Churches of Tasmania

Montello is an inner southern suburb of Burnie situated on the Montello Hills above the city. In addition to the mainstream religious denominations, the suburb has been well served by minor denominations such as the Baptists; Apostolic Church; the Christian Brethren and the Salvation Army. Very little information is available on the public record about former Salvation Army Hall located on the corner of Bird Street and Tattersall Street. I have found no reference to its opening in the local newspaper record. However, a report about the Burnie Salvation Army published by the Advocate in October 1951 noted that “the young people at Montello Hall will hold their first anniversary service”. Presumably the hall had opened in the previous year. It would also seem that in the early years the hall was a centre for youth activities for the Burnie Salvation Army. The hall was used by the Salvation Army until the1980s when it was purchased by the Exclusive Brethren. The windows of the hall were

New Town is a northern suburb of Hobart that is both a residential and commercial district. It was once seperate municipality but was absorbed into greater Hobart in the 1930's. St Bede’s was established in 1934. I was previously a Church of England mission hall at Lenah Valley [ See No. 751 ] It was moved to the Cressy Road site as “there was no place of worship in that neighbourhood. It was dedicated to St Bede by Bishop Hay on Sunday 28 October 1934. The final service at the church took place on 5 January 2008 and it was deconsecrated in the same year. The building was later sold and converted into a house. Additional information about this church is welcomed as all articles will be updated. I can be contacted through this page or my Facebook page "Churches of Tasmania" which is linked here: < Churches of Tasmania > St Bede's - Cressy Street, New Town - Google Street View 2009    The Kangaroo Valley Mission Hall with the Lady Franklin Museum in the backgro

Rokeby is an eastern suburb of Hobart, which was a small village until the Housing Department built a large housing estate in the 1970's. It is named after "Rokeby House" which was built by George Stokell in 1830, in honour of a village in Yorkshire, England. The Rokeby Presbyterian Community Church, situated on Tollard Drive, was established in the mid 1980s. The building is now occupied by “The River City Open House Community Outreach Centre”. This is a part of Hobart’s River City Church which is a member of the Acts Global Churches. This is a “second generation name” for the Apostolic Church Australia. A Presbyterian community, “The Charis Presbyterian Church”, continues to function at Rokeby and meets in the Rokeby Trust Hall. Additional information about this church is welcomed as all articles will be updated. I can be contacted through this page or my Facebook page "Churches of Tasmania" which is linked here: < Churches of Tasmania > * All photogra

The settlement of Mathinna in the upper reaches of the South Esk River Valley is now a shadow of the thriving boom town of the late 19th century. The discovery of gold accelerated the growth of the settlement after the 1870s and the establishment of the Golden Gate mine briefly turned Mathinna into the third largest town in Tasmania. Today less than 150 people live in the township. Soon after the arrival of the miners, three denominations were established at Mathinna in quick succession. An Anglican church (1896), a Methodist church (1896) and a Catholic church (1897) feature prominently in the photograph used at the head of this article. A fourth church, which is not visible, was a Presbyterian church. This was established in 1901 in a former Salvation Army Hall that had opened in March 1897. Why the Salvation Army did not prosper at Mathinna is not clear but four years after the opening of the Salvation Army Hall, it was sold to the Presbyterians. In January 1901 the Daily Telegrap

Gray is a hamlet situated about 6 kilometres south east of the town of St Marys in the Break O’ Day local government area. Two churches were built at Gray; an Anglican church, St Barnabas, established in 1904, and a Methodist church, which opened in 1899. In 1903, a visitor to the St Marys passing through Gray commented on the progress made in the district, including the recently opened Methodist church: “On going out to the Gray Settlement I was surprised to see the improvements that have been effected. The country has been opened up, so that while travelling along the main road one can see the little holdings and the homesteads, some on the hills, the others in the valleys. Passing along this road, one catches a fine view of the East Coast…. A good deal of this country is limestone formation, and splendid for grass. A few of the farmers are building new homes, and others are contemplating doing so, as I could see the timber stacked for that purpose….A new Wesleyan church has been b

The Exclusive Christian Brethren, now known as the Plymouth Brethren, originated in Plymouth, Great Britain, in the 1820s. By the mid 19th century the movement had spread to Australia. The 'Exclusive Brethren' is a restrictive group which broke away in 1848. In 2012 the Exclusive Brethren adopted the name 'Plymouth Brethren Christian Church'. Tasmanian Plymouth Brethren churches are part of global organisation with about 50 000 members.  The Plymouth Brethren are known for avoiding social interaction with people outside the faith, which has contributed to it being viewed as a somewhat controversial Christian sect. The Plymouth Brethren Church should not be confused with the 'Open Brethren'. In Tasmania, most Brethren belong to 'open' churches.  With limited contact with the secular world, information about the church is not freely available. Construction of the new Prospect Vale church began in late 2017 with the church opening in early 2018. It is ass

Lenah Valley is a suburb of Hobart situated in the foothills of Mount Wellington north of the city centre. The area was originally known as Kangaroo Bottom and later as Kangaroo Valley.  It was renamed Lenah Valley in 1922 following the extension of the Augusta Road tram into the area.  In the mid 1930s the first Methodist services at Lenah Valley were held in a tent erected on the Augusta Road site. In 1937 a trust was established to build a hall with a full church to be erected at a later date. The foundation stone for the hall was laid on Saturday 25 June 1938: “In the presence of a large gathering, including representatives of other denominations, the foundation stone of the new Methodist Hall was set on Saturday afternoon by Mr. F. B. Rattle, treasurer of the hall trust fund. The building ls being erected on the corner of Augusta Rd. and Haig St., and provision is being made for a church site on the same property. The hall will be 40ft. by 24ft. and will have a kitchen 17ft. by 7

Bellerive is a suburb of Hobart on the Eastern Shore of the Derwent River. Originally it was named Kangaroo Point but in the 1830s this was changed to Bellerive, meaning ‘beautiful shore’. St Mark's was built in 1851, purportedly on the former site of a "Chapel of Ease”. One of the earliest reports of Anglican services at Kangaroo Point date back to 1826 when The Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser reported that Reverend Knopwood, chaplain for the district of Clarence Plains, “regularly performs Divine service every Sunday at that settlement and Kangaroo Point”. By the 1840s there seems to have been no formal place of worship as Anglican services were reported to be held in a school room. In 1845 The Tasmanian and Austral-Asiatic Review reported that a Sunday school had been established at Kangaroo Point that was: “Conducted with unremitting industry industry by Mr. and Mrs Lane, the industrious schoolmaster and schoolmistress, consisting of fifty children of the middle

Cooee is a small seaside town contiguous to the city of Burnie. The name ‘Cooey Creek’ is recorded on an early map before the area was first settled in the 1840s by the Byrne and Morris families. Cooee Creek remained relatively undeveloped until the close of the century, probably because the coastal land was not suitable for farming. By the 1890s several small manufacturing businesses were established at Cooee Creek, laying the foundation for Cooee’s development as a manufacturing and residential settlement. In 1895 Launceston’s Daily Telegraph reported: “There can be very little doubt of this locality becoming the manufacturing suburb of Burnie it being so eminently suitable naturally for this purpose. It is about two miles from Burnie, on the road to Table Cape, and has already five factories, mills, etc., on its banks, with unlimited capacity”. Cooee Creek became more closely settled after the turn of the century. The first Methodist church services were held in the home of Wi