Outlined on this page is the Emmaus History. In August 1984, the Rev. Robert Wood, at the invitation of The Upper Room (Australia), brought a team of 32 Americans (most of whom paid their fares and used their annual leave) to run the first Emmaus Walks in Australia. Team members from all over the USA from the Emmaus Walk and Cursillo movements included two Australians who had made their initial walks in the US. The first Emmaus Walks for men and women were held in Otford, NSW. Twenty men and thirty-three women attended. 1985, the Uniting Church Board of Mission (NSW) officially sponsored the AUSTRALIAN WALK TO EMMAUS movement. In 1991, the National Mission and Evangelism Committee of the Commission for Mission of the Uniting Church in Australia assumed responsibility.

The commitment to making the Emmaus movement an ecumenical tool of spiritual renewal for church leadership in Australia has constantly been emphasised. The Walk to Emmaus has grown rapidly from its beginnings in Sydney. In New South Wales, communities have also been formed on the Mid North Coast, Far North Coast, Western Sydney, Northern Inland, Newcastle/Central Coast, Riverina and South Sydney/Illawarra, with a National Body providing guidance and direction.

Emmaus has also spread interstate, with communities in Queensland, ACT, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory. Several Chrysalis communities have also been established—in Sydney, Far North Coast, Mid North Coast, Northern Inland, Queensland, Adelaide, and Canberra. There is also a form of Emmaus for disabled people called Alarga, developed in Queensland and held in New South Wales.

With time, all things change, and so has the concept of the Emmaus Walk with the inclusion of the Village Encounter.

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