While reading local history and talking to veteran Wickepin farmers I was fascinated by tales of a Jewish settlement there. The people in the settlement were not Jewish, but Church of the Firstborn Christians whose tale deserves more attention. I have made this blog from sources in the text.
On 9 May 1901 the Allinga arrived at Fremantle, bringing a new religious and social order to WA. Among her passengers were two bearded Victorians, Solomon and Samuel Richard Fisher, the sons of James Cowley Morgan Fisher, otherwise known as 'The Nunawading Messiah', the leader of a Victorian millenarian sect, the Church of the Firstborn. The purpose of their journey was to choose a locality where members could settle as a community to practise their peculiar faith and social customs.
This led to the start of a remarkable period in Wickepin history. The group greatly accelerated the development of a thriving farming town and district and provided a rare example of a religious sect successfully integrating into the general community.
This led to the start of a remarkable period in Wickepin history. The group greatly accelerated the development of a thriving farming town and district and provided a rare example of a religious sect successfully integrating into the general community.
How did this happen? James Cowley Morgan Fisher was a classic cult leader, but in my opinion, the group thrived due to cooperative and tolerant Christian principles espoused by Emanual Swedenborg, and the common sense of Fisher’s two eldest sons.
The Sect at Wickepin
There were about 100 members based at Nunawading Victoria. Their faith was an amalgam of Jewish and Christian beliefs as espoused by John Wroe and the Christian Israelites filtered by the idiosyncratic mind of Fisher. As group grew it began to fragment. To overcome this Fisher ordered his sons to find a new location for the whole group in rural WA. Fisher members who later moved to WA all had farming backgrounds and many had ties to the Firstborn dating from the 1860s.
The WA colonial government attracted newcomers through a generous policy of land alienation. Settlers could select up to one thousand acres at ten shillings per acre, with the cost spread over twenty years. Free homestead blocks of up to sixty acres were also offered, although farmers had to meet residence and improvement conditions.
They chose the Yarling Creek locality, 40 km east of Narrogin. Opened for selection in 1893, the area was said to have excellent land 'suited for cereals and fruit', and there was an abundance of fresh water easily obtained from springs, soaks and shallow bores, such that there was 'practically no fear in regard to a water famine during the summer months’.
There were about 100 members based at Nunawading Victoria. Their faith was an amalgam of Jewish and Christian beliefs as espoused by John Wroe and the Christian Israelites filtered by the idiosyncratic mind of Fisher. As group grew it began to fragment. To overcome this Fisher ordered his sons to find a new location for the whole group in rural WA. Fisher members who later moved to WA all had farming backgrounds and many had ties to the Firstborn dating from the 1860s.
The WA colonial government attracted newcomers through a generous policy of land alienation. Settlers could select up to one thousand acres at ten shillings per acre, with the cost spread over twenty years. Free homestead blocks of up to sixty acres were also offered, although farmers had to meet residence and improvement conditions.
They chose the Yarling Creek locality, 40 km east of Narrogin. Opened for selection in 1893, the area was said to have excellent land 'suited for cereals and fruit', and there was an abundance of fresh water easily obtained from springs, soaks and shallow bores, such that there was 'practically no fear in regard to a water famine during the summer months’.
New Jerusalem land probably adjoined the Wickepin-Kulin Road east of the present townsite. The original townsite was Wickepin Spring
Solomon and Samuel Fisher returned to Victoria to inform their father's followers and prepare to move west. There was no legal provision for communal property title in WA, so each man had to apply for land on adjoining blocks. William Butler and Charles Peters (both related to Fisher through marriage), who had come to WA with Solomon and Samuel, negotiated with the Lands Department, and signed applications for about four thousand hectares on behalf of their colleagues in Victoria. The area was named ‘New Jerusalem’.
Unlike most new settlers, group members (about 70 in total) were well funded. From the sale of their Victorian properties, they brought an estimated £5,000 to invest, a fortune for the time. The money enabled them to build substantial homesteads, and purchase and acquire the newest and most modern farm machinery.
Fisher arrived in WA in early 1902. Fisher and his followers worked together to build wooden slab huts and to clear their rich flats along Yarling Creek. They shared livestock and farm equipment, although each family lived on its own block.
A spirit of sharing, fellowship and intense community was fostered through services and social gatherings. Their cohesiveness was evident in the family and neighbourhood connections between most members. The sect's rural character meant that day-to-day familiarity sustained relationships and avoided social contamination from an urban setting.
By the time of Fisher's death, New Jerusalem was less of an isolated religious group and more a progressive farming settlement, with leadership provided by Solomon and Samuel Richard Fisher. The arrival of the railway and their leader's senility coincided. New Jerusalem continued as a farming community, but it became ever more part of the prosperous Wickepin community rather than a religious group.
There very little physical evidence of their occupation, presumably because buildings were mostly wood.
Unlike most new settlers, group members (about 70 in total) were well funded. From the sale of their Victorian properties, they brought an estimated £5,000 to invest, a fortune for the time. The money enabled them to build substantial homesteads, and purchase and acquire the newest and most modern farm machinery.
Fisher arrived in WA in early 1902. Fisher and his followers worked together to build wooden slab huts and to clear their rich flats along Yarling Creek. They shared livestock and farm equipment, although each family lived on its own block.
A spirit of sharing, fellowship and intense community was fostered through services and social gatherings. Their cohesiveness was evident in the family and neighbourhood connections between most members. The sect's rural character meant that day-to-day familiarity sustained relationships and avoided social contamination from an urban setting.
By the time of Fisher's death, New Jerusalem was less of an isolated religious group and more a progressive farming settlement, with leadership provided by Solomon and Samuel Richard Fisher. The arrival of the railway and their leader's senility coincided. New Jerusalem continued as a farming community, but it became ever more part of the prosperous Wickepin community rather than a religious group.
There very little physical evidence of their occupation, presumably because buildings were mostly wood.
The group had a significant positive impact on the Wickepin district and was applauded by the local newspaper and a range of State bureaucrats and politicians.
In January 1906, New Jerusalem was visited by WA's Minister for Lands (Newton Moore), Director of Agriculture (Charles Chaplin), Surveyor General (Harold Johnston), local member of parliament (George Cowcher), and several Agricultural Society members and reporters, all of whom stayed overnight. Moore (soon to become Premier) was 'very much impressed with the New Jerusalem settlement … they have made commendable progress, and there is every indication of the members becoming prosperous settlers'.The visitors observed that 'a spirit of co-operation and mutual help permeates the whole community and governs all its actions. While communism is entirely absent, the settlement might nevertheless be described as one large family, in which the stronger help the weaker'. They were impressed with the social conditions, and with the regularity of the settlement — the 'homesteads each surrounded by an orchard and garden, stand[ing] near to and in view of one another' — and they admired 'the bright and happy faces of the settlers and the healthy appearance of the children'. The 'whole scene presents a picture of close settlement rarely seen in WA'.
In January 1906, New Jerusalem was visited by WA's Minister for Lands (Newton Moore), Director of Agriculture (Charles Chaplin), Surveyor General (Harold Johnston), local member of parliament (George Cowcher), and several Agricultural Society members and reporters, all of whom stayed overnight. Moore (soon to become Premier) was 'very much impressed with the New Jerusalem settlement … they have made commendable progress, and there is every indication of the members becoming prosperous settlers'.The visitors observed that 'a spirit of co-operation and mutual help permeates the whole community and governs all its actions. While communism is entirely absent, the settlement might nevertheless be described as one large family, in which the stronger help the weaker'. They were impressed with the social conditions, and with the regularity of the settlement — the 'homesteads each surrounded by an orchard and garden, stand[ing] near to and in view of one another' — and they admired 'the bright and happy faces of the settlers and the healthy appearance of the children'. The 'whole scene presents a picture of close settlement rarely seen in WA'.
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The group outside their church Narrogin Advocate 1905 How things change!
1. Opened for selection in 1893 the area was said to have 'an abundance of water supplies as springs, soaks, and shallow bores such that there was no fear of a water drought in summer'. within 30 years most shallow water sources were saline.
2. A record enlistment of local men for world War 1 lead to deaths and physical and mental injuries, which blighted a generation.
3. After rabbits first appeared in 1924, a rabbit plague ate out crops and pastures. Farmers survived by catching and selling rabbits for food, skins, and pig feed.
4. Strychnine baits used for rabbit control killed native animals.
5. Plummeting product prices in the 1930's depression forced many farmers to walk off their farms. From a peak of 24,000 in 1229 and 1930, numbers of male farmers declined by 40% to 14,609 in 1939.
Other families who might have been connected with, or were very friendly with New Jerusalem, are Bergin, Boyes, Jago, McCracken and Zinkler. From 18 to 22 selectors in the Wickepin area participated in the New Jerusalem community, some marrying in.
I found this amusing anecdote in the booklet ‘As They Remember It’ available at the Wickepin CRC.
‘Other members included the Robinsons, Zinklers and the Rintouls, who had two girls. Martin Mahar and Mick O’Keefe both Irish were tracking these girls and used to go to the service. One day the preacher ticked them off, so they got some barbed wire and laid it across the pathway. When the preacher came out his arms stretched across these girls he tripped and over he went. Martin and Mick reckoned they got even then’.
I found this amusing anecdote in the booklet ‘As They Remember It’ available at the Wickepin CRC.
‘Other members included the Robinsons, Zinklers and the Rintouls, who had two girls. Martin Mahar and Mick O’Keefe both Irish were tracking these girls and used to go to the service. One day the preacher ticked them off, so they got some barbed wire and laid it across the pathway. When the preacher came out his arms stretched across these girls he tripped and over he went. Martin and Mick reckoned they got even then’.
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James Cowley Morgan Fisher
Fisher was a larger-than-life figure, and in my opinion, a charismatic narcissist who could bend others to his will. Ron Ebsary, Fisher's great-grandson, reported that Fisher, whom his mother referred to as 'an old rascal', had only two sons by his first wife, Emma, but that he also had another son, John, and six daughters. Ron said ‘I don't know who their mothers were. I think he had 3 wives and 3 or 4 concubines because I used to have these aunts and I used to try to ''marry them up'' but I couldn't understand it. I had so many aunts. They were all Fishers but we didn't know where they came from’. |
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Fishers's early history is disputed, but this is the latest interpretation.
1831 born James Cowley at Nailsworth Gloucestershire
1840 migrated with his family to Adelaide
1850 married Louisa Phillips in Melbourne. While living in a brothel he was convicted of passing forged cheques and transported as a convict to Van Diemen’s Land
1852 escaped to Melbourne, and assumed the surname Fisher (that of his paternal grandmother), later adding the forename Morgan
1853 Although still married to Louisa he married Caroline Chamberlain. They had two sons Solomon and Samuel before she died during childbirth in August 1855.
1858 Fisher married Emma Pickis Kefford. His mother-in-law, Rhoda Harriet Kefford was a gifted orator who had earlier founded the 'New Church of the First-Born' based on Swedenborg's doctrine. Under her influence Fisher underwent a dramatic religious conversion
1861 he became leader of this sect. Based on the religious principles and practices inherited from his mother-in-law, who died in 1867, and from divine messages, he developed this sect into what he called the 'Church of the Firstborn. He was a faith healer in addition to receiving divine messages. On moonlight nights he led his followers through the country-side banging tins to exorcise the devil.
1871 Fisher and his sect were embroiled in a public scandal. Fisher's failure to save a child's life through faith healing led to civil action by the disgruntled father to recover £34 from Fisher, who had supposedly claimed to be Christ 'with divine power to heal all diseases, whether of body or soul'. The action failed but, a sect member Hyam Rintel testified that his wife, Jessie, had been taken away from him by Fisher, who 'coolly told me he had a revelation that I was to give up my wife to him'; the result being that 'not one of the four children she has now is mine'. Jessie Rintel was the sister of Fisher's wife, Emma, both living with him until their deaths. John Bignell was reported as saying that 'Fisher declares that he himself has the spirit of David … and David had a large number of wives and concubines'. Bignell named the women with whom Fisher lived as his wife Emma and two of her sisters.
1902 the family group migrated to Wickepin
1910 Emma Pickis Fisher, Fisher's legal wife for 52 years and the registered mother of his eight children, died at New Jerusalem on 14 May 1910 aged seventy-nine, Fisher ignored his second wife of forty years, Jessie Rintel, and took up with her eighteen-year-old granddaughter Ruth Mahala Rintel. They eloped and married then returned to live in the family home. This caused considerable discord.
1913 Fisher died and was buried in an unmarked grave
While Fisher was apparently a polygamist, his sons and daughters and other members lived monogamously, and the practice of polygamy at New Jerusalem disappeared with Fisher's death.
1831 born James Cowley at Nailsworth Gloucestershire
1840 migrated with his family to Adelaide
1850 married Louisa Phillips in Melbourne. While living in a brothel he was convicted of passing forged cheques and transported as a convict to Van Diemen’s Land
1852 escaped to Melbourne, and assumed the surname Fisher (that of his paternal grandmother), later adding the forename Morgan
1853 Although still married to Louisa he married Caroline Chamberlain. They had two sons Solomon and Samuel before she died during childbirth in August 1855.
1858 Fisher married Emma Pickis Kefford. His mother-in-law, Rhoda Harriet Kefford was a gifted orator who had earlier founded the 'New Church of the First-Born' based on Swedenborg's doctrine. Under her influence Fisher underwent a dramatic religious conversion
1861 he became leader of this sect. Based on the religious principles and practices inherited from his mother-in-law, who died in 1867, and from divine messages, he developed this sect into what he called the 'Church of the Firstborn. He was a faith healer in addition to receiving divine messages. On moonlight nights he led his followers through the country-side banging tins to exorcise the devil.
1871 Fisher and his sect were embroiled in a public scandal. Fisher's failure to save a child's life through faith healing led to civil action by the disgruntled father to recover £34 from Fisher, who had supposedly claimed to be Christ 'with divine power to heal all diseases, whether of body or soul'. The action failed but, a sect member Hyam Rintel testified that his wife, Jessie, had been taken away from him by Fisher, who 'coolly told me he had a revelation that I was to give up my wife to him'; the result being that 'not one of the four children she has now is mine'. Jessie Rintel was the sister of Fisher's wife, Emma, both living with him until their deaths. John Bignell was reported as saying that 'Fisher declares that he himself has the spirit of David … and David had a large number of wives and concubines'. Bignell named the women with whom Fisher lived as his wife Emma and two of her sisters.
1902 the family group migrated to Wickepin
1910 Emma Pickis Fisher, Fisher's legal wife for 52 years and the registered mother of his eight children, died at New Jerusalem on 14 May 1910 aged seventy-nine, Fisher ignored his second wife of forty years, Jessie Rintel, and took up with her eighteen-year-old granddaughter Ruth Mahala Rintel. They eloped and married then returned to live in the family home. This caused considerable discord.
1913 Fisher died and was buried in an unmarked grave
While Fisher was apparently a polygamist, his sons and daughters and other members lived monogamously, and the practice of polygamy at New Jerusalem disappeared with Fisher's death.
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688 –1772). Author of part of the group's doctrine
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A few examples of this tolerance are.
There is a Swedenborg Foundation and Swedenborgian churches around the world.
- Swedenborg rejected the idea of original sin, and salvation being achieved by faith alone. Charity to others and the ten commandments were equally important.
- He renounced racism. He believed that the "African race" was "in greater enlightenment than others on this earth, since they are such that they think more 'interiorly', and so receive truths and acknowledge them."
- He was tolerant of other religions. If a person is unaware of the doctrines but has believed in one God and lived a life of love for goodness and truth, according to Swedenborg, they will learn them after death.
- Swedenborg did not condemn all sexual activity between those who were not married. While he was particularly against infidelity, Swedenborg believed that all erotic love between a man and a woman – even that which arose within unfavourable circumstances – still had the potential to develop into true conjugial love. Marriage was considered a union of souls, and this can only exist between one man and one woman.
There is a Swedenborg Foundation and Swedenborgian churches around the world.