During the Nineteenth Century thousands of converts to the Church of Latter-day saints travelled from Europe to America. This represented an enormous transfer of human capital to the new world, facilitated by the lure of an emerging faith and perhaps the tempting promise of a new start. Less is known about those that travelled the pacific route, some even coming from the Australian colonies. While the Church of Jesus Chirst of Latter-day saints first began to establish a presence in the colony of Van Diemen's Land, later Tasmania, during the 1850s, the religion did not establish a strong footing there for another century. So, how and why was Mormon proselytisation so successful during the Nineteenth Century? And what challenges did the Mormon movement face in the Australian colonies, specifically Tasmania?
The Mormon story began with a 'divine restoration ' that occurred at the village Palmyra, Manchester, New York in 1820. A young prophet named Joseph Smith Jnr (1805-1844) had a vision of Jesus who forgave him his sins and instructed him not to join any established church. In 1822, he claimed to experience three visits by an angel named Moroni, who tasked him with finding and translating a trove of ancient records in the form of golden plates. This archive detailed the history of a group of Israelites (the Nephites and Lamanites) who had left Jerusalem around 600 BCE only to become extinct around 400 CE. This history had been written by the last Nephite prophet, Mormon. Smith's translation was published in 1830 as The Book of Mormon. Naturally the ideas of Smith and his followers attracted criticism and persecution, one incident even leading to their prophet's premature demise. Originally based in Illinois, Mormons began to seek their independence, crossing the Great Plains and settling in the Salt Lake Valley. Under the leadership of their second President, Brigham Young, they attempted to form their own state 'Deseret' (partly across the territory that had already been designated by the US government to be Utah). The 'democratic theocracy' of the Mormons clashed multiple times with US administrations, particularly on the practice of polygamy. Regardless, this new faith endured and the commitment by the Mormon church to proselytise has continued through the Twentieth and into the Twenty First centuries, to the extent that today there are 14 million members of the church, two thirds of which live outside the United States. (1)
Between 1840 and 1890, approximately 90, 000 Mormon converts were transported from Europe to the American territories. (2) In the 1840s the former President of the British Mission, Thomas Ward, proposed the formation of a joint stock company; it's purpose was to provide a commercial service to trade goods between Britain and the United States and at the same time provide free - or at least subsidised - passage for European Mormons to migrate. This proposal survived many iterations but eventually failed, causing many British Mormons to lose their savings but their desperation and disappointment reflected the difficulty many converts experienced in arranging passage in pursuit not only of salvation but also of a better life. (3) But many converts did find a way to migrate. A hostile editorial commentary on Mormonism copied from the Globe and published in the Louisville Commercial in 1880 argued that 'the vast majority of converts come from the ranks of dissent', adding that 1500 of the 'poor ignorant creatures'.... departed from Liverpool that year alone and as many from Glasgow'. The accusation was made that '...before embarkation, converts have fancy pictures sketched for them of a happy land where...all is fraternity...', although it's noted that '...Poverty of a very stern order exists in Utah as elsewhere...'. The point is also made that a migrant would have as a good of a chance as making a success as a farmer in Australia, New Zealand or Canada. (4) The allure experienced by these converts must have been strong enough to resolve the cost but also the very real risks of continental migration. Even so, the only known voyage carrying Mormon pioneers to be shipwrecked was the Julia Ann that departed from Sydney under the command of Captain Benjamin F. Pond in September 1855. (5)
Recruitment to the church was also drawn from the recent European diaspora of the time. The life story of Samuel Rose Parkinson preserved by his journal reflects the often-complex migratory journey of many converts to Mormonism. Born in 1831, a native of Lancashire, Samuel first migrated to the Australian colony of New South Wales in 1839 but returned in 1846. He and his parents migrated to St. Louis, Missouri in 1848 (soon after assisting his sister and her own family in a classic pattern of chain migration). It was there he joined the church after marrying a convert in 1852 and finally travelling with his own family and sister to Utah in 1854. (6) Recruitment was often a source of controversy, particularly when converts were young and even married women. Martha Maria Humphreys (nee Bucknell) a married woman living in the Hunter Valley, was converted in 1852 by young minister of church named John McCarthy. A letter she wrote to her parents in December 1853 is still extant in archives of the Mitchell Library; Marjorie Newton explains that the letter reveals the 'millennialism' evident among converts, a sense of urgency to remove to 'Zion' before the day of final judgment. The letter also betrays and awareness and support for the doctrine of polygamy. It is also clear that at least at the time of composing the letter, her husband was engaged elsewhere and was unaware of her plans - although it is not known if he and the older sons planned to join the rest of the family at a later date. Martha departed aboard the ill-fated Julia Ann with two daughters and younger son on 7 September 1855. She and her daughter Mary were drowned although the other two children survived. There was a subsequent scandal involving Martha's brother William Wentworth Bucknell another convert who along with his wife and family were intending to emigrate on the Jenny Ford in September 1856. However, an attachment to a servant he intended to bring with them led to a dispute, the ultimate result of which was Bucknell's excommunication. Bucknell's wife and two sons subsequently emigrated as converts and he duly complained to the Governor that they had been seduced away! (7)
Joseph Keppler. In Memorium Brigham Young, 1877.There were other serious challenges to the establishment of the Mormon church in the Australian colonies. The primary one was of course, remained the issue of polygamy. In 1873 on the occasion of a Mormon minister coming to conduct sermons in Sydney, the Melbourne's Advocate reported that: '...we scarcely think that many fair Australians will be found willing to exchange even the chance of a whole husband, all to herself here, for a mere fraction of a husband at Salt Lake.' (8) The practice of polygamy combined with the habit of recruiting converts was to long remain a fixation for the local media: the following year the Tasmanian Tribune noted that regarding a tour by Elder Geddes he defended plural marriage on 'material and Scriptural grounds' although it is noted, perhaps with some relief, that '...no rumour has yet floated abroad as to his having made converts...' (9) As a reult of pressure and persecution from the US government, the church effectively ceased the practice of polygamy following a general conference in 1890. (10) Despite segments of the media afterwards continuing to focus on the persistence of the practice outside of the mainstream church, interest and respect for the faith among the general Australian population seemed to improve from that time. (11) Anti-Mormon activists succeeded in having entry banned for all Mormon missionaries across the British Empire following the end of World War One, but it was lifted by 1920. A decade later, the onset of the Great Depression made it more difficult for missiony work to be supported. Despite these challenges, the church continued to find acceptence and expand. The first Australian state to recognise the Mormon church as an official religious denomination was Victoria in 1923. (12)
As previously noted, it took a century for the Mormon movement to become frimly established in Tasmania. While, the Church of Latter-day Saints began to establish a presence in Tasmania from 1854, progress was slow and there was active resistance to their mission. Regardless, congregations were first established in the 1890s. (13) Resistance to early missionaries were apparently strongest in Launceston and Elders Burr Frost and Robert Owens experienced 'considerable opposition' on their arrival there in 1854. Permission was eventually obtained from the local Mayor for Mormons to hold street meetings in 1897. The Tasmanian region first became known as the 'Tasmanian Conference' led by a 'presiding elder' based in Hobart. Local members worked as Sunday School teachers, secretaries and organists. The first local member to be ordained an Elder was Tracy William Watkins in 1894. The church was finally recognised by the state in 1931 allowing its priesthood to perform such functions as marriages and funerals. The same year the term conference was changed to district. Between 1926 and 1951, the membership grew from 1169 to 2187. In 1937 the standing of the district was raised when the formation of a 'stake of Zion' in Tasmania was approved by church authroities. Membership more than doubled in the decades between 1955 and 1976 from 3506 to 7071. Two of the more progressive initiatives institued by the church were a local branch of the Mormon Women's organisation, the State Relief Society during the depression and a welfare farm in the early post-war period. (14)
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Sydney Australia Temple (Carlingford), 2010.The mass migration of Mormon converts to the United States likely reflects several push/pull factors among them: poverty, fraternity and perhaps most importantly of all, a compelling, 'new' christian faith. Certainly for many British converts if the motivations were purely material, it probably would have been a more practical to simply migrate to one of the promising colonies such as Australia, New Zealand or Canada. It hard to reconcile the contemporary argument that the new faith was only a convenience for the dispossesed as the process of conversion was clearly most often a heartfelt and genuine one; for instance, many early missionaries faced many hardships including open hostility and poverty away from their families in order to proselytise their faith. Among the converts there was in fact, an underlying sense of urgency among converts to escape 'Babylon' and find 'Zion' before the impending day of judgement. In truth, the church itself was established during a age of great migration and drew on various European diaspora, including the British and Irish colonials. The missionary experience in Tasmania reflects many of the broader challenges the church faced in its first century or more of development. It was most of all, a threat to the established christian denominations and the hostile reception in Launceston was particularly notable. The practice of polygamy, which had in truth been effectively dropped by 1890, was used as a tool of derision and to some extent negative propaganda. Other challenges - such as the ban against missionaries entering in the British Empire following the First World War and then the Great Depression from 1929 - stunted the development of the church in the newly federated country. However the strong contribution and model behaviour of the church's menbership eventually saw it win mainstream acceptance, offical recognition and growth.
- Colin Mallett, 19 December 2025.
Endnotes
(1) D. Michael Quinn, 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)' in The Columbia Guide to Mormonism in American History, Paul Harvey, Edward J. Blum & Randall Stephens (eds), Columbia University Press, 2012, pp. 352-64, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/harv14020.23, accessed 30 September 2025.
(2) Keith L. Brown, 'As they sailed to Zion: The Voyage of the Julia Ann', History of Mormonism website, https://historyofmormonism.com/2014/10/12/sailed-zion-voyage-julia-ann/, accessed 30 September 2025. There were in fact 593 known voyages that carried converts from Europe to America.
(3) Ronald D. Watt, 'Mission to Britain' in The Mormon Passage of George D. Watt: first Britsh convert, scribe for Zion, University Press of Colorado, 2009, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt4cgrhc.8, accessed 30 September 2025, pp. 60, 64.
(4) Author Unknown, 'The Mormons in England', Louisville Commercial, 31 October 1880, p. 7, https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.31322241, accessed 30 September 2025.
(5) Fred. E. Woods, 'The unbelievable true story of Saints shipwrecked on their way to Zion', Latter-day Saint Life website, https://www.ldsliving.com/the-unbelievable-true-story-of-saints-shipwrecked-on-their-way-to-zion/s/78234, accessed 30 September 2025. Although five lives were lost, the surviving passengers and crew were rescued and continued their voyage.
(6) William C. Parkinson, 'Biography of Samuel Rose Parkinson', Hagan Family History Website, https://www.hagan.me/fhist/parkinson/SamuelRoseParkinson.html, accessed 30 September 2025.
(7) Marjorie Newton. ' "Seduced Away": Early Mormon Documents in Australia', Brigham Young University Studies, 35 (3), 1995-6, pp. 152, 154, 163, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43042071?seq=1, accessed 30 September 2025. Ironically, while it appears Bucknell went on and married the servant girl, his first wife later returned with her sons to the colony making him effectively, a bigamist.
(8) 'A Mormon Minister in Sydney', Advocate, 26 April 1873, p. 13, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article170298808, accessed 26 September 2025.
(9) 'A Mormon in Tasmania', Tasmanian Tribune, 29 December 1874, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201483955, accessed 26 September 2025.
(10) 'About the Mormons', Tasmanian News, 12 January 1895, p. 4., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173870258, accessed 26 September 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173870258, accessed 26 September 2026. According to Elder Pond in the interview, no more than 2% of their people ever engaged in the practice. Men remained married to their first wives and provision was made for the disenfranchised wives.
(11) An example of a typical salacious headline being: 'Harems in Mexico', Tasmanian News, 23 January 1896, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article177536945, accessed 26 September 20206. Indeed, the publication of a clipping from New York's Independant in 1898 claiming that polygamy was still flourishing in Utah, prompted a visiting missionary to Tasmania, William Harvey, to write a letter to the editor explaining that the practice was indeed formally abandoned with the publication of a manifesto by their president Wilfred Woodruff dated 24 September 1890 after a legal challenge had been lost and to ensure that the Mormon population conformed with the 'law of the land'. He added that any Mormons still engaging in the practice were doing so in defiance of the teachings of the church. See: 'The Mormons and Polygamy', Mercury, 4 June 1898, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9423641, accessed 26 September 2026. The film, 'The Mormon Maid, 1917, was released in Australia in 1918 and presented a negative view of the church, emphasising the banned practice of polygamy. Refer to: Preben Villy Scott & Donald Arthur Woolley, The History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Tasmania 1854-2001 (2nd Edition), self--published, Ulverstone, 2001, p.5.
(12) Scott & Woolley, The History of the Church, pp. 4-5.Subsequent to the lifting of the ban, in 1921, Elder David O. McKay of the Council of Twelve toured Australia, visiting all conferences except Perth. This perhaps marked a turning point in the long process of the Mormon faith becoming mainstream in Australia.
(13) Neil Chick, 'Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints', Companion to Tasmanian History website, https://www.utas.edu.au/tasmanian-companion/biogs/E000207b.htm, accessed 30 September 2025. In fact the first Mormon missionaires believed to have arrived in the colony were John Murdoch and Charles Wandel in 1851. The first Elder to visit was Robert Owen in 1854 on his return home from a mission to India. See: Scott & Woolley, The History of the Church, p. 4.
(14) Scott & Woolley, The History of the Church, pp. 4-6, 8, 11, 86, 92, 123, 127.
Figures and Illustrations
(i) C. C. A. Christensen, The Hill Cumorah, before 1912, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Hill_Cumorah_by_C.C.A._Christensen.jpeg, accessed 8 October 2025.
(ii) Joseph Keppler, In Memoriam Brigham Young, 1877, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:In_memoriam_brigham_young_3.jpg, accessed 8 October 2025.
(iii) Scott Contini, Sydney Australia Temple (Carlingford), 2010, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sydney_Australia_Temple_(Carlingford).jpg, accessed 8 October 2025.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Advocate (Melbourne)
Mercury (Hobart)
Tasmanian News (Hobart)
Tasmanian Tribune (Hobart)
Secondary Sources
Newton, Marjorie. ' "Seduced Away": Early Mormon Documents in Australia', Brigham Young University Studies, 35 (3), 1995-6, pp. 149-65.
Quinn, D. Michael. 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)' in The Columbia Guide to Mormonism in American History, Paul Harvey, Edward J. Blum & Randall Stephens (eds), Columbia University Press, 2012, pp. 352-64, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/harv14020.23, accessed 30 September 2025.
Scott, P. V. & Woolley, D. A. The History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Tasmania 1854-2001 (2nd Edition), self--published, Ulverstone, 2001.
Watt, Ronald D. 'Mission to Britain' in The Mormon Passage of George D. Watt: first British convert, scribe for Zion, University Press of Colorado, 2009, pp. 58-81, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt4cgrhc.8, accessed 30 September 2025.
Online Sources
Author Unknown, 'The Mormons in England', Louisville Commercial, 31 October 1880, p. 7, https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.31322241, accessed 30 September 2025.
Brown, Keith L. 'As they sailed to Zion: The Voyage of the Julia Ann', History of Mormonism website, https://historyofmormonism.com/2014/10/12/sailed-zion-voyage-julia-ann/, accessed 30 September 2025.
Chick, Neil. 'Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints', Companion to Tasmanian History website, https://www.utas.edu.au/tasmanian-companion/biogs/E000207b.htm, accessed 30 September 2025.
Parkinson, William C. 'Biography of Samuel Rose Parkinson', Hagan Family History Website, https://www.hagan.me/fhist/parkinson/SamuelRoseParkinson.html, accessed 30 September 2025.
Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page.
Woods, Fred, E. 'The unbelievable true story of Saints shipwrecked on their way to Zion', Latter-day Saint Life website, https://www.ldsliving.com/the-unbelievable-true-story-of-saints-shipwrecked-on-their-way-to-zion/s/78234, accessed 30 September 2025.
