Churches of Tasmania

Mountain River is a small settlement in the Huon Valley located on the southern slopes of Mount Wellington. It takes its name from the river which rises in the Wellington Ranges and flows through the area to join the Huon River. Three religious denominations were once active in Mountain River. The Methodist’s built a church at Mountain River in 1901 and the Salvation Army opened in hall in 1947. Regular Anglican services were first held from 1918 in the local public hall before a church was built. Very little information has survived concerning the Methodist church at Mountain River. At the Hobart Wesleyan District Synod held in November 1900, permission was given for the “erection of a church” at Mountain River. The Synod’s report in the following year confirmed that the church had been built and opened. A single report in the Tasmanian News makes reference of the church’s opening in July 1901: “Our Ranelagh (Huon) correspondent writes:— At the Mountain River Valley Wesleyan Church on...

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 frequently overlooked in published histories of churches. Woodstock is a rural settlement centred on the junction of ‘Pelverata Road’ and ‘Channel Highway. It is named from John Wallis Kellaway’s (1829-1911) property ‘Woodstock Park’. In 1917 a Congregational church was built at Cradoc which lies about 6 kilometres south of Wo...

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. George Town is the second oldest town in Tasmania. After the establishment of Launceston as the administrative centre of the north of the island, George Town was destined to become a backwater until more recent times. In 1804, a party of men led by Lieutenant Colonel William Paterson sailed into the mouth of the Tamar River where a cove on the eastern side of the river was selected as a temporary settlement. Paterson’s company had no ordained minister therefore he requested Edward Main, a former lay missionary, to read the first service. This event marks the first official religious ceremony in the north. The firs...

Lymington is a coastal settlement south of Cygnet in the Huon Valley region. Lymington was the site of a convict probation station established in the 1840s when the area was known as Copper Alley Bay. By the late 19th century Lymington had developed as an orchard-growing district. In 1912 a correspondent for the Hobart Mercury wrote an article describing this picturesque area: “One of the prettiest settlements in the Huon district is Lymington, … it is getting its share of attention in the wave of progress and prosperity so noticeable throughout the Huon is easily discerned by the number of new houses, and the ever increasing area of land being cleared and planted. The sweep of the well-sheltered bay, with its fringe of native bush, the well kept houses, with their neat gardens and orchards, sloping from the hills at the back to the very water's edge, form a picture that never fails to attract the eye of the visitor; but which we, alas, as residents, have hardly time to pause at in...

Riana is a small rural settlement located 13 kilometres south of Penguin. The settlement was started by loggers and over time farming became the main activity. At the close of the 19th century the recently settled Riana district was described in some detail by the correspondent for the Launceston Examiner: “…The district is a rising and most promising one. Riana is the southern (upper) portion of the Pine road, Penguin, and, has been opened up only within the last six or seven years. The Pine road runs in a due south line from Penguin, parallel with and on the western side of the Dial Range, and extends for a distance of ten miles…..By far the larger number of farms are on the western side of the road, as also are all the by-roads. The soil is a good dark chocolate and black, and yields excellent crops. For the first eight miles from Penguin the timber is almost solely stringy bark, beyond that myrtle, sassafras, celery top pine, and blackwood are the most plentiful. The Dial Range is ...

Pelverata is a rural settlement approximately 15 kilometres east of Huonville. It is centred around Pelverata Road just before the junction with Halls Track Road. The area was previously known as Upper Woodstock before the name Pelverata, an Aboriginal word for ‘ear’, was adopted in 1912. Apart from orcharding, a large sawmill was once a major source of employment at Pelverata. Pelverata had only one church which was also used as a Catholic school. It was established by Father P. J. O’Flynn who was appointed as parish priest at Cygnet in the mid 1890s. O’Flynn was enthusiastic in the cause of Catholic education and established the Convent of the Sisters of St Joseph at Lymington as well as churches at Snug, Flowerpot, Bruny Island and the church-school at Pelverata. Very little is known about the Pelverata church. The first couple to be married in the building were Mr and Mrs Patrick Barnes of Upper Woodstock. The last marriage at the church, between Thelma Duggan and Allan Muske...

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. Deloraine is a historic tourist town situated on the Meander River and lies approximately halfway between the cities of Launceston and Devonport. The settlement dates to the 1830s and was named by the surveyor, Thomas Scott, after Sir William Deloraine, a character in Sir Walter Scott's poem "The Lay of the Last Minstrel”. The first Anglican church at Deloraine was a wooden structure built in 1845. In 1856 William Bonney donated land for a brick church to be built on a new site. The foundation stone was laid on 11 March 1856. The church was completed in March 1859 and was opened by Archdeacon Reibey. Five...

Very little is known about a small chapel built by James Maclanachan (1799-1884) at his property Ballochmyle, near Tunbridge. A brick chapel was built in 1849 and was locally known as the “Red Chapel” or “The Wilderness Church”. The chapel was used up until Maclanachan’s death in 1884. The chapel may have resembled the Presbyterian kirk at Kirklands.  Maclanachan left a bequest for the construction of a new Presbyterian church closer to Tunbridge, on condition that services were conducted by the minister in charge of the district at least once a month. The new church, dedicated to St Matthew, opened in 1885. In December 1848 an advertisement calling for tenders for the construction of a brick church was placed in The Courier by Maclanachan and it is likely that the building was completed in the following year. Upon the ‘golden jubilee’ of St Matthew’s Presbyterian church in 1935, a report published in the Hobart Mercury provides a few details about Maclanachan’s chapel: “…All that ...

Zeehan is a town on the West Coast region approximately 40 kilometres from Queenstown. As a significant mining town it became the administrative centre for a number of mining companies in the region. Zeehan was established in the early 1880s and by the turn of the 20th century it had become Tasmania's third largest town. Zeehan takes its name from Mount Zeehan which had been named by George Bass and Matthew Flinders after Abel Tasman's brig ‘Zeehaen’. In 1890 the Anglican community at Zeehan built a “church room” at a cost of £250. The building was was licensed for public entertainment therefore it was used for secular events as well as church services. In October 1890 the earliest record of a service was published in the Zeehan and Dundas Herald: “Special services were held on Sunday last in the Church-room, the occasion being the introduction of the Rev A. G. King, our first resident clergyman. Morning prayer was said at 11 o'clock, followed by the reading of a Pastoral...

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. A Dean is appointed by a bishop to lead a subdivision of a diocese comprised of a number parishes. The duty of the dean is to watch over the clergy of the parish and to ensure that they implement the orders of the bishop and observe liturgical and canon law. The residence of a dean is officially called a deanery but it also accommodates priests serving in the parish. The first Dean of St David's Cathedral in Hobart was the Reverend Frederick Holdship Cox who appointed in 1872. During his incumbency the foundation stone of the nave of the new cathedral was laid (January 1868) but before it was consecrated in Fe...

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. Cullenswood is located about two kilometres west of St Marys in the Fingal Valley. All that remains of the former village is its church and rectory. Christchurch at Cullenswood is the legacy of Robert Vincent Legge. Legge arrived in Van Diemans Land in 1827 and shortly after took up a 1200 acre land grant on the Break O’ Day Plains. He named his estate Cullenswood, after his family home in Ireland. Legge was a devout Anglican and in gratitude for his good fortune he built a church at Cullenswood in 1847. [ See No. 173 ] Legge also built a rectory and secured its first priest, his nephew, Dr Samuel Parsons. Little ...

The ‘Young Men’s Christian Association’, an international movement for 'the spiritual, intellectual, social and moral improvement' reached Tasmania in the late 19th century. The YMCA was founded in London in 1844 by George Williams and eleven friends. It emerged as a response to the social challenges faced by young men during the Industrial Revolution, offering a Christian alternative to the temptations of city life. Williams organised Bible study and prayer groups that eventually led to the formation of the YMCA. The initial focus of the YMCA was on the spiritual improvement of young men in trades. In 1891 YMCA's red triangle was adopted as a symbol for the whole person, representing the unity of the spirit, mind, and body which were core principles of the organisation’s Christian mission. The Association was formally established in Launceston in 1880 followed by Hobart in 1882. It was open to all boys and young men and promoted all-round development by providing activitie...