Nathaniel Pidgeon (16 August 1803 – 17 February 1879) was an Irish born Australian evangelist and is regarded as Sydney's first missionary.

He secured employment shortly after his arrival in Sydney with a firm in Jamison Street, earning eight shilling a day.

[1] In his early days in Sydney he linked up with the Australian Methodists who granted him permission to preach and conduct an open-air ministry.

He assembled a team of helpers who distributed tracts, held evangelistic meetings and extended their outreach to include sailors and immigrants.

Financial stress led to five trustees of different denominations to support the ministry and maintain the chapel as a non-denominational place of worship for the city poor.