No. 449 - The Breadalbane Methodist Church

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Breadalbane is a small settlement situated on the Midlands Highway about 10 kilometres from Launceston. The area was previously known as ‘Brumby's Plain’ before it was renamed Breadalbane by Governor Macquarie, after the Earl of Breadalbane, his wife's cousin.

Methodist services were held in the convict built Breadalbane Union Church before it burnt down in March 1948. The Methodists then built a small weatherboard church using voluntary labour. It was officially opened on Saturday 25 September 1948 and became a part of the South Launceston Circuit. The church was considered to be the smallest in Tasmania.

At the time of the formation of the Uniting Church in 1977 the Breadalbane church was still operating with a membership of three. The date of the church’s closure is not known. The only photograph of the church which I have found is a very small image published in Henslowe’s ‘Tasmanian Methodism’ which has been enlarged and reproduced below.

Breadalbane Methodist Church - Don Bramich (1987)


Sources:

Examiner, Tuesday 28 September 1948, page 6

Henslowe, Dorothea I and Hurburgh, Isa Our heritage of Anglican churches in Tasmania. Mercury-Walch, Moonah, Tas, 1978.




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