‘Kept By God’s Hand’: The continuing Presbyterian Church of Western Australia

What were the factors at work that saw only a tiny continuing Presbyterian minority in Western Australia emerge through the 1960s and 1970s? Why did the one stream of conservative Presbyterianism split in two in the decade before constitutional Church Union occurred in 1974? Why was the continuing Presbyterian Church in Western Australia so small and yet continued on in 1977? This article seeks to provide some answers to these questions by briefly considering certain key figures and key events in the years leading up to and following the two votes on Church Union (1972, 1973) that delineated the uniting Presbyterians, the continuing Presbyterians and the Westminster Presbyterians in Western Australia who went their separate ways in 1977.