Churches of Tasmania

West Hobart is an inner-city suburb of Hobart immediately west of the city centre. The suburb occupies the high ground below Knocklofty Hill. Located at 152 Goulburn Street, this building is perhaps better known as the former parish hall and Sunday school of St John the Baptist Church. For a brief time it was a church in its own right, serving a new parish in West Hobart that was established in 1844. St John the Baptist was the sole church of the parish until 1856 when it was supplanted by its namesake, which was built on the corner of Goulburn Street and Forest Road. A tender for the construction of a church on Goulburn Street was advertised in April 1841 but no progress was made with this until 1844. The church, or chapel as it was sometimes called, was largely completed by January 1845. In that month, the Colonial Times published a brief account of the building: “In one of our gentle peripatetic strolls through the suburbs of the town, we came most unexpectedly, and most delight

Stanley is a historic town on the northwest coast approximately 80 kilometres west of Burnie. The Van Diemen's Land Company once had its headquarters here when it was known as Circular Head. The settlement was later named after Lord Stanley, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who went on to serve three terms as British Prime Minister. Little information has survived about the early years of Stanley’s first Anglican church. Some accounts suggest that the church, which was built by Van Diemen's Land Company, opened in 1842. However, a report in the Launceston Advertiser in November 1844 establishes that it was built a little later: “At Circular Head (called the Township of Stanley) a handsome new church is commenced building, to cost, it is said, £1000.” The year 1842 in fact aligns with the arrival of Reverend Thomas Nattle Grigg, who “for five years conducted church services in temporary places of worship”. The church was built of stone based on a design by colonial arc

The opening of Hobart’s St Mary’s Cathedral in 1881 brought an end to a 40 year saga that had begun in 1841 when an attempt was first made to build a new church at “Mount Carmel” on Harrington Street. This article traces the story of early efforts to build St Mary’s, Hobart’s third Catholic church and the city’s first Catholic cathedral. The appointment of Father John Joseph Therry as Vicar-General of Tasmania in 1839 resulted in the construction of St Joseph’s, the oldest Catholic Church in Hobart. Therry was an ambitious church builder but his incautious handling of finances became the cause of considerable controversy. This was to put a brake on Therry’s attempt to build a church on Harrington Street, previously the site of St Virgil’s Chapel, Tasmania’s first Catholic church. [ see No. 944 ]. A month before St Joseph’s was completed, construction began on St Mary’s with the ceremonial laying of the church’s foundation stone taking place on November 14, 1841. The ceremony was “one o

Glenlusk is a rural district north of Collinsvale and which falls within the boundaries of the City of Glenorchy. A description of the area in the 1890s sets the scene for the story of St Barnabas’ Anglican Church: “This lovely spot is situated about 10 miles from Hobart. Proceeding by a steep but excellent road from Berriedale, the traveller finds it nestling on the top of the range dividing the valley of the Derwent from Sorell Creek. Here a magnificent panoramic view is obtainable,…the view needs being seen to be fully appreciated. From here the road divides into two, the one to the left proceeding to Bismarck where many foreign languages are spoken…. The road to the right winds down the steep pass of Sorell Creek to Molesworth. The staple products of Glenlusk are apples and small fruit,…the inhabitants seem a most industrious people…”. One of these industrious inhabitants was George Arthur Waller, of Glenlusk House, derived from 'Luska' in Ireland and after which the distri

The suburb of North Hobart, as the same suggests, is on the northern fringe of the city. It has evolved into a mixed residential and commercial area since it was developed in the 1830s. Pitt Street, which runs southwest from Elizabeth Street, was called King Street until 1921 when it was changed to avoid confusion with another King Street in nearby Sandy Bay. The 'King Street' church and school were established by Reverend Isaac Hardcastle Palfreyman in 1883. The construction of the church was funded by Palfreyman while the school house was probably the same building as the King Street Baptist Sunday school which was established by the Sunday School Union in August 1871. The church and schoolhouse stood alongside each other but only the church remains. Isaac Palfreyman was an ordained minister of the Church of England who migrated to Victoria from Derbyshire in 1861 to become assistant pastor of the Primitive Methodist Mission at Ballarat. In 1872 he moved to Longford to take c

Mangalore is a semi-rural district on the Midland Highway approximately 6 kilometres north of Pontville. It was once a farming area but in recent years it has undergone some suburban development. The area is named after Mangalore Tier, a feature that was first marked on maps in the early 1820s. Very little information is available about St Martin’s and I have yet to find a photograph or a description of the building. Most information about the church’s established comes from a single report published in the Hobart Mercury in November 1913: “During the last four of five years the population of this district has increased so rapidly that the Rev. J. Corvan recently opened a Church of England Sunday-school at the railway station until a suitable building was erected. Mrs Graf gave a block of land (very conveniently situated) to the church trustees, and an energetic committee has been at work endeavouring to raise the necessary funds. A concert, a lecture, contributions in the shape of c

Redpa is a small settlement in the far northwest approximately 40 kilometres west of Smithton. It was originally named Marrawah East before it was changed to Redpa in 1926. The residents asked that it be renamed Braddon but “the authorities decided otherwise”. Redpa is an aboriginal word for "mosquito".  St John’s Anglican church was built and dedicated in 1955. It replaced an earlier Anglican church hall built in 1925 which had served as a church and a community hall. The foundation stone for St John's was laid on Sunday 24 April 1955 by the Venerable Archdeacon W. Walters. The land for the church was donated by Mr. L. Mortyn. Dorothea Henslowe records in ‘Our Heritage of Anglican Churches in Tasmania’, that in a font was purchased from the proceeds of a sale after each family in the congregation raised a pig. The final service was held on Sunday 31 August 1986, after which the congregation combined with St Oswald's at Marrawah. Additional information about this chur

Patterson’s Plains is a former district on the eastern side of the North Esk River. It now forms part of the Launceston suburb, St Leonards. In 1806 the district was opened up for pasture and named Patterson's Plains, after Colonel William Paterson, who lead the establishment of a settlement at Port Dalrymple. By the 1820s Patterson’s Plains gained some notoriety when an unarmed aboriginal group of people travelling to Launceston were “wantonly fired on” by settlers. Patterson’s Plains was also the site of the capture of the infamous bushranger Matthew Brady's and his gang in 1826. By the 1840s two churches were built at a village at Patterson’s Plains; a Wesleyan Methodist church (1846) and an Anglican church, St Peters (1847). This was pulled down 20 years later and replaced by a new church in 1869. By this time the village at Patterson’s Plains had been named St Leonards. This name was adopted in 1860 as recorded by the Launceston Examiner: “The pretty village on the lef

West Hobart is an inner-city suburb of Hobart immediately west of the city centre. The suburb occupies the high ground below Knocklofty Hill. The former "Hill Street Church" located between Pine and Warwick Street, was built with the support of the Collin's Street ‘Church of Christ’ in the 1920s. In the 1870s the Church of Christ arrived in Tasmania and established itself first in Launceston and Hobart. Initially the denomination was simply known as the ‘Christians' then from 1885 as 'Disciples of Christ' and finally as 'Churches of Christ'. The Churches of Christ believed that Christian communities should be similar to those described in the New Testament, simple and with autonomous congregations. The Church of Christ has similarities with the Christian Brethren, although it is influenced by American rather than British churches. The establishment of the church is outlined in an article in the Hobart Mercury, published at the time of the church’s offi