Stephen Daughtry

The Chaplain has a particular responsibility for the spiritual underpinnings of the College. This includes the conduct of the Commencement, Founders’ Day and Final Services and regular Morning Prayer in the Chapel, and being available for advice and counselling of a personal and spiritual nature.

We are delighted that the Rev’d Canon Stephen (Steve) Daughtry has been appointed Chaplain of St Mark’s College from February 2024.

Steve will normally be in College three days each week, and his office is located in the Vestry, which is the room behind the Chapel.

Steve has served for the last nine years as Parish Priest at Holy Innocents Anglican Church in Belair, where he was previously a Lay Minister.

Steve is also Education Missioner for the Anglican Board of Mission (ABM), and he will continue in that part-time role while serving as part-time Chaplain at St Mark’s.

Steve’s service in the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide since 2009 has included five years (2013-17) as part-time Chaplain of St John’s Grammar School, Belair.

His earlier work in the Diocese included serving as part-time Diocesan Media & Communications Officer, and his work has included producing the “I am Anglican: Exploring and Explaining Anglican Faith” video series, which has been widely distributed to parishes and schools.

He became a Canon of St Peter’s Cathedral, Adelaide, in 2019, and also serves on the Anglican Church’s Adelaide Diocesan Council and the Council of St Barnabas College, a theological college on King William Road, near St Mark’s.

Since his secondary education in Townsville, Steve has earned university qualifications in the performing arts at James Cook University, and in theology at Flinders University and Charles Sturt University.

After extensive freelance theatre work early in his career, including as an actor, tutor, and director, in 1993 he founded Company of Sinners, a full-time theatre company working in schools and churches to communicate the Christian faith. Over a dozen years, Company of Sinners performed to well over 250,000 people, and toured overseas and around Australia.

Steve has written over 20 plays, all of which have been performed throughout Australia and at festivals overseas. His poetry and songs have been published in several magazines, newspapers, and collections.

In his work for ABM, Steve has produced over 20 short documentaries, and authored or edited a number of Lenten studies. With ABM, he has visited many Anglican communities throughout Australia, including many Indigenous communities, as well as in the Pacific, South-East Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Steve and his wife Vanessa, a clinical counsellor and artist, have “three wonderful children and one glorious grandchild”.