asserted nothing, but what can be proved by the highest authority, the word of the living God."
Quite apart from his religous message, Johnson also brought himself into conflict with the colonial authorities by seeking to befriend the native inhabitants of the area, who he also saw as his equals. In a move that was seen as especially shocking, Johnson and his wife adopted an aboriginal name for their daughter.
It is not surprising, therefore, that Phillip never found the resources to provide a building for the first church. Thus instead, Johnson built most of the first church, a wattle and daub construction himself, on the site where you will be starting your quest to find this cache.
GZ is within eyesight of the monument where you are standing.
To find the cache: The monument lists the text of the first sermon preached in Australia.
1. Let A be the Psalm number and B be the verse. (Hint: A is in Roman numerals)
2. GZ is (A-100) metres from the monument
3. On the side of the monument with the verse, what is the Bth letter? That is the bearing. (Hint: It is either ‘N’, ‘S’, ‘E’ or ‘W’)
You are looking for a magnetic key case.