No. 1005 - North Hobart - St Margaret's (1896-2007)

-
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 Colville Street) was established in 1885 as a 'mission room' located in neighbouring Ware street. In 1896 the Ware Street Mission was replaced by the ‘Holy Trinity Mission Room’ built on Federal Street.  The 'Mission' was became known as 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 with a shingle roof, and capable of seating nearly 300 people. Land had to be bought for the purpose at a cost of nearly £100, whilst the contract price of the building is £186. Altogether the cost will be about £300. The architect is Mr. Geo. Fagg, and Mr. James Dunn is the contractor….”.

In 1928 a new kindergarten and Sunday school was built behind St Margaret's Mission. This was largely funded by a donation of £500 made by Mrs J.M.E. Gadsby. [See No.1538] 

Shortly after the centenary celebrations of St Margaret’s in 1996 the church was earmarked for closure. However this was resisted by parishioners and the church continued to function until it was eventually closed in 2007. The building was sold in the following year.








The Kindergarten building at the rear of the Mission Hall - Feltham Street (previously Ware Street)

The interior of the church (2007) - Photographer not known.


The Mercury - March 1896

Undated photo with the Mission in the background (Libraries Tasmania)

Sources:

Mercury, Monday 13 January 1896, page 4
Mercury, Tuesday 17 March 1896

Mercury, Monday 29 November 1926, page 3
Mercury, Monday 1 October 1928, page 3
Mercury, Monday 24 December 1928, page 3

Henslowe, Dorothea I & Hurburgh, Isa Our heritage of Anglican churches in Tasmania. Mercury-Walch, Moonah, Tas, 1978.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to Churches of Tasmania

-
Image
I love history and photography and also have an interest in architecture. When I started this blog in 2017 I had the goal of photographing every historical church in Tasmania. This was initially driven by the proposed mass sell-off of Anglican churches. I was concerned that these buildings would be modified and no longer be accessible once in private hands. As the years have passed this goal has changed to writing short histories of each and every church built in Tasmania, of which there are about 1600.   My earliest posts are rather amateurish but my research and writing has improved somewhat over the years.  In time my hope is to revise and update every article to a publishable standard. I have received an overwhelming amount of material from followers of the blog and I will incorporate this into the articles in the revision phase. Eventually I hope to publish the best of the articles. At present the blog attracts about 1000 views per day and I hope that this will continue to grow. 
Read more

No. 592 - Gretna - St Mary the Virgin - "Worthy of Imitation"

-
Image
Gretna is a small township in the Derwent Valley approximately 60 kilometres from Hobart. The area was originally known as Stony Plains Hut and Macquarie Plains. The name Gretna was adopted in the early 20th century. The origin of this name comes from a local farm called ‘Gretna Green’ and also an Inn established in the 1860’s which bore the same name. Another Inn, the Woolpack Inn, was the scene of a gunfight between the bushranger Martin Cash and members of the local constabulary. Gretna’s only church stood a few hundred metres from the inn and Cash and his gang hid in the bush near the church until nightfall prior to raiding the Inn. For many years St Mary’s was known as “The Woolpack Church”. St Mary’s the Virgin was built in 1847 and was opened and consecrated by Bishop Nixon on 1 June 1848. At the service, Edward Terry, the owner of Askrigg estate presented the deed of land on which the church was built to Bishop Nixon. Before the church was erected it is believed that Anglican s
Read more

No. 624 - Dunalley - St Martin's Anglican Church - "In grateful memory of the men who fought in the Great War"

-
Image
Dunalley is village on the Arthur Highway approximately 60 kilometres east of Hobart. It stands on the narrow isthmus connected to the Forestier Peninsula. The Denison Canal runs through the village and connects Blackman Bay and Fredrick Henry Bay. Dunalley was badly affected by bushfires in January 2013 with the town losing over 60 buildings including the Police Station and school. St Martin’s is the only public building left standing after the fires. St Martin’s Anglican has recently featured in the news following its sale. It is one of over 50 churches to be sold to meet the Anglican Church’s commitment to the National Redress Scheme. St Martin’s is an unusual church into two respects. Firstly, it is constructed from stone from the former Government stores at the old Coal Mines penal station at Saltwater River, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Secondly, the church was built as a memorial to the men of the district who fought and died in the Great War. As such, the buildin
Read more