Alfred Holland (bishop)

Holland gave evidence by video link to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse while it was sitting in Newcastle in August 2016. His evidence was that, as Bishop of Newcastle, he had not received any allegations that priests in the diocese had committed child sexual abuse and stated that there had not been any formal framework to deal with such accusations, so any case would have been handled in an ad hoc manner.

Holland was married with four children, one of whom predeceased him. His son Jonathan Holland, also a bishop, was suggested as a candidate for Bishop of Newcastle in 2012.

During the aftermath of the 1989 earthquake in Newcastle, Holland oversaw a number of building works, including the construction of Bishop Tyrrell Lodge at Morpeth. He also initiated the “Decade of Evangelism” in 1990. A strong advocate of the ordination of women, in Holland’s time the Newcastle diocese was one of the first in which women were ordained in Australia.

The findings of the royal commission were that, by 1979, Holland had received child sexual abuse allegations from Aslin and Frost against Brown but that Holland did nothing, and that it took until 2012 for Brown to be convicted of sexually abusing 20 children, 13 of whom were abused after 1979. By 1980, Holland had received child sexual abuse allegations from COA, COC, Lesley Danger and Christopher and Valerie Hall against Rushton but again did not act, rather Holland promoted Rushton to the position of Archdeacon of Maitland in 1983. The royal commission found that Holland’s failure to act in the face of the allegations was a lost opportunity to prevent future child sexual abuse.

An invitation to be Bishop of Newcastle was extended in 1977. One of Holland’s first projects in Newcastle was to raise money for the building of the tower of Christ Church Cathedral which was completed in 1979. He was also responsible for the establishment of The Samaritans, now known as Anglicare Newcastle, the church’s response to the high unemployment of the 1980s and Holland’s concern for the vulnerable and disadvantaged. From time to time he would speak or write to Neville Wran (Premier of New South Wales, 1976-1986) expressing his concerns at the high unemployment levels and insufficient housing in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley.

On 6 August 1972 at St George’s Cathedral, Perth, Holland was consecrated a bishop by Geoffrey Sambell, Archbishop of Perth, and served as an assistant bishop in Perth from 1972 to 1977. During those years he travelled to Sydney each year to be a part of the Anglican Church of Australia’s Liturgical Commission and its role in revising the prayer book. The result was An Australian Prayer Book 1978, the first of the modern prayer books now in use in Australia. He was also a prime instigator behind “Celebration ’75”, a week of events where the Perth diocese invited eight bishops from developing countries, including Desmond Tutu and Janani Luwum to preach and revitalise Anglicanism in Perth. The week culminated in a large outdoor Eucharist held at a local sport stadium which attracted around 10,000 people. It was also in this period that he led and spoke publicly at the moratorium marches against the Vietnam War.

Holland was educated at St Chad’s College, Durham and ordained at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, in 1953. After a curacy in Hackney in London he became the parish priest at Scarborough, Western Australia, from 1954. While in Scarborough he was responsible for the building of St Columba’s Church in Northstead Street, Scarborough. He was later the archdeacon of Stirling before his ordination to the episcopate.

Alfred Charles Holland (23 February 1927 – 8 October 2018) was an Australian Anglican bishop. He was consecrated as a bishop on 6 August 1972 and was an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Perth before becoming the diocesan Bishop of Newcastle in New South Wales from 1978 to 1992.