The Baptist Church was formed in 1865 1Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), Saturday 18 April 1931, page 6 in Araluen, with Dr Hobbs 2Brian McDonald and Jill Clarke. Religious Annals of the Braidwood District. Jill A. Clarke. 2020. p36 Baptist Minister of Newtown visiting and opening a place of worship in December. The Baptist Church was built in Bourketown, with a block of land noted as Rev William Sutherland (Baptist Minister in Braidwood) shown at Block 115 on the corner of Albert St and Church St, Araluen West, on the 1867 map. 3NSW Land Registry Service, Parish and Historical Maps. Historical Land Records Viewer https://www.nswlrs.com.au/Parish-and-
By 1869 4Sydney Mail (NSW : 1860 – 1871), Saturday 23 January 1869, page 3 the Baptist Association of NSW notes, ‘Araluen – Here an untiring brother, Mr. Thomas Llewellyn, labours as pastor and bush missionary’, and in 1870 5Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), Thursday 20 January 1870, page 3 ‘suggests eleven have been added by baptism to this church. During the year two small vestries and a baptistery have been erected. Mr Thomas Llewellyn’s labours as bush missionary with zeal, and his labours in Moruya, have eventuated in the formation of a church‘. Thomas Llewellyn, Araluen-Braidwood was noted in 1871, and continuing to 1877 6New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 – 1900), Tuesday 30 January 1877 (No.39 (SUPPLEMENT)), page 449 as a minister of religion for the celebration of marriages. 7Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), Friday 17 February 1871, page 6
Greville’s Official Post Office Directory 1875-76 8Greville’s Official Post Office directory for 1875 – 1876 https://www.ihr.com.au/secure/html/greville75.html. Accessed 18 Feb 2023 lists Rev Thomas Llewellyn, Baptist at Araluen (page 18), and Rev Thomas Llewellyn (page 20) at Bourketown.