Churches of Tasmania

This is a short blog entry to supplement an earlier article on the former St Paul’s Anglican church in East Devonport [ See No. 195 ] The Priestly Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) is a society of Catholic priests founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. The society is named after Pope Pius X (1835-1914) who is known for vigorously opposing Modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine. Consequently the SSPX retains the Tridentine Mass and pre-Vatican II liturgical books in Latin which are used for administering the sacraments. The SSPX is not in full communion with the Catholic Church. The SSPX is an international society with churches, priories, seminaries, schools and charitable bodies established in over 60 countries. In Tasmania, the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X has offered a monthly Mass in private homes and hired venues for over 30 years. St Paul’s Anglican church was recently purchased by the SSPX and the building was reopened and blessed on Sunday 25 May 2025 by Fr. D...

Devonport was created in 1890 with the merging of two towns on the opposite banks of the Mersey River: Formby on the west bank and Torquay on the east bank. The area was first settled in the 1840s The Seventh-Day Adventist Church was established in Tasmania in 1888. The denomination originated in the USA in the 1860s. In 1885 a group of Adventists travelled to Australia and began preaching in Melbourne. After a church group was established in Melbourne in 1886 members moved on to Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart. Public tent meetings were held in Sandy Bay in 1888 which led to the establishment of a church at Collinsvale and later at Hobart and Launceston. The Adventists were first active in Devonport around the turn of the 20th century. By 1903 substantial progress had been made towards establishing a permanent congregation as a result of “evangelistic work” undertaken by George Teasdale in West Devonport. In January 1903 the Adventist Union Conference Record recounts: “Brother Teasdale ha...

Tunnack is small rural town located about 20 kilometres south of Oatlands. The district around Tunnack was predominantly settled by Irish-Catholic migrants after the mid-19th century. Settlement was promoted by the passage of the Waste Lands Act (1863) which made available small lots of cheap land for clearing and farming. The original settlements centred around properties at "The Bluff" and "Brandy Bottom”. As the Irish population grew the district was informally known as Limerick. When a township was surveyed at the crossroads to Levendale the name Tunnack was adopted. Tunnack is derived from an Aboriginal word for "cold". Tunnack’s first Catholic church can be dated to 1866 when a 4 acre site at ‘The Bluff’ was granted for a church and burial ground. In June 1868 Father Marum wrote to the Board of Education requesting permission for “the temporary use of a chapel as a school building” and expressed his “desire to comply with the regulations of the Board”. ...

Queenstown is the largest town in the West Coast region. At one time it was Tasmania's third largest town. In common with most West coast towns, Queenstown’s history has been shaped by the once dominant mining industry. The origins of Queenstown’s Presbyterian church date to 1897 when Reverend Matthew Hart, minister of Chalmers Church, Launceston, proposed that a church be established at the rapidly growing town. On 1 March 1897 a meeting was held at McKay, Sampson and McKinlay’s department store which stood at the corner of Orr and Sticht Streets. Following the meeting Mr R.A. Barton was appointed as missionary to Queenstown. On 30 June 1898, Mr James Cairns, owner of Cairns Hall, granted the Presbyterian community free use of the building for a period of three months. On 3 July church services commenced and a Sunday school was established on the same day. In 1899 the construction of a church was seriously contemplated following a donation of of £50 by Mr Robert Sticht, the gener...

St John’s Anglican church is Launceston’s oldest place of worship. The bicentenary of the first Divine Service, held on Friday 16 December 1825, is celebrated this year. Before the construction of St John’s was completed, religious services were conducted in various buildings which were prepared as temporary places of worship. One of these included a converted blacksmith’s shop in Cameron Street where parishioners were summoned to “Divine worship” by an iron drum. The early history of the Anglican church at Launceston (and George Town) is closely bound up with the life of Reverend John Youl (1773 – 1827), the first chaplain appointed in the north of Tasmania.  This blog entry reproduces a paper read by Rev. W. R. Barrett to the Northern Clerical Reading Union which he delivered in 1928. The paper focuses on the life of John Youl and his work in George Town and Launceston. The following extract was published in the Launceston Examiner: It is my purpose in this paper to put toge...

Tunnack is small rural town about 20 kilometres south of Oatlands which was predominantly settled by Irish migrants in the mid-19th century. The district was densely settled under the Waste Lands Act of 1863, which sold cheap land in small lots for clearing and farming. The settlement was officially proclaimed in 1871 and adopted the name ‘tunnack’ which is derived from the local Aboriginal word for cold. Religious life in the Tunnack district was dominated by Catholic and Presbyterian communities reflecting the significant numbers of Irish and Scottish settlers. Unlike most rural towns, an Anglican church was never established. However, the Methodists were active at Tunnack from the 1870s and a church was eventually built in 1903. Little is known about the small weatherboard church which functioned for only about five or six years. In August 1902 the Midlands News reported: “A public meeting was held here [Tunnack] to arrange for the erection of a new Methodist Church. The attendance...

Lymington is a coastal settlement south of Cygnet. It was the site of a convict probation station established in the 1840s and by the late 19th century it had developed as an orchard-growing district. St Teresa’s replaced St Patrick’s Convent School at Upper Lymington which had been established in 1900 [ See No.1623 ]. The new convent school, which also served as a church, was built at a more central location. The foundation stone for the new school was laid by the Archbishop of Hobart, Dr. William Hayden on Sunday 21 December 1930. The Mercury reported: “The parish priest (the Rev; A. Cullen) explained the reasons that had prompted them to abandon the old convent at Lymington, and concentrate on the new and central position. He said he had personally purchased 10½ acres of land for the purpose, and deemed it the greatest honour of his life to be able to give the deeds to the Archbishop that day…. The Catholic schools were the very heart of the church, and he hoped that the new school...