Serial S223 - The Beacon

The Unitarians established a church in East Melbourne in 1853, the first prayer offered reflecting their liberal non-Trinitarian theology ('Grant that a rational and scriptural Christianity may always be taught here ... That our intellects may be suppressed by no contradictions and absurdities'). Unitarianism, once known as 'the half-way house to infidelity', attracted an intellectual elite with enlightened attitudes to women, appointing the Rev. Martha Turner as their minister in 1873. Prominent members included the poet Bernard O'Dowd and many pacifists, with the church being active in the anti-war movement from World War I through to the Vietnam War.