No. 79 - St Peter's Catholic Church Kings Meadows - 'A Brief Period of Sunshine'

In 1952 St Peter’s Catholic Church was opened in Kings Meadows. The driving force behind the building of a new church was Monsignor William Upton, the Dean of Northern Tasmania. The Examiner reported on the ceremony conducted by Archbishop Ernest Tweedy:

“Entering the grounds through a guard of honour formed by members of the church, the Archbishop blessed the exterior of the church in one of the brief periods of sunshine Launceston experienced yesterday. He congratulated the congregation on the possession of the new church and expressed his thanks for their cooperation and loyalty”.

There were great hopes for St Peter's in the growing suburbs of Kings Meadows and Youngtown. The Kings Meadows parish, owned four acres of land opposite the church and the intention was to develop this for a school and a modern larger church. This was partially achieved when in 1977 a new church was opened on the old farmstead but the proposed school was never built on the site. The new St Peter's continues to serve Catholics in the King Meadows and Youngtown area. While the old weatherboard church only enjoyed a ‘brief period of sunshine’ of some 25 years; in its afterlife it now fulfils a new purpose as a funeral chapel.

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Photograph: Duncan Grant 2018

Photograph: Duncan Grant 2018

Photograph: Duncan Grant 2018


  Examiner 1952                                                                                        

Sources:

The Examiner Monday 17 November 1952
W.T. Southerwood, Planting a Faith, Launceston's Catholic Story, 1968.
http://hobart.catholic.org.au/about/history/past-archbishop/ernest-victor-tweedy

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