Churches of Tasmania

Stanley is a classified historic town on the northwest coast approximately 80 kilometres west of Burnie. The Van Diemen's Land Company once had its headquarters in the area which was originally known as Circular Head. It was later named after Lord Stanley, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who went on to serve three terms as British Prime Minister. Stanley’s former Wesleyan Methodist Church is now used as a church hall and it situated alongside St James Presbyterian church on Fletcher Street. The first Methodist services held at Circular Head were held in 1862 by Reverend Cook. Thereafter Reverend Hayward preached once a quarter. The Wesleyan’s had an arrangement with the Primitive Methodists where the latter would concentrate on the Penguin district while the Wesleyans would serve Circular Head. In the early years the Methodists used St James Presbyterian church (opened 1855) until they built their own church in 1873. A site was purchased next to the Presbyterian church ...

The city of Glenorchy is located approximately 7 kilometres north of Hobart's CBD. Glenorchy means ‘glen of tumbling waters’ and it is believed that Governor Lachlan Macquarie named the area after his wife’s birthplace; Glen Orchy, Argyllshire. The Leprena Centre is the home of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress in Tasmania. The word 'Leprena' is of Tasmanian Aboriginal origin and means 'home'. The Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress was formed in 1985 by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of the Uniting church. The UAICC has the authority to make decisions in all matters relating to ministry with Aboriginal and Islander peoples. The Synod has two congresses; Victoria and Tasmania. Each state also has its own cultural hub, Narana in Geelong and Leprena in Glenorchy, Tasmania. Leprena began as a worship-gathering space for the Aboriginal community, but has expanded into a centre that provides projects and programs in a c...

Gladstone is a small and remote settlement situated on the banks of the Ringarooma River in north east Tasmania. It was first settled in 1870 by tin miners; a large number of whom were Chinese. In 1880 the discovery of gold in the area boosted the town’s population but once this was exhausted tin mining became the mainstay of the local economy. Gladstone is named after British Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone, who had also served as Colonial Secretary. At its peak three religious denominations were represented in the town with Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian churches established. Gladstone’s churches have closed but two of the buildings have survived and have been converted into houses.   In the 1880s religious services took place in Gladstone’s Town Hall. In 1884 a visitor to the town commented: “The township possesses a Town Hall, a corrugated iron building fifty feet long, and twenty-four feet wide; it has a capital floor and a small stage. This building does dut...

Boat Harbour is a rural settlement situated on the Bass Highway, approximately 15 kilometres west of Wynyard. Boat Harbour gets its name from a nearby sheltered bay once called Jacobs Boat Harbour. Boat Harbour’s former Baptist church is situated alongside the Boat Harbour General Store. The church, which closed more than 40 years ago, is in fact the second Baptist church built on the site. The first church was built before the Great War following the establishment of a Baptist community in 1907. Before a church was built the Baptists’ met in the local schoolhouse. In May 1936 the original church was destroyed in a fire. The Launceston Examiner reported: “Shortly before midnight…a small Baptist Church at Boat Harbour was destroyed by a fire. A service was held in the building early in the evening. A store, owned by Mr. F. Hamilton,….which adjoined the church, was not damaged…”. A later report indicated that the fire was caused by “a cracker which ignited the dry grass underneath the bu...

Burnie is a port city on the north-west coast of Tasmania. The origins of the town date back to 1827 when a settlement was established at Emu Bay by the Van Diemen’s Land Company. The settlement was later renamed Burnie after William Burnie, a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company. The Companion to Tasmanian History has the following concise summary of the history of the Salvation Army in Tasmania: “The Salvation Army had a seminal link with Tasmania. Launceston businessman and philanthropist Henry Reed, living in London, gave William Booth over £5000 to establish the Salvation Army on a firm footing in about 1870. In 1883 the Salvation Army Launceston Corps began operating, and corps were formed in Hobart, Latrobe, Waratah and other towns. Marches by these 'militant servants of Christ' through the two main cities with loud music attracted the larrikin element or 'roughs', who exploded flour bombs in the Salvationists' faces or threw mud and beer. Some Sal...

New Town is a northern suburb of Hobart. It is also one of Hobart’s oldest suburbs and consequently the area contains many historic churches. New Town became a municipality in 1907 but was absorbed into Greater Hobart in the 1920s when its municipal status was relinquished. St John’s has the distinction of being Hobart’s oldest original Anglican church in continual use. The church’s establishment dates back to June 1828 when Governor Arthur expressing the government’s intention to build an “orphan school” at New Town. The original concept was to build a simple chapel for the orphans but those living in New Town had other ideas. Consequently a group wealthy residents persuaded Governor Arthur that a proper church should be built. In 1830 a building committee was formed with Mr. Joseph Hone, the Master of the Supreme Court, as chairman. A subscription list was issued and a sum of £814 was raised. The government provided a grant of a further £1000 to build the church. Prior to the chur...

The city of Glenorchy is located approximately 7 kilometres north of Hobart's CBD. Glenorchy means ‘glen of tumbling waters’ and it is believed that Governor Lachlan Macquarie named the area after his wife’s birthplace; Glen Orchy, Argyllshire. The Jehovah's Witness diverges from the mainstream doctrines of Christianity in that it is a non-trinitarian tradition. Jehovah's Witnesses believe their denomination is a restoration of first-century Christianity. It is a ‘closed’ church and its practices have led its critics to regard it as a sect. The historical persecution of members of the Jehovah’s Witness in many countries, including Australia, has further contributed to the denomination maintaining a low profile in the media. For this reason the history of the Jehovah Witness in Tasmania presents a challenge to research. The following information is derived from the Jehovah Witness’s official tract ''The Watchtower': “In the early 1900s a member of the Internation...

Collinsvale is a rural settlement approximately 12 kilometres west of Glenorchy. It is named after Colonel David Collins, first Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen’s Land. The area was originally known as Sorell Creek but this was changed to Bismarck in 1881. Following the outbreak of the Great War, the name Collinsvale was adopted given strong anti-German sentiment in Tasmania. Collinsvale had two churches, a Seventh Day Adventist church (1888), which is still in use, and a Wesleyan Methodist church. Little is known about the early years of the church. It opened on Sunday 14 August 1881 and services were held until 1973. The only substantial reference to the church’s establishment is found in an article published in the Launceston Examiner by the newspaper’s Hobart reporter, who visited Bismarck in August 1881. While the reference to the church is slight, I have used most of the article as it provides interesting information and insights about the the early settlement: "The last ...

Wivenhoe is a suburb of Burnie situated on the east bank of the Emu River. It has developed into an industrialised area less than 3 kilometres south-east of the city centre. In the 1850s the area was named after the town (and parish) of Wivenhoe in Essex County by Captain Henry Butler. Perhaps older residents of Burnie will remember Wivenhoe’s old Anglican church, St Chad’s, which stood on the corner of Corcellis Street and Main Road. The building still exists although it is now barely recognisable as a church. Since the church’s closure in the 1970s it has been clad in ‘colorbond’ sheeting and has been shifted to the rear of the corner block. The building is a lot older than it appears and in fact dates back to 1915 when it was erected as a Presbyterian church. The building’s origin is revealed in a report in the North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times concerning the church hall’s opening on Tuesday 9 February 1915: “The opening of the new Presbyterian Hall at Wivenhoe was perf...

Myalla is a rural settlement south of Sisters Creek and the Bass Highway. The district was known as Myalla from about 1905 when roads were planned for the area. The railway from Burnie reached Myalla in 1913. Myalla once had three churches: a Baptist church (1923) a Gospel hall (1919) and an Anglican Mission Hall (1919). A decision to build a Mission Hall at Myalla was made in July 1914, shortly after the opening of the local railway line. At this time the Anglican community had no fixed place to worship and Sunday School was held in a railway guards van. In April 1919 the community began clearing a site for the construction of a mission hall and the Anglicans were assisted by members of other denominations. The Burnie Advocate reported: “Strenuous work was done by all who attended, and at the close of the day it was indeed a case of ‘Something attempted, something done’…. in a few months’ time it is hoped that a substantial mission hall will be erected on the site”. Within 6 month...

Kentish was a small settlement on the Kentish Road to the west of Sheffield. It is named after Government Surveyor Nathaniel Kentish, who with a party of 20 probationary convicts explored and surveyed the area in the early 1840s. The Kentish Gospel Hall is significant in that it is the first Gospel Hall established in Tasmania by the Christian Brethren. The Brethren were established in Ireland and England in the 1820s. The Brethren place an emphasis on weekly communion, the baptism of believers by immersion, and evangelism. The Christian Brethren should not be confused with the 'Exclusive Brethren, a restrictive group which broke away in 1848. In Tasmania, most Brethren are 'open', that is, they do not belong to the 'exclusive' Brethren who avoid contact with outsiders to the religion.  By the 1850s the Christian Brethren had arrived in Australia, with evangelists William Brown, Edward Moyse and Charles Perrin holding revival meetings in Tasmania from 1869. Historia...