No. 12 - Church of the Apostles Launceston

-
Its foundation stone was laid on September 15, 1864 and the church was opened on November 17, 1866.  In a tradition reflecting dedications of churches worldwide, the church was dedicated to Mary, Queen of the Apostles.
Originally, only the nave was complete, and the transept, sanctuary and sacristies were added in 1888. The imposing bell tower and spire weren't installed until 1989, and blessed and dedicated until 1990.  The Church of the Apostles replaced the St Joseph's Catholic Church, which resided at the same site for 20 years from 1842.  The Roman Catholic Church took over the site in 1838. 
The Examiner, on the 150th anniversary of the church included the following interesting detail about the churches consecration:"The church, when it was built, wouldn’t have been free of debt. It was practise that you didn’t consecrate churches until they were free of debt,” Father Freeman said. “Over the 150 years, we never got around to dedicating the church. It was opened and it was blessed. But never consecrated as a permanent building for religious purposes. “People sort of look at you as if to say ‘hasn’t it been consecrated?’ and technically, no, it hasn’t. Even though it’s been use for all those 150 years,” he said. 
In the 1970's Preparations were begun to complete the tower and spire originally planned in 1889. The original church bell, which had hung in a wooden tower behind the church and was later installed in the tower of Sacred Heart College, was shipped to England to the Taylor Foundry to be voiced to fit with 17 smaller bells being cast for the tower. These bells are electronically controlled and toll a number of compositions for different occasions.The tower was blessed and dedicated in 1990. Four new stained glass windows commemorate the work done for the Church in Launceston. The visages of the late Dean Lloyd and Archbishop Young are recognisable to many.

Description of the architecture of the building

Fine, large church of rusticated dolerite with Freestone dressings, it has slate roofs with stone crosses on gable ends. Built in the Gothic Revival style, with rather heavy mullioned Gothic windows and label moulds. The walls are buttressed and windows have continuous Freestone sills. Eastern facade has a rather simple, heavily detailed rose window. Interior is excellent, and pillars of the nave arcades are monoliths of dolerite. The 1886 Sanctuary was designed by Alexander North.

 ARCHITECTURAL STYLE:- Victorian Academic Gothic








A photo of the church taken in 1860 (source Linc Tasmania PH30-1-8518)


The Sacred Hear Convent and School 1973 - Now Presentation House


The Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Presentation Sisters) arrived in Tasmania in 1866. In 1873, they came to Launceston to set up a school.

The foundation stone of the building, which is now known as Presentation House and is used by the parish, was laid on the 16th July, 1872 and the Convent was opened on 4th February, 1873. Sacred Heart School commenced on 7th of February of the same year. 

The building is of plain Gothic and had verandas front and back. It was designed by Henry Hunter of Hobart and built by Mr E Ford under the supervision of Mr Harry Conway. The cost was 1600 pounds. (source of information: Sacred Heart School website)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to Churches of Tasmania

-
Image
I love history and photography and also have an interest in architecture. When I started this blog in 2017 I had the goal of photographing every historical church in Tasmania. This was initially driven by the proposed mass sell-off of Anglican churches. I was concerned that these buildings would be modified and no longer be accessible once in private hands. As the years have passed this goal has changed to writing short histories of each and every church built in Tasmania, of which there are about 1600.   My earliest posts are rather amateurish but my research and writing has improved somewhat over the years.  In time my hope is to revise and update every article to a publishable standard. I have received an overwhelming amount of material from followers of the blog and I will incorporate this into the articles in the revision phase. Eventually I hope to publish the best of the articles. At present the blog attracts about 1000 views per day and I hope that this will continue to grow. 
Read more

No. 624 - Dunalley - St Martin's Anglican Church - "In grateful memory of the men who fought in the Great War"

-
Image
Dunalley is village on the Arthur Highway approximately 60 kilometres east of Hobart. It stands on the narrow isthmus connected to the Forestier Peninsula. The Denison Canal runs through the village and connects Blackman Bay and Fredrick Henry Bay. Dunalley was badly affected by bushfires in January 2013 with the town losing over 60 buildings including the Police Station and school. St Martin’s is the only public building left standing after the fires. St Martin’s Anglican has recently featured in the news following its sale. It is one of over 50 churches to be sold to meet the Anglican Church’s commitment to the National Redress Scheme. St Martin’s is an unusual church into two respects. Firstly, it is constructed from stone from the former Government stores at the old Coal Mines penal station at Saltwater River, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Secondly, the church was built as a memorial to the men of the district who fought and died in the Great War. As such, the buildin
Read more

No. 592 - Gretna - St Mary the Virgin - "Worthy of Imitation"

-
Image
Gretna is a small township in the Derwent Valley approximately 60 kilometres from Hobart. The area was originally known as Stony Plains Hut and Macquarie Plains. The name Gretna was adopted in the early 20th century. The origin of this name comes from a local farm called ‘Gretna Green’ and also an Inn established in the 1860’s which bore the same name. Another Inn, the Woolpack Inn, was the scene of a gunfight between the bushranger Martin Cash and members of the local constabulary. Gretna’s only church stood a few hundred metres from the inn and Cash and his gang hid in the bush near the church until nightfall prior to raiding the Inn. For many years St Mary’s was known as “The Woolpack Church”. St Mary’s the Virgin was built in 1847 and was opened and consecrated by Bishop Nixon on 1 June 1848. At the service, Edward Terry, the owner of Askrigg estate presented the deed of land on which the church was built to Bishop Nixon. Before the church was erected it is believed that Anglican s
Read more