Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson was an English clergyman best known as the first chaplain of New South Wales. Educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, he was appointed chaplain to the new penal settlement in 1786 and traveled to Australia with the First Fleet.

In the colony, he worked under difficult conditions, preaching, visiting convicts, and trying to build a regular religious life in a place marked by scarcity, punishment, and disorder. He was closely associated with the evangelical movement in the Church of England, and his surviving correspondence helped shape later understanding of the early settlement.

Johnson returned to England after years of service, but his place in Australian history remained secure. He is remembered not only as a religious leader but also as a witness to the founding years of colonial Australia, when questions of discipline, reform, and faith were deeply intertwined.