No. 374 - St Barbara's Catholic Church at Rossarden

-
Rossarden is a former tin mining town in north-east Tasmania. In the 1930's a settlement was established at a site below Stack’s Bluff following the opening of the Aberfoyle Tin Mining Company, which began operating in September 1932. A dramatic drop in metal prices in the 1970's saw the mine’s production decline and its eventual closure in 1982. The town’s population dropped from a peak of over 500 when the mine was fully operational to approximately 60 permanent residents today.

In the early 1960’s Catholics at Rossarden acquired a church following the closure of the Church of the Guardian Angels at nearby Avoca. [see No. 166 ] The church was removed to Rossarden and erected at a site on the corner of Baker and Lee Streets. It was renamed St Barbara, the patron saint of miners and was blessed by Archbishop Guilford Young. For almost 20 years St Barbara’s served the mining communities at Rossarden and nearby Storeys Creek.

The downturn of mining activity in the1970’s and the subsequent closure of the Aberfoyle Tin Mining Company also resulted in the closure of the church. St Barbara’s was sold in the 1980’s and has been converted into a house.


The church at Rossarden, formerly the Church of the Guardian Angels at Avoca.  Photo: Duncan Grant 2018

Photo: Duncan Grant 2018

 Sources:

Blackaby, Narelle.  Rossarden : echo of the mountain / by Narelle Blackaby  Narelle Blackaby Civic Square, A.C.T  2004

The Mercury, Tuesday 28 August 1934,  page 3

https://researchdata.ands.org.au/aberfoyle-mine-rossarden-tasmania/1227415



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