Rev John Saunders (1806Ð-59) was the pioneer Baptist pastor in Sydney from 1834 to 1848. He established the first Baptist Church in Sydney in 1836 and became a leading figure in the religious and moral life of the colony. He was prominent in the temperance movement at a time when alcohol was a major scourge, he was courageous and outspoken about the treatment of Aborigines by many British settlers at the fevered time of the trial of white men for the Myall Creek murders.
This book tells the full story of SaundersÕ numerous activities and for the first time publishes a comprehensive and carefully edited collection of his fascinating letters, written while travelling as chaplain to female convicts on the George Hibbert and after his arrival in Sydney.
This documentary biography demonstrates why not only fellow-religionists but many others greatly valued this attractive figure.