It is a small Presbyterian church numbering slightly over 200 persons with its largest congregation in the area of Geelong, Victoria.

A number who did not join other branches of Presbyterianism were against occasional hearing, and they wanted a minister of their own.

He was ordained in Belfast 18 August 1857, and arrived in Melbourne in late December 1857, to commence the work in Geelong which he served until his death in 1897.

A. Barkley, RP minister in Geelong, became the founding principal of the Reformed Theological College.

In former times, church law required members to believe that the Solemn League and Covenant were still binding and forbade them from participating in government because the Constitution does not explicitly make the Australia an officially Christian country; these provisions have been repealed.