Churches of Tasmania

St Joseph’s, Hobart’s oldest Catholic church, is located at the corner of Harrington and Macquarie Streets. It was built following the appointment of Father John Joseph Therry as Vicar-General of Tasmania in 1839. Therry was an ambitious church builder but his incautious handling of finances became the cause of considerable controversy. He intended to build a church at “Mount Carmel”, the site of St Virgil’s Chapel [ see No. 944 ], now the location of St Mary’s Cathedral. St Virgil’s had been abandoned in 1836 due to the deterioration of the building and Mass was held at the Argyle Rooms until St Joseph’s opened in 1841. It was Therry’s intention that St Joseph’s would serve as a secondary church until a more substantial church could be built at Mount Carmel. However, given that St Mary’s Cathedral was only completed in 1866, St Joseph’s unofficially served as Hobart’s first Catholic cathedral for a quarter of a century. Indeed, the first Bishop of Hobart, Robert William Willson, was i...

Ranelagh is a township situated on the Huon River approximately 2 kilometres north of Huonville. Formerly known as Ranelagh Junction it had previously shared the name ‘Victoria’ with neighbouring Huonville. Four religious denominations have been represented at Ranelagh including Methodist, Catholic, Salvation Army and the Anglican. The Anglican presence at Ranelagh dates back to 1839. By 1850 a simple ‘bark church’ was in use. In all, three churches were built in the second half of the 19th century and the sequence of their establishment can be summarised as follows: 1853 - The first permanent church, a brick building, was constructed in 1853. It was consecrated in the following year. The building could seat about 100 people but little more is known about it. 1879 - A second church was built. This was a timber structure which was consecrated in 1880. 1896 - A third church (the present building) was built after a fire destroyed the earlier church. While little is known about the second ...

Kingston is a large town located approximately 12 kilometres south of Hobart. The area was first settled in 1804 and was known as Brown’s River, after Scottish botanist Robert Brown, who had visited the area. The settlement later became known as Kingston which was eventually officially adopted in 1882. The Uniting Church at Kingston is located on a 3 acre site at Boronia Hill, which previously served as a Presbyterian youth campsite, Rowallan Park. The camp operated from the 1950s through to the 1970s. The site included a basic wooden church hall and simple dormitory facilities. It was named after Lord Rowallan (Thomas Corbett), who served as the Chief Scout of the British Commonwealth from 1945 to 1959. During the post-World War II era, it was highly popular for churches to name camp sites and bush properties after prominent scouting figures to highlight outdoor education, resilience, and youth fellowship When the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregational churches merged in 1977 to ...

St John’s Presbyterian church was the third Presbyterian church built at Hobart. The first church, which opened in 1824, still exists and is located behind the Scots Memorial Uniting Church (then called St Andrew’s) on Bathurst Street. [ See No. 1524 ] By the time St Andrew’s opened in 1837 it was already evident that the building would not be large enough to accomodate the Presbyterian community. The fact that three Presbyterian churches were built within the space of 20 years is testimony to Hobart’s Scottish community, who, while not the largest group numerically, exerted a vastly disproportionate level of influence over the colony's economy, architecture, media, and civic institutions. The arrival of Scottish free settlers established a strong Presbyterian foothold in the colony. In 1822, the Reverend Archibald Macarthur arrived in Hobart as the first ordained Presbyterian minister. Macarthur was replaced by Rev. Dr John Lillie, (1837–1854) who is widely regarded as the most i...

The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart is a Catholic religious order founded in 1866 at Penola in South Australia. Its first member and Superior was Mary MacKillop. The Sisters were active in several Australian states in education and child welfare, establishing several schools, orphanages and babies’ and children’s Homes. The Sisters have been in Tasmania since their arrival in 1887 when they established the first Josephite school in Westbury. Since then, they have ministered in 25 schools and numerous parishes across Tasmania. In 1968 a Josephite Convent was established at Thirza Street in New Town. The building was blessed and opened by Archbishop Guilford Young on 19 August 1968. Initially it operated as a nursing home and hostel for Sisters of Saint Joseph. In time hospitality was also offered to members of other religious congregations and relatives and friends of the Sisters during times of illness. By 1989 it had become clear that St Joseph’s was too small to be eligibl...

Rivulet is a residential Aged Care Facility situated alongside the Hobart Rivulet which runs past the property. Rivulet was acquired by Southern Cross Care in 2020. Southern Cross Care was established in October 1972 by the Knights of the Southern Cross, a Catholic community group of laymen with a mission to provide dignified and respect-based care for the elderly. The Rivulet Aged Care facility on Gore Street is located on a site deeply layered with Hobart's colonial history. It was once the site of the Derwent Distillery established in 1823 and the area evolved into a major brewing and manufacturing hub. In 1872, William Gracie (a former manager at Cascade Brewery) took over the business. He demolished the old structures to build a new, five-storey stone and brick Artillery Brewery in 1873. In 1883, the premises were leased to Johnstone Brothers (Messrs. Johnstone and Co.). They converted the brewery into a steam-powered woollen mill. The mill produced blankets and tweeds before ...

Shipwrights Point is now known as Port Huon. It was so named as it was the centre of boatbuilding in the district. For many years it was well known for regattas which attracted large numbers of spectators. A visitor to the area in 1875 described the settlement as follows: “Its population numbers perhaps a hundred and fifty, the labouring portion of which are mainly employed in connection with the shipbuilding yards of Messrs. Inches and Sons and Messrs. Hawkins and Co. Old Mr. Inches, by the way, settled here more than thirty years ago, started the industry with which his name will long be associated, and gave to the town the descriptive appellation it still bears. With some slight intermissions, shipbuilding has been carried on here ever since….Mr. Hawkins, in addition to his shipbuilding business, some years ago started a jam manufactory, which, though not of course so large as kindred establishments in Hobart Town, is remarkably complete in its appointments. Steam is used in the man...

Forteviot is a significant historic house built in 1899 for Alexander John Harley (1854-1905), headmaster of the Macquarie Street State School. The house is named after Forteviot, a village in the Perthshire region of Scotland, the birthplace of Alexander Harley’s father. The large Victorian-style house, located at Sandy Bay, on the shore of the River Derwent, was designed by architects Robert Flack Ricards and Douglas Salier. In 1958 Forteviot was purchased by the Catholic Archdiocese of Hobart. For a brief period the house was a base for Sacre Coeur, a prayer community of lay women who promoted educational, missionary and parish work of the Catholic Church. In 1961 Forteviot was purchased from the Archdiocese by the Society of Christian Doctrine. The Society of Christian Doctrine, widely known as the Preca Community, is an international society of Catholic lay faithful. It was founded in Malta in 1907 by St George Preca. The community consists of celibate men and women who dedicate t...