THE first woman to be ordained in the small South Australian diocese of The Murray — the last Australian diocese to accept ordained women — will be ordained deacon tomorrow.

Margaret Holt will be ordained in St John the Baptist Pro-Cathedral, Murray Bridge.

The diocese adopted the 1985 General Synod canon permitting women deacons at a special synod last November, almost 30 years after the 23 dioceses of Australia adopted it.

The Murray is a conservative Anglo-Catholic diocese; the Rt Revd John Ford, formerly Bishop of Plymouth, in Exeter diocese, has been Bishop of The Murray since 2013.