David SHEARER

SHEARER, DAVID (b. Canisbay, Scotland, 23 July 1832; d. Perth, WA, 13 Nov 1891). Founder of the Presbyterian church WA, educational reformer.

Born in the north of Scotland, Shearer was from an early age 'subject to all the sanctifying influences of a Christian home' (West Australian 26 Nov 1891). His inclinations and interests led him to work as a teacher 1847-57. He gained his formal qualifications in teaching from Edinburgh in 1860. For the next three years Shearer taught in the Free Church school in Canisbay. It was from there he went back to the capital to begin his training for ministry in 1863. A long course followed at the University and Theological Hall which was dotted with prizes and academic distinction. In 1865 he m. Margaret Fisher in whom he found a true helpmeet and with whom he had eight children. Shearer gained his MA in 1867 and completed his studies in 1871. All through these years he worked as a city missionary of Newington Free Church Edinburgh. After being licensed, Shearer was appointed to the Ellison Street Presbyterian Church in the northern English town of Gateshead. He was ordained on 12 July 1872. For the next seven years Shearer exercised a fruitful ministry there.

From Gateshead, largely at the direction of the Scottish Free Church (although the Scottish Established Church helped financially), Shearer was commissioned to go to Perth, WA and plant the 'blue banner' of Presbyterianism. Shearer was a man fit for the task, for besides being determined and dedicated himself, he was able to coordinate and rally others. Shearer arrived at Fremantle with his wife and children aboard the Charlotte Padbury on 1 Oct 1879 and on 12 Oct 1879 held the first service of the Presbyterian church in Perth using the rented facilities of St George's Hall, Hay Street. Shearer applied for and gained crown land in twelve country towns and in Fremantle. At his own expense (he was a man of means) in 1880 Shearer purchased land in Pier Street Perth upon which would be erected St Andrew's church. In 1882 he travelled to Sydney to attend the General Conference of the Presbyterian Churches of Australasia. Shearer returned home to Perth with £600 for the building fund. St Andrew's opened on 1 Aug 1882 and became a congregation of the Presbytery of Melbourne North. The mid-1880s saw Shearer in the full stride of his ecclesiastical and public ministry. After discussions with the Presbyterians of inland Newcastle (WA) (where James Innes (q.v.) had ministered in 1860s and early 1870s) Shearer resolved to press ahead with the development of the port town Fremantle as the next Presbyterian centre outside Perth. This decision was furthered with the arrival of Hanlin in 1886, to establish Scots' Church Fremantle. In 1885 Shearer founded the Perth Literary Union. The same year he was elected to the Board of Education. Shearer was now to become 'The leading reformer in the educational ferment of the late 1880s ...' (Mossenson, 1972:65). In 1887 the authorities appointed him to head two committees of review dealing with different aspects of the educational system. Shearer was outspoken in his reformist views and these views lost him—at the hands of other clergy—his position on the Board. His focus on the classroom did not cause him to lose sight of the gospel ministry, as he sought diligently to minister personally to Presbyterians throughout the city and in the surrounding districts. His death was hastened by his life of hard work. Shearer's funeral reflected the regard with which many had held him. It was attended by many important figures including the premier John Forrest. The congregation of St Andrew's subscribed to the following memorial to the Rev David Shearer: 'This tablet is erected by the congregation in token of their affectionate appreciation of the excellent work performed by him as the pioneer minister of the Presbyterian Church in this colony and of the unswerving fidelity, energy and zeal which characterised the discharge of his pastoral duties.'

In 1979 Shearer was remembered during the 150th anniversary of the foundation of Western Australia by being allocated the year 1883 in a series of commemorative paving slabs on St George's Terrace, Perth.

ADB 6; S M Bonnington, 'The beginnings of Presbyterianism in Western Australian’, Reformed Theological Review 50 (1991); G H Davies, ‘The History of St Andrew's Church, Perth Western Australia 1879-1906' (unpublished thesis); D Mossenson, State Education in Western Australia 1829-1960 (Nedlands 1972)

STUART M BONNINGTON