TO-DAY the Methodist Church of Victoria is celebrating the centenary of its first preaching service in Melbourne. On the site of the Western Market, where once John Batman's hut stood, Henry Reed, a layman from Launceston, Van Diemens Land, the official history states, conducted a religious service 'in the spring of the year' 1835. From that small beginning has grown the great Methodist body of to-day, claiming 150,000 members and adherents, and property valued at many millions. The force for good it has exercised in the community cannot be estimated. In every movement for the uplift of humanity it has been in the vanguard, and its voice has never been silent while there have been social wrongs to be righted.

With a desire to assist the pioneers and the aborigines, so the officially accepted story runs. Henry Reed, a zealous Launceston merchant, who had been best man at John Batman's wedding, and who was also his attorney, crossed over in the 'spring of the year' in 1835. His own account of events contains the following:- "I went over to devise some means of preserving the natives from destruction. there were then but two or three huts in the place - Batman's, Fawkner's and, I believe, another. Batman's brother; William Buckley, the escaped convict, who had been living for thirty years in a state of wildness and barbarism with the natives; and three natives from Sydney who but imperfectly understood the English language, formed the congregation. Had prayers in the hut with these five men every day, read the Scriptures, preached Christ to them."

Thus, the Victorian church says, foundation of what was to become the great Methodist Church in Victoria was laid. It was not till the following year that the first ordained minister arrived. In April, 1836, when John Batman made his second voyage to Victoria, he was accompanied by Rev. Joseph Orton. On 20th April they sailed up the Yarra, and here is his account of his first service: - "Sunday, 24th April: At 11 o'clock the people assembled for divine worship at the premises of Mr. John Batman. The service was commenced by reading the liturgy of the Church of England; the responses were led by Mr. James Simpson and the tunes were raised by Dr. Alexander Thomson. I addressed the company from the young ruler's question - 'What shall I do to inherit eternal life?' I preached again in the afternoon: the largest proportion of my congregation consisted of natives, about 50 in number, who sat quietly during the service. Nine of them were dressed in red shirts, white duck trousers with black kerchiefs round their necks. The tenth, the chief, wore a full military suit, with a colonel's cocked hat and feathers, which had been given to him by the Governor of Tasmania. These men belonged to Batman's Parramatta tribe."

Towards the end of 1835 and in the beginning of 1836 a few laymen who had arrived joined together in a 'society' for religious worship. Foremost among them was Mr. John Jones Peers, who afterwards played an important part in the erection of the first church. On the arrival of Mr. William Witton in March 1837, he was, by mutual consent, appointed to take charge of the society, which numbered seven.

On the site now occupied by the State Savings Bank, at the corner of Swanston Street and Flinders Lane, the first Wesleyan chapel was erected and opened in March, 1839. It was constructed of brick, 30' x 16', capable of holding 150 people. This was made possible by the generosity of Mr. John Jones Peers, who purchased the half-acre block for £119 from John Batman. He also paid the cost of erection, £129, stipulating that he should be repaid only if the congregation moved elsewhere.

The church prospered, and in 1840 Rev. Joseph Orton arrived to take charge temporarily. By that time a larger church was necessary, and, mainly through the good offices of Mr. Peers, the Government granted a half-acre block at the corner of Collins and Queen Streets. This land had been put up for sale at Melbourne's first land sale and sold for £40. The purchaser, who considered he had paid too much for the land, forfeited his deposit of £4.

Here a brick church of gothic design was built, the foundation stone being laid on 11th May, 1840, by Rev. Benjamin Hurst. In April, 1841, Rev. Samuel Wilkinson arrived from Sydney to become the first resident Wesleyan minister, having all Victoria as his circuit.

The rapid growth of the 'village' and the increasing congregations made it again necessary in 1857 for another forward movement. The church and land was sold for £40,000. The site is now occupied by the Bank of Australasia. The church was pulled down, much of the material being used in the erection of the present Howard Street, North Melbourne, church. The money was distributed in a policy of church extension, and Wesley Church and churches in St. Kilda, North Melbourne, Fitzroy and South Melbourne were commenced. The foundation stone of the 'cathedral of Methodism' in Melbourne, Wesley Church, built in fourteenth century gothic, was laid by the Governor, Sir Henry Barclay, on 2nd December, 1857.

With the development of Victoria, the Methodist Conference of 1863 found it necessary to divide the one district of Victoria into three - Melbourne, Geelong and Ballarat, Castlemaine and Sandhurst. Later the Gippsland and Ovens and Murray districts were formed.

The past half century has seen remarkable progress made, till to-day there are 850 churches, 262 parsonages, 322 ministers, 1235 local preachers, 301 Sunday schools and 150,000 members and adherents in Victoria.

Always mindful of its youth, the Methodist church has cared for its children. At the bottom of Russell Street, where the State Theatre now stands, its first Sunday school was organised with thelve scholars and six teachers. To-day its Sunday school scholars number 55,000 scholars and 9,000 teachers, controlled and guided by its Young People's department.

As the population of Melbourne moved outwards from the city area Wesley Church became a 'down-town' church. All efforts to maintain its congregation seemed doomed to failure. Conference in 1893 constituted it as a mission, and the Rev. Alexander Robert Edgar was appointed superintendent. The story of his life is the story of the mission.

Ever in the vanguard of social reform the Methodist Church has in no uncertain manner attacked the evils of the day. The Pleasant Sunday Afternoons, which have now become such an institution at Wesley Church, were commenced by Rev. Alexander Robert Edgar as a forum where straight speaking could be indulged in. It was mainly through his efforts in this direction that the Anti-Sweating League came into being. Many of the institutions attached to the mission for helping the less fortunate in life were instituted by him.

Perhaps the most outstanding event of more recent years was Methodist Union in 1902, when the Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, Bible Christian, United Methodist Free Church and the New Connection Churches were united under the name of the Methodist Church of Australia, and Dr. William Henry Fitchett was elected first president.

Wherever people have settled in the far-flung spaces of the State the Methodist Church has followed with the slogan - 'first in the field, last to leave.' The home mission activities of the church have continued for the past 60 years under the guidance of Revs. John Watsford, Spencer Williams, Edmund Sorrell Bickford, Albert Thomas Holden and Thomas Craike Rentoul. From far Croajingolong to the sunset country of the Mallee, from the Murray to the sea, where there are people to be reached its agents have gone carrying out John Wesley's injunction, "Go to those who need you most."

The Victoria church has not forgotten the needs of other races, for she has played no small part in taking her message to the peoples of the Pacific. To-day there are 25 Victorian missionaries at work in the Pacific, and in the past 10 years over £250,000 has been contributed by Victorians to overseas missions.

Among the many brilliant preachers who have adorned the ranks of Methodism during the century, perhaps the most outstanding have been Dr. Joseph Dare, Dr. Henry Howard (who, in later years, joined the Presbyterian Church in America), Dr. Edwin Iredale Watkin, Rev. Henry Bath, Dr. Edward Holdsworth Sugden, Dr. William Henry Fitchett, Rev. Alexander Robert Edgar, Dr. Samuel John Hoban, Rev. Albert Thomas Holden and Rev. Arthur Edward Albiston.

The education of its youth has ever been uppermost in the minds of the leaders of the church, and Wesley College, the Methodist Ladies College, Queen's College University, and of later years Box Hill Grammar School, have been the training ground for many of the leaders of commercial and professional life of the State. One of the many contributions of the young manhood of Methodism to the State is the Babies' Home at South Yarra, equipped with all the latest scientific improvements, and entirely supported by them.

Methodism owes much of its success to the work of its laymen. Without the splendid body of local preachers, who cover thousands of miles yearly, its preaching places could not be maintained. They have played no small part, by consecrated and loyal service, in the great development of the church.