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Evensong
The magnificent bells of St George's Anglican Cathedral rang out over Perth city on the 25th of July 2007 heralding the start of two weeks of activities to celebrate 150 years of the Anglican Church in Perth and Western Australia.
Cold and stormy weather did not deter a capacity crowd filling the Cathedral for a choral evensong led by the St George’s Cathedral choir.
It was on this day 150 years ago that Archdeacon Mathew Blagden Hale was consecrated as the first Bishop of Perth at Lambeth Palace Chapel in England. Lambeth Palace has been the official London residence of successive Archbishops of Canterbury since 1200 AD.
The Governor of Western Australia, His Excellency Dr Ken Michael AC, and Dr Peter Nattrass, the Lord Mayor of Perth, and leaders of other faith communities in Western Australia were joined by representatives of federal, state and local government for the celebration.
The sermon was given by The Most Reverend Jeffrey Driver, the Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide.
Archbishop Driver spoke about the early links between the Perth and Adelaide churches. Prior to the consecration of Mathew Hale, Perth was part of the Adelaide Diocese. The work to separate Perth from the Diocese of Adelaide was begun by Augustus Short, the then Bishop of Adelaide.