The life of Rev. Frederick C B Fairey, a Congregational Minister at Windsor from 1879 until 1881 and again from 1910 until 1912 was quite extraordinary. The Congregational Church in Windsor still stands on the northern side of Kable Street between Macquarie and George Streets, and up until Christmas 2004 was a furniture shop.
Apart from Rev. Fairey being a minister who preached his sermon from the pulpit every Sunday and who rode to pastoral visitation on his horse, he also carried the word of the Lord to parishioners by rowing up the rivers of the colony and landing at various properties on the way.
Fred was born in Brighton, Sussex, England, in 1844 where he has access to water and learned to swim and sail as a lad. As a young man he was at sea for six years, travelling to Constantinople, Malta, China and India amongst other places. He also chose to live for over two years in South America.
In 1875 he was called to the Congregational Ministry in Victoria where he trained. He became the incumbent at various churches in Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland before being called to the Congregational Church at Windsor in 1879.
It was a time of evangelicism and he must have considered just being a minister and preaching to his congregation was not enough so he bought himself a Rob Roy canoe and had it shipped from Lambeth, London, to St Kilda where he was the minister. With this canoe he envisaged that during his annual holiday he could visit settlers on the rivers and coasts of the colony. He felt that many of the people would seldom be able to hear the Gospel preached or see the face of a Christian minister.
The canoe, which he named Evangelist was sea-worthy, built of oak, mahogany and cedar and was 12 feet in length. He seems to have planned his canoe well because it had an enclosed bulkhead where he kept his clothing, food, water and equipment. It was also fitted with a sail and with an ingenious little cooking 
stove. The little vessel was a life boat having two air chambers that always kept it afloat. The canoe, which was large enough for Rev. Fairey to sleep in if necessary, had both single and double oars and he was able to operate the rudder with his feet whilst rowing.
During his ministry at Windsor he would row or sail depending on the weather up or down the Hawkesbury River, pulling his canoe in where he saw a farmhouse. People always treated him kindly and they would ride to advise any neighbours that a minister of religion had come to preach. Most of the property owners except for the very poor had a piano and one of the women could usually play, so many neighbours and their families would congregate at the house and Rev. Fairey would preach a sermon, they would sing hymns and he would often christen small children who had not been christened. He would stay overnight with the family or if he was too far from civilisation, he would sleep in the Evangelist. Occasionally someone would accompany him part way down the river in their own small canoe and when he arrived back in Windsor there were lots of ready helpers in the form of little boys wanting to help him drag his canoe from the water and put it on the little wheels made specially for transporting the canoe. The Congregational Manse, where Fred Fairey lived, was on the corner of Macquarie Street and Kable Street, so lots of boys were needed to drag the canoe up the hill from the river.
When he was a minister in Victoria he rowed his canoe out to sea - Fred called it "rocked on the cradle of the deep" and rowed through the heads at Port Phillip Bay much to the disgust of the lighthouse keeper who thought that Fred was stupid to row through the heads in the 'smallest vessel ever to pass through the Heads".
Fred was much in demand as a lecturer wherever he was a minister on his experiences as an evangelist and canoeist. He even travelled back to his birthplace of England to lecture and entered articles in the "Boys Own Annual".
His canoe was burnt in Adelaide during one of his travels, and as Fred was by this time in his seventies, he decided not to have it replaced.
Rev Frederick Fairey died on the last day of 1924, but has left an everlasting legacy in the Hawkesbury with Fairey Road that crosses the railway line from Windsor to South Windsor named in his memory.
| Sources: | Boys Own Paper | September 1882 |
| The Congregationalist | 24 August 1880, | |
| The Congregationalist | 15 November 1881 | |
| The Windsor & Richmond Gazette | 19 February, 1910 | |
| Early Days of Windsor, New South Wales, | Rev. Jas Steele 1916 | |
| Sketch of Canoe "The Evangelist" | The Author |