IRCA Oceania grew out of a long-standing relationship between Australian and New Zealand rural churches. The Trans-Tasman Rural Ministry Conference held in Darfield, Canterbury in 1984 was the inaugural ecumenical conference that launched a four-yearly tradition of connecting rural churches across Australia and New Zealand.
1984 Darfield, Canterbury, New Zealand
The theme at Darfield was “The Rural Church Perplexed”. Throughout the 1960s and 70s rural communities went through significant change, with migration to the cities and subsequent depopulation and loss of services in rural towns and changes in world markets affecting commodity prices. Then came the 1980s with floating currency, Rogernomics in New Zealand, and severe drought events on both sides of the Tasman. We were truly perplexed as to our purpose and future as churches in rural communities.
Sharing stories of lament and stories of hope became the theme of our life together as a rural ministry movement.
As commented in the introduction to the book pictured below:
The sharing of the delegates from the two countries [at Darfield] proved so stimulating and useful that the conference determined that a similar conference should be convened in Australia at some future time.
1988 Kyogle, New South Wales, Australia
The rural churches of Kyogle, New South Wales, Australia hosted this conference in July 1988. The Rural Ministry Unit of the NSW Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia worked with the Anglican Dioceses of Bathurst and Armidale to make it happen. Keen to hold the event in a rural town, the local churches of Kyogle were approached and accepted the invitation willingly.
1992 Waipawa, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
The people of the churches and community worked together to plan, provide hospitality, generously cater to and warmly welcome their many guests. We all made further discoveries abuot ourselves and others, as we shared across the cultures and between countries.
Bill Bennett, Conference Coordinator (from the Foreword)
Rural realities : creation or chaos?: the report of the third Australasian Rural Ministry Conference, Waipawa, New Zealand, April 27-May 1, 1992 [compiled and] edited by Julia Stuart can be accessed through the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa
1996 Myrtleford, Victoria Australia
Barwidgee, Marriang, Mudgegonga, Whorouly… strange sounding names for those registering at the Conference on Monday afternoon. Some eighteen such names, derived from local places, communities and features, identified the exploration groups to which participants belonged throughout the Conference. It was also the people from these places and communities who received and nourished the Conference participants in a week of much learning, experiencing, sharing, swapping stories and fun.
John van Riet
An Ecological Vision for the Rural Church: the report of the 1996 Trans-Tasman Rural Ministry Conference, Myrtleford, Victoria, Australia, 15-19 April, 1996, edited by Julia Stuart can be accessed through the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.
2000 Northland Aotearoa
As the contents page shows, this conference was a hīkoi – a journey around the Far North.
Some of the criteria for the planning group give insight to the vision and kaupapa for the planning group:
- Our people … should be a primary part of the conference.
- The visitors should experience something of Northland’s geography and history. They should definitely spend some time on Northland roads.
- There should be a bicultural experience of some depth for at least 24 hours as a context for study sessions relevant to the setting.
- “Tiki touristing” for its own sake was not to be at the centre of the visitors’ experience.
- Presenters should not be imported from outside the area but local people would convene discussions on needs and concerns of primary interest to them.
- However, the programme was not to be one long “Show and Tell” by the locals – their presentations were intended to stimulate wider conversations.
- The Editors, “Country Conversations”
It is principles like these that have continued to be at the heart of planning Trans-Tasman and, latterly, IRCA Oceania gatherings.
Country Conversations : the Trans-Tasman Rural Ministry Conference, Northland 2000 / edited by Garth Cant, Chris Honoré and Dave Mullan can be accessed through the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.
2004 Clare, South Australia
There was no publication produced for this event. We will endeavour to source some memories to share.
2008 Nelson/Marlborough Aotearoa
This publication of conference proceedings can be accessed on the resources page of the IRCA website. Click here and scroll down.
2012 Atherton, North Queensland Australia
This publication of conference proceedings can be accessed on the resources page of the IRCA website. Click here and scroll down.
2016 Wairarapa, Aotearoa New Zealand
There was no publication produced for this event. We will endeavour to source some memories to share.
2023 IRCA 2023 Oceania Sequel Alexandra, Aotearoa
Held on Friday 26 to Saturday 27 May 2023, the purpose of this mini-conference was to enable Oceania people to glean from the recorded sessions of the IRCA conference in Dubuque, Iowa USA the month before. Present were people who attended IRCA in Dubuque as well as one traveller from Australia and a number from around the South Island, along with a number who join us on-line from Fiji, Australia and around Aotearoa. It was our first experience of making a conference accessible beyond those present on site. Together we dug down into the issues as they related to our context and agreed this was something worth doing in future, especially when travel distances to international conferences often put them beyond our reach.
More from this event can be found by clicking here.
2025 Namoli Village, Fiji
With Covid-19 disrupting plans to gather in Longreach, Queensland Australia in 2020 (a second attempt in 2021 still wasn’t going to work), we were finally face-to-face again in Fiji. Listening to one another was the theme of this conference and our talanoa together gave IRCA Oceania the refresh and booster shot of energy for supporting and encouraging one another that we were looking for.
It was a huge honour to be presented this tabua – whale’s tooth – by our hosts at Namoli Village. It remains in good care in Fiji as the symbol/tohu of our Oceania network.
Click here for resources, including videos, from the Namoli Fiji conference.
Photos can be found on our Facebook page
Where to next?
See you somewhere in Oceania in 2028.
We recognise the heritage of this history together and seek now to do a new thing – to be a network for 21st century rural churches, valuing what we can learn from one another face-to-face and with creative use of technology.
