The Anglican Diocese of Grafton is one of the 23 dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia. The diocese is located in north-east New South Wales and covers the area from the Queensland border to Port Macquarie in the south and west to the Great Dividing Range.
Created in 1914 as a result of a division of the previous Diocese of Grafton and Armidale it has 22 parishes and 3 transitional ministry districts and an Anglicare organisation seeking to support community and social needs within the diocese. The cathedral church is the Cathedral Church of Christ the King in Grafton.
The Church of St Thomas at Port Macquarie was built by an early Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Brisbane. It is the fifth oldest church building in Australia.
The current Bishop of Grafton, Murray Harvey, is the 12th bishop of the diocese. He was installed at Christ Church Cathedral, Grafton, on 29 September 2018.
Sarah Macneil the 11th Bishop of Grafton become the first woman to lead an Australian diocese as bishop. Macneil announced her resignation on 17 November 2017, to be effective from 3 March 2018.North Coast Anglican, December 2017
The bishop is based in Grafton.
Bishops
Cathedral The cathedral church is Christ Church Cathedral in Grafton which was designed by John Horbury Hunt and commenced in 1884 during the episcopacy of Bishop James Turner and completed to its present stage in 1937. The building is of brick construction in a Gothic Revival style with towering arches and ornate stained glass windows. An organ was installed in 1884 by George Fincham of Melbourne which was replaced in 1992 by a 1903 instrument brought from London by Peter D.G. Jewkes Pty Ltd of Sydney.
The cathedral is a National Trust listed building.Visit NSW website.
Deans of Grafton The following individuals have served as Deans of Grafton: Ordinal Name Term start Term end Notes Arthur Edward Warr 1949 1965 Roderick William Bowie 1966 1968 Henry St John Edwards 1969 1978 Bruce Allan Schultz 1979 1983 Afterwards Bishop of Grafton, 1985 Richard Warwick Hurford 1983 1997 Later Bishop of Bathurst, 2001 Peter Charles Catt 1997 2007 Afterwards Dean of Brisbane, 2008 Donald Kingsley Kirk 2007 2017 Later Bishop of Riverina, 2019 Gregory Charles Jenks 2017 2022 Naomi Cooke2023CurrentInstalled 12 August 2023
Church schools The diocese also has a number of church-based schools providing education across a range of age groups.
Founded School Enrollment Years Location 1981 Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School 1100 P-12 Tweed Heads 1993 Bishop Druitt College 1192 K-12 Coffs Harbour 1998 Emmanuel Anglican College 388 P-12 Ballina 1998 Clarence Valley Anglican School 297 P-12 Grafton 2002 St Columba Anglican School 680 P-12 Port Macquarie
References
External links – official website