'Rev John Saunders (1806-1859) was the pioneer Baptist pastor in Sydney from 1834 to 1848. As well as established the first Baptist Church at Bathurst Street in 1836 he became a prominent activist in the religious and moral life of the colony. A leading figure in the temperance movement at a time when alcohol was still a major scourge, he was also a courageous and outspoken critic of the treatment of Aborigines by many British settlers at the fevered time of the trial of white men for the Myall Creek murders. Henry Reynolds called his sermon on this theme 'one of the most eloquent presentations of humanitarian doctrine' from that period.' (Source: Back cover)