[1] This appointment was due, in large part, to the influence of the Eclectic Society and two notable men, John Newton and William Wilberforce, who were keen for a committed evangelical Christian to take the role of chaplain in the colony.

At the first Christian service held at Sydney Cove on Sunday, 3 February 1788, Johnson took as his text Psalm 116:12-13:[3] What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?

As Governor Arthur Phillip was primarily concerned with finding means of feeding and housing the soldiers and convicts in the harsh conditions of the colony in its early years, labour could not be spared for the building of a church.

[1] He was given a grant of land where the suburb of Ashbury now stands and worked it so successfully with the help of some convict labour that, in November 1790, Captain Tench called him the best farmer in the country.

[1] In May 1789 the Johnsons took into their home an indigenous girl aged about 15, called Araboo or Boorong, who had survived the 1789 Sydney smallpox outbreak.

An assistant chaplain, the Reverend Samuel Marsden, was appointed in the same year and arrived early in 1794; and henceforth Johnson had the support of a stronger personality than his own.

[1] In 1794 he published An Address to the Inhabitants of the Colonies established in New South Wales and Norfolk Island and, in 1800, obtained leave of absence to visit England.

Johnson continued to take an interest in Australia, appearing before the House of Commons Select Committee on Transportation in 1812[2] and in 1815 he recommended John Youl to be chaplain at Port Dalrymple.