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. The West Hobart parish was former in 1844 being carved from sections of St David’s and Holy Trinity parishes. The parish’s first church was built in 1845 [ see No. 992 ] and this building became a Sunday school following the opening of St John the Baptist in 1856. The ‘new’ church was built at a cost of £4300 and was designed by Frederick Thomas who modified the original plans drafted by George Edmund Street. Construction began in December 1852 and building was completed in three years. The church was consecrated by Bishop Francis Nixon in May 1856. In 1902 problems with the foundations which supported the chancel resulted in this section of the building being demolished and rebuilt. The rebuilt section was designed with additional height and included an organ chamber and a vestry. The church is built in the Gothic-Revival style. A window in t

Roger River is located about 25 kilometres south-west of the town of Smithton. Roger River originated as the name of a river front property. A small settlement developed around the Mackay's Sawmill. Consideration was given to calling the settlement Rogerton and the local school was known as the Rogerton school from about 1923. Plans for a church at Roger River were developed in 1964 and in November 1967 the church was opened and dedicated. The modern hexagon shaped brick building has an unusual irregular roofline. Locally it was known as “the church with the broken back”. The church was built with the support of the surrounding communities of Edith Creek, Nabageena, Roger River and Trowutta. St Michael and All Angels’ was consecrated by Bishop R.E. Davies on 2 May 1976. The church closed early this century and was sold in 2005. The building was subsequently converted into a house. St Michaels and All Angels at Roger River (undated) Photographer not known. The former church in 201

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 Seventh-day Adventist Church was established in Tasmania in 1888. The denomination originated in the USA in the 1860s and in 1885 a group of Adventists travelled to Australia and began preaching in Melbourne. After a church group was established in Melbourne in 1886 members moved on to Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart. Public tent meetings were held in Sandy Bay in 1888 which led to the establishment of a church at Collinsvale followed by Hobart in 1896 and at Launceston shortly after the turn of the 20th century. The Upper Warwick Street church was opened on Friday 19 June 1896 with a dedicatory service held on Saturday morning. In 1904 a section of the church was used as an Adventist schoolroom. The original school was established by Miss Katie Judge in two rented rooms in Harrington Street around 1901. In 1933 the school was relocated to Fleet

The suburb of North Hobart, as the same suggests, is on the northern fringe of the city centre. It has evolved into a mixed residential and commercial area since it was developed in the 1830s. St Margaret’s Mission on Federal Street (previously called Colville Street) began as a mission room established in 1871 in adjoining Ware street. In 1896 this was replaced by the ‘Holy Trinity Mission Room’, which was renamed St Margaret’s Mission Hall after it was dedicated by Bishop Hay in 1926. The Mercury records the laying of the Mission’s foundation stone in January 1896: “On Saturday afternoon the foundation or memorial stone of a new mission-room, in connection with Holy Trinity Church, was laid in Colville-street North by Mr. Alfred Crisp, M.H.A. for the district, in the presence of a goodly number of people. The new building is to be 60ft. by 25ft., and is being erected in substitution for the temporary room which has been occupied in Ware street, and will be a substantial one in brick

Scottsdale is the largest town in north-east Tasmania. It is named after the Government Surveyor, James Scott, who explored the region in the 1850’s. The town was initially planned around Ellesmere but it developed about a kilometre south of the original site which was officially called Scottsdale after 1893. Scottsdale’s Kingdom Hall is located on Beattie Street, north of the town centre. It is built in the style typical of most of the 21 Kingdom Halls found in Tasmania. No published information about the hall is available. 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

The suburb of North Hobart, as the same suggests, is on the northern fringe of the city centre. It has evolved into a mixed residential and commercial area since it was developed in the 1830s. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, first appeared in Tasmania in the 1850s, when missionaries began to proselytise in Hobart. In the face of opposition, congregations were established in Hobart in 1894 and in the Upper Huon in 1899. However, it was not until 1924 that the first chapel was built at Lefroy Street, North Hobart, which was followed by a second chapel built at Glen Huon in 1927. Before the turn of the 20th century meetings of the Hobart Church were held in members’ homes. As numbers grew meetings were held in a building on the corner of Liverpool and Elizabeth Streets, where the National Australia Bank now stands. In the early 1900s meetings were held in the Rialto Hall, on the corner of Davey and Harrington Streets. By the early 1920s the Hobart Branch met in the Victor

I n the Catholic tradition, an oratory is a small chapel used for prayer and for the celebration of Mass. Originally oratories were built at the shrines of martyrs for the faithful to assemble and pray. The word oratory comes from the Latin: orare - to pray. St John Paul II Oratory is located at the D’Arcy Centre at New Town, which houses the Tasmanian Catholic Education Office. Joseph Eric D'Arcy (25 April 1924 – 12 December 2005) was the ninth Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Hobart.  The oratory was was consecrated on 30 June 2021 by Archbishop Julian Porteous. The oratory functions as a private chapel for the staff and visitors to the Catholic Education Office. The stained glass panels in the oratory were originally part of a House in North Hobart owned by the Missionary Sisters of Service. The House was also used for a time as offices for Catholic education before it as sold. John Paul II Oratory - Photographer: Mark Franklin Sources: The Catholic Standard, Volume 8: Issue 6,

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 at Stanley 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. This year, on Sunday 31 October, the final service of St Paul's Anglican Church will take place, 174 years after the the opening of Stanley’s first Anglican church in 1847. [ see No. 991 ] The original stone church stood for less than 40 years and was demolished due to significant structural problems. A report in 1882 reveals that these flaws had become urgent: “Mr.Conway condemned the building entirely, considering the foundations [are] the most defective part of the structure. One of the walls is considerably out of the perpendicular, and he thinks the roof, if allowed to remain, will certainly some day collapse altogether from the