The attention of the London committee of the wesleyan mission was
aroused by their agents stationed at Port Jackson, who referred to this
colony as "a settlement called the Derwent, two weeks' sail distant."
The Rev. B. Carvosso, on his passage to New South Wales, touched at
Hobart Town, in the month of May, 1820. He embraced the opportunity thus
offered. He was introduced by the Rev. Mr. Knopwood to the governor, who
authorised and protected his teaching. Mr. Carvosso stood on the steps
of a dwelling-house; his congregation partly within and partly without:
his wife conducted the psalmody. The text which initiated the wesleyan
ministry was characteristic of its style and results: "Awake thou that
sleepest!" The colony required such addresses. Mr. Carvosso's
description of the inhabitants may be imagined: they were kindly, but
dissolute. At New Norfolk and at Pittwater, with a population of several
hundreds, no religious service had been performed. A seriously-minded
soldier, by diligent inquiry, found out a settler said to be religious.
To converse with this person, he took a journey of fifteen miles, and
found him swearing!
Shortly after Mr. Carvosso's departure, several soldiers of the 58th
regiment, who at Sydney adopted the sentiments of methodism, were
quartered in the island. They prompted a Mr. Noakes to obtain a room for
worship: eight persons met on the 29th October, 1820, at a house in
Collins-street, Hobart Town. They next removed to the residence of a Mr.
Wallis: the soldiers and their coadjutor filled up the hour with
singing, exhortation, and alternate prayer. Corporal Waddy appears to
have been the leader of the band. They were assailed with great, though
transient fury: their devotion was stifled by hostile noises. The
governor, however, interfered, and the disturbers were intimidated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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