Ralph David Farrer (born May 1944) is a retired Anglican bishop. He was formerly the Bishop of Wangaratta in the

Anglican Church of Australia The Anglican Church of Australia, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the ...

and more recently a

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

Early life and education

Farrer was born in Surrey,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia, with his family at a young age. After secondary school at Mentone Grammar School he attended a horticultural college in Melbourne, completing his apprenticeship as a horticulturalist before beginning training for the ordained ministry in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in 1965.

Ministry

Farrer was ordained a priest in 1969 and served in several parishes, as a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Melbourne, Australia. It is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Melbourne and the seat of the Archbishop of Melbourne, who is also the metropolitan archbishop of the Province of Victoria. ...

, the Archdeacon of La Trobe and later as the Archdeacon of Melbourne and chaplain to the

Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the King, represented by the Governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly an ...

. Farrer's commitment to community work in Australia earned him the title of Citizen of the Year in Brunswick in 1983 "for work with the unemployed and homeless" and Commander of Merit with the

Order of St Lazarus The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, also known as the Leper Brothers of Jerusalem or simply as Lazarists, was a Catholic military order founded by crusaders around 1119 at a leper hospital in Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem, whose care bec ...

in 1994, for launching a street ministry initiative, the Lazarus Centre, in Melbourne. Farrer was consecrated as bishop in 1998 at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne and then enthroned as Bishop of Wangaratta at Holy Trinity Cathedral in

Wangaratta Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had an estimated urban population of 19,318 at June 2018. Wangaratta has recorded a population growth rate of almost 1% annually ...

, a rural diocese in Victoria. During his time in

he helped to establish four low-fee Anglican schools in the diocese. In 2008 Farrer was appointed vicar of the combined parishes of St Nicholas' Church, Arundel and St Leonard's Church,

South Stoke, West Sussex South Stoke is a rural village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It is centred two miles (3 km) north of Arundel also on the west bank of the River Arun and on the edge of ''Arundel Park''. It is reached by r ...

and as an assistant bishop in the

Diocese of Chichester The Diocese of Chichester is a Church of England diocese based in Chichester, covering Sussex. It was founded in 681 as the ancient Diocese of Selsey, which was based at Selsey Abbey, until the see was translated to Chichester in 1075. The cath ...

in England; he retired from both posts in 2015 and returned to Australia. He is married to Helen Farrer.

References

People educated at Mentone Grammar School Archdeacons of Melbourne Anglican bishops of Wangaratta 20th-century Anglican bishops in Australia Street ministry 1944 births Living people 21st-century Church of England clergy {{Australia-anglican-bishop-stub