‘You can’t put everything on immigration’: The suburbs at breaking point

In suburbs groaning under pressure, it’s not just One Nation’s stance on immigration that appeals to voters.

One Nation is framing the next federal poll as an immigration election. Matthew Absalom-Wong Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

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Share A A A Ted Brill stands outside the Ebenezer Church and surveys the paddocks before him.

It was here, two centuries ago, that Australia’s first migrant town was established.

On a ship built in Bangladesh, eight free families from different denominations arrived from Britain in 1802: Davison, Hall, Howe, Johnston, Johnstone, Mein, Stubbs and Turnbull.

“They wanted more freedom in their worship,” says Brill.

They weren’t convicts. They were merchants, teachers and religious ministers who survived floods and famine.