Churches of Tasmania

Trevallyn is a suburb of Launceston located in the hills on the north-west side of the city centre. It is named after a 12 hectare property owned by William Barnes (1790 - 1848). Launceston 'Awake church' was established in 2023. The Church meets for worship in the Max Fry Hall, Trevallyn. The hall opened in 1968 and is named in memory of Max Fry (1912-1965), a member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council for Launceston. The Awaken Church is affiliated with the “Acts Global Churches”, a “second generation name for the Apostolic Church Australia”. The Apostolic Church is a Christian denomination in the Pentecostal movement. The term "Apostolic" reflects the denomination's belief that it follows the teachings of the twelve apostles who followed Christ. With roots in the 1904–1905 Welsh Revival, the church seeks to revive first-century Christianity in its faith, practices, and governance. Max Fry Hall - Source: Facebook Max Fry Hall - Source: Facebook Sources and Fur...

North Franklin is a rural area approximately 2 kilometres north of the town of Franklin in the Huon Valley. A Congregational church was built at Franklin in the 1840s and over the time branch churches were established at Cradoc; Woodstock, Pelverata and North Franklin. Little information is available about the church at North Franklin. It was located on Maxfields Road near the Congregational cemetery. In 1952 it was sold to the Anglican Church and removed to Judbury where in 1955 it was consecrated and dedicated to St Luke. It is not known when the church was built and there is no description of it opening. The first service advertised appears in the Huon Times dates to November 1911. Newspaper reports about events associated with the church appear from 1912. The following are a selection of reports from Huon Times which make reference to the North Franklin church: “Last Sunday afternoon harvest thanksgiving services were conducted in the North Franklin Congregational church when the l...

Whitemark is the main town and administrative centre of Flinders Island. The name is reputedly taken from a conspicuous white mark placed in the vicinity of the present town, for survey purposes. Little information is available about St Alban’s Anglican church. The building’s foundation stone was laid in 1915. Launceston’s Daily Telegraph reported: “The Bishop of Tasmania has been here for the past fortnight travelling through the district. The residents were very pleased at his visit, and have turned up well at the different entertainments. His lordship laid the foundation stone for a church at White Mark, to be called St. Alban's. Already £80 have been collected towards erection”. There is no published description of the official opening of the church in 1921. However Archbishop Hay’s visit to the Island in June of that year is well recorded as he was stranded for a time and was had to return to Bridport on a police boat. The Hobart Mercury reported: “Altogether the Bishop has ba...

Triabunna is a small town on the east coast situated at the northern end of Spring Bay, after which the settlement was named before Triabbuna was adopted in 1850s. It was established as a whaling station and was later used as a garrison town to service the Maria Island convict settlement. Triabbuna is an aboriginal word for 'native hen'. Only two churches were built at Triabunna. In 1909 a correspondent for Hobart’s Daily Post commented: “Judging from the small number of churches seen here, only two, the Anglican and the Roman Catholic, the spiritual side of the people is thoroughly neglected. There are supposed lo be fortnightly services held in the Anglican, and occasionally in the other. There are no Methodist, Presbyterian, etc., church to be found here as may be seen elsewhere. On the whole there is little or nothing done to encourage church going. The young fellows have to turn their attention to football on Sundays”. Anglican services were first held in a house on Rostre...

This article is one in a series about public buildings in country areas that were used as places of worship. In these communities churches may have been planned but were never built due to lack of finance or changing circumstances. In many settlements, before a church was built, worship was typically held in homes, schoolrooms, barns, halls and other buildings. Conversely, in some communities, churches were sometimes the first public building erected and were used as schools and community halls. The focus of this series will primarily be on the public halls and schools that were used as churches. These buildings, and the religious communities which used them, are often overlooked in published histories of churches. Lileah is a rural settlement south east of Irishtown in the Circular Head region. Most of Lileah was selected for settlement between the years 1895 and 1910 and was developed by farmers from the Stanley, Forest, Irishtown and Scotchtown districts. While a church was never bu...

The settlement of Mathinna in the upper reaches of the South Esk River Valley is now a shadow of the thriving boom town which existed in the late 19th century. The discovery of gold accelerated the growth of the settlement after the 1870s and the establishment of the Golden Gate mine briefly turned Mathinna into the third largest town in Tasmania. Today less than 150 people live in the township. Soon after the arrival of the miners, several religious denominations established places of worship in quick succession. These include an Anglican church (1896); a Methodist church (1896); a Catholic church (1897) and a Salvation Army Hall (1897). In March 1897 the Hobart Mercury reported: “The Salvation Army folk have completed the barracks, which will be opened by Major Gover, the commander of the force in Tasmania. Other leading lights will also assemble. A very suitable and comfortable structure has been erected….”. The Hall, or Barracks, was put to regular use over a period of three years...

Grassy is the main settlement on King Island’s south-east coast and is located about 30 kilometres from Currie. The town was centred on a scheelite mine considered to have been one of the largest of its type in the world. The scheelite deposit (from which tungsten is extracted) was first discovered in 1911 when a prospector named Tom Farrell searched the area for tin. In 1949 land for the construction of an Anglican church was donated by Mr. D W Bowling. At this time Anglican, Methodist and Catholic services were held at the Grassy recreation hall. In 1950 the Old Grassy School building was donated to the “Church of England for all denominations church services”. After the school was building was renovated the church opened in 1953. The building was dedicated by Archdeacon Walters on Wednesday 17 December 1953. Assisting in the ceremony were Reverend F. Stewart (Anglican) and Mr E.B. Cousins (Methodist). The church was initially used by Methodist and Anglican congregations while Cathol...

Ilfracombe is the name of a rural settlement which was renamed Beauty Point in 1939. Ilfracombe was located on the west bank of the River Tamar approximately 6 kilometres north of Beaconsfield. Two small settlements, Port Lempriere and Leonardsburgh, which were associated with iron mining and smelting, fell within the district known as Ilfracombe. While there is no longer an Anglican church at Beauty Point, there have been two Anglican churches established in the area. The second, more recent church, known as St Mark’s Anglican Hall, closed in the 1940s. [ See No. 625 ] This was preceded by a church closely associated with Mr. John Effingham Lawrence of Point Effingham, a property in the vicinity of Bell Bay on the opposite bank of the River Tamar. John Lawrence (1828-1874) was the son of William Effingham Lawrence and Mary Ann [Milligan], one of the largest landholders in the colony. In 1855 John married Frances Gaunt at Trinity Church in Launceston. He resided at a “comfortable r...

This article is one of a series about buildings associated with Tasmania’s historical churches. These buildings include Sunday schools, parish halls, convents, schools and residences of the clergy. Ancillary buildings are often overlooked and rarely feature in published histories. My aim is to create a simple record of these buildings, including of those that no longer exist. Kelso is a small settlement in the local government area of West Tamar. It is located about 14 kilometres north of the town of Beaconsfield. It was originally called Kelsalls Bay or Kelsalls Point after an early settler in the area. The Kelso Anglican Youth Centre was built as a joint venture between the parishes of the Launceston Archdeaconry of the Anglican Church. It was constructed in the late 1950s by volunteer labour from plans drawn up by architect Jim Hart. The Centre’s foundation stone was ceremonially laid by Bishop Cranswick on 22 November 1958. In February 1960 the building was dedicated following the...

The Cascades Female Factory operated in South Hobart from 1828 to 1856. Female factories were called factories as they were conceived of as manufactories to produce goods to assist the colonies. In total five female factories operated in Van Diemen’s Land: The ‘Hobart Town Gaol’ (which was replaced by the Cascades Female Factory); and factories at George Town, Launceston and Ross. The female factory was part of the probation system. The intention was to facilitate the transformation of women from convicts to reputable citizens. In the factories the lives of women were regulated by strict rules, work and religion. Prisoners were classified into ‘classes’. After serving six months in the ‘crime class’, approved prisoners, the so-called 'hiring class', became pass holders and could work for wages outside the factory as hired servants. In Tasmania’s penal institutions religious practice was, at least in theory, considered a critical part of reforming convicts. A 2008 a report for U...

This article is one of a series about buildings associated with Tasmania’s historical churches. These buildings include Sunday schools, parish halls, convents, schools and residences of the clergy. Ancillary buildings are often overlooked and rarely feature in published histories. My aim is to create a simple record of these buildings, including of those that no longer exist. Westbury is a historic town situated approximately 30 kilometres west of Launceston. It was surveyed in 1828 and was developed as an administrative centre for the district. The first regular Catholic Mass held at Westbury can be dated to 1847 when the Government permitted Catholics to use the Colonial Hospital ‘for divine service’ for Westbury and the surrounding districts. In 1850, Bishop Robert Willson asked for a Government land grant at Westbury on which to build a church, a priest's house and school. This was approved on condition that the Catholics built the church as soon as possible. Father Hogan, who ...

Cape Barren Island is the second largest island in the Furneaux Group. It is situated at the southern end of Flinders Island and separated by the Franklin Sound. The island is also known as truwana, an Aboriginal word meaning 'sleeping water’. In 1881 Cape Barren Island Reserve was established for the descendants of Aboriginal women and European sealers living in the Furneaux Islands of Bass Strait. In 1871 the inhabitants of the Furneaux Islands petitioned Governor Charles Du Cane for a reserve and the exclusive use of the mutton bird rookeries. They received only two ten hectare blocks on Cape Barren Island for homesteads and agricultural activity. While the government accepted that the Islanders were a separate community it did not acknowledge that they had exclusive land rights based on their Aboriginality. From the 1870s the Anglican Church sought to increase its influence on the Islands and, following a campaign by the Islanders, with the support of the Church, the government...