- John McGarvie
John McGarvie (1795-1853) was a Scottish born Australian
Presbyterian minister andwriter .McGarvie was born in
Glasgow ,Scotland , and became a graduate ofGlasgow University .In answer to an appeal in 1825 for a minister for the church at Portland Head on the
Hawkesbury River ,New South Wales , he was selected by Rev.John Dunmore Lang and arrived inSydney in theGreenock on22 May 1826 after a six month voyage fromLeith . Met on arrival by Reverend Lang, he went straight to Portland Head as the first Presbyterian minister of theEbenezer Church and remained there until 1830.In 1829 he contributed a series of biographical articles to the
Sydney Gazette with a number of his poems under such pseudonyms as 'M., Ananbaba', 'A.B., Marramatta' and 'C.D., Warrambamba'. When theSydney Herald commenced in 1831, with his brother William as one of its three original proprietors, he contributed the editorials, and continued as leader writer for a significant period. McGarvie was one of the founders in 1826 of the Sydney Dispensary, afterwards the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary, and was its honorary secretary from 1836 until his death. He was also a founder of the Sydney School of Arts. On the establishment of the Australian College in 1831 he conducted themathematics department and also lectured innatural philosophy andchemistry .In 1832 he accepted an invitation to start a second Presbyterian congregation in Sydney and held services in the courthouse until St Andrew's Scots Church was built at
Kent Street near Bathurst Street. The church opened for divine service on 13 September 1835 and he remained as its minister until his death in 1853.In 1840 the University of Glasgow awarded him an honorary D.D for his lifetime achievement. A volume of his sermons was published in Sydney in 1842. He died, unmarried, on
12 April 1853 and was buried at Gore Hill cemetery.Bibliography
*J. Maclehose, The Picture of Sydney (Syd, 1838); J. Cameron, Centenary History of the Presbyterian Church in New South Wales, vol 1 (Syd, 1905)
*A Century of Journalism: The Sydney Morning Herald, 1831-1931 (Syd, 1931); G. R. S. Reid, The History of Ebenezer, Australia's Oldest Church (Petersham, 1951)
*C. A. White, The Challenge of the Years: A History of the Presbyterian Church of Australia in the State of New South Wales (Syd, 1951)
*Truth (Sydney), 26 Mar 1911; McGarvie papers (Presbyterian Library, Assembly Hall, Sydney)
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