No. 507 - Mount Seymour Uniting (Presbyterian) Church

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Mount Seymour is a small settlement east of Oatlands on the junction of the Tunnack and Crichton Roads. Settlement of the area began in the 1840’s.

 In 1854 the first first Presbyterian service at Mount Seymour was held at the Ceres homestead of Mr George Wilson, a local landholder and sheep farmer. Wilson had a room specially built for services which was used by the Presbyterians up until his death in 1874. Some time after this services were moved to the Mount Seymour State school. In October 1889 a meeting was held in the school where a committee was formed to build a church.

By late 1898 work on Mount Seymour’s first church began. On 9 November the foundation stone was laid by Rev. L. Campbell of Oatlands. At the commencement of the ceremony a silver-plated and polished mallet of sheoak and blackwood was presented to Reverend Campbell by the Church Building Committee as a memento of the occasion.

For reasons not known, it took several years to complete the building which eventually opened in May 1901. However, the church’s interior had not been completed and another reopening ceremony took place in September 1902. Hobart Mercury reported:

“The new Presbyterian Church building here had been closed for some time to permit of the interior being plastered and finished. The re-opening took place on Sunday, 28th September. The Rev. C. Jones, of Oatlands, delivered an able and appropriate sermon to a large congregation. Suitable hymns were sung, and some good vocalists were present, some coming from considerable distances, including Mrs. A. W. Pywell and Miss May Baily. Our Sunday-school was also re-established, and there was a fair attendance”.

In 1954 the centenary of Presbyterianism at Mount Seymour was celebrated at the church. In 1977 the congregation amalgamated with the Uniting Church. The building’s 90th anniversary was celebrated in February 1992 but services ceased a few years later. The building was sold in 2008 bringing to a close nearly 150 years of religious services at Mount Seymour. 
The first opening of the church in May 1901 - Source: The Tasmanian Mail 25 May 1901


The church in 2008 (Real Estate Photo)

The church in 2008 (Real Estate Photo)

The church in 2008 (Real Estate Photo)

The church in 2008 (Real Estate Photo)

Sources:

 Tasmanian News, Tuesday 29 October 1889, page 2
The Mercury, Thursday 12 November 1896, page 3
The Mercury, Wednesday 23 November 1898, page 3 
The Tasmanian Mail 25 May 1901
The Mercury, Friday 24 May, 1901, page 2
Mercury, Thursday 2 October 1902, page 2
Mercury, Saturday 17 November 1951, page 7
Examiner, Saturday 17 November 1951, page 4
Examiner, Tuesday 18 May 1954, page 8
Mercury, Tuesday 18 May 1954

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