Churches of Tasmania

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 district was originally named 'King Georges Plains and the first centres of settlement were known as 'Kensington (village)' and ‘O'Briens Bridge’. Edeline Hall was built as public hall in late 1907 and was officially opened on Wednesday 1 January 1908. The hall was named in honour of Lady Edeline Strickland, wife of Governor Gerald Strickland. The hall still exists behind the facade of Bento Japanese take-away on Glenorchy Main Road, opposite the City Council offices. For many years Edeline Hall was a meeting place for social gatherings, political meetings, youth groups and occasionally for religious services and gatherings. By the 1950s the hall was in regular use by an evangelical Christian group; Worldwide Evangelizatio...

Latrobe is a large country town situated between the Bass Highway and the Mersey River. The first dwelling built on the town site was in 1836 and land sales took place some 20 years later. It was named after Administrator Charles LaTrobe, who was acting Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania for a few months (1846-7). Latrobe was once an important port town with boats operating from Bells Parade until the Mersey River silted up. Little information is available about this former Assembly of God church which was located 129 Gilbert street. Up until the early 2000s the Assemblies of God was still a significant religious denomination in Tasmania. The Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies provides the following review of the denomination: “Assemblies of God are made up of autonomous Pentecostal churches led by an elected state President. Pentecostals are distinguished by their belief in spiritual gifts, most notably 'tongues', prophecy and healing. They are generally characterised by con...

Waverley is an eastern Launceston suburb made famous by the woollen mills, which carried its name. It was established as a housing subdivision in the 1950s. St. Mathias’ Anglican church was a short-lived church that was established in 1960. It opened in 1961 on a site on the Scottsdale Road (Tasman Highway) The building was gutted by a fire in 1966. As the church was not insured it was never rebuilt. To date I have yet to find a photograph of St Matthias’.  Additional information about this church is most welcome as all articles are updated. I can be contacted through this page or my Facebook page "Churches of Tasmania" which is linked here: < Churches of Tasmania >. Source: Henslowe, Dorothea I. and Hurburgh, Isa.  Our heritage of Anglican churches in Tasmania / by Dorothea I. Henslowe ; sketches by Isa Hurburgh, 1978.

Gordon is a settlement on the Channel Highway about 25 kilometres southwest of Cygnet and which fronts onto the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. Gordon was once an orchard growing district. The area was previously known as 'Herne Bay' and 'Three Hut Point’. The Gordon Union Church, which opened in February 1933, replaced an early church also shared by the Methodist and Anglican communities. In 1932, when the construction of a new church began, the local correspondent for Hobart’s Mercury recalled : “Over 90 years ago a small dwelling was erected on the site where the new church is being built by two of Gordon’s earliest settlers, Messrs. John Behrens and Frederick Webber, for a Mr. John Abbott, an Englishman, who lived in a fine home with beautiful gardens and grounds, known as Rookwood, in the vicinity where Mr. Mason's general store now stands in Gordon. Many years later, after the disastrous bush fires of 1897 swept the State, the Gordon School, which for many years also ser...

Cornelian Bay cemetery opened in 1872 after four of Hobart’s cemeteries were condemned as health hazards. Some, but not all bodies were exhumed and reinterred at Cornelian Bay. The cemetery was originally divided into sections for religious denominations: Church of England, Catholic; Presbyterian; Jewish; Quaker; Baptist and Independent. A War Grave and Pauper section were also established. It is estimated that there has been 100,000 burials and 60,000 cremations at Cornelian Bay. The layout of the cemetery was planned by Hobart architect, Henry Hunter, who was one of the original trustees of the Cemetery Board established in 1866. Hunter’s original plan proposed that each religious denomination would be allocated land for their own mortuary chapel. However, only a non-denominational mortuary chapel and a Jewish mortuary ‘Receiving Hose’ were built. In June 1872 Hunter submitted plans for a chapel which included a “temporary wooden edifice” until a permanent stone building could be...

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 Christadelphian ecclesia is located in Warwick Street in a building that was established as a Seventh-Day Adventist church. The church was built by the Adventists in 1896 and was vacated about 20 years ago when the Christadelphian’s acquired the building. The word ‘Christadelphian’ means ‘Brethren in Christ’. The denomination was founded in 1848 by Dr. John Thomas (1805-1871), who broke from the Disciples of Christ. Christadelphian’s hold several beliefs that differ from mainstream Christian denominations. They reject the doctrine of the Trinity and believe that Jesus Christ was a man. They do not mix with other Christian groups and have no interest in ecumenism. Members of this religion do not vote, do not run for political office, or engage in war. The word "ecclesia" is used by Christadelphians instead of church. Ecc...

Davey Street Methodist Chapel was one of a number of Wesleyan-Methodist Sunday schools established in the greater Hobart area during the 1820s and 1830s. Sunday schools were sometimes also used as day schools and most served as places of worship. In fact a number of Hobart’s historic Methodist churches originated as humble Sunday schools. Hobart’s first Methodist Sunday school opened with 23 scholars on May 13, 1821. Robert Household and John Hiddlestone were the first superintendents. In 1824 a Methodist Sunday School Union was formed and schools were established at Liverpool Street; Sandy Bay; Kangaroo Point; O'Brien's Bridge and at the Penitentiary. A school was also established in a room near the corner of Liverpool and Harrington Streets. In 1832 a Sunday school and chapel was established in a house in Argyle Street. At a Sunday School Union meeting held on August 27, 1834, a motion was passed find suitable premises to rent for a Sunday school in either Davey or Macquarie ...

Westbury is a historic town situated approximately 30 kilometres west of Launceston. It was surveyed in 1828 and was developed as an administrative centre for the district. For most of its history Westbury has been served by only three religious denominations. The town’s Catholic, Anglican and Uniting (Methodist) churches all date back to the first half of the 19th century. The Uniting Church located on William Street is the second Methodist church built in the town. It replaced the original Wesleyan chapel which was built and opened in 1840. The origins of Methodist activity in Westbury is outlined in Reverend Max Stansell’s book, Tasmanian Methodism: “On 11 July 1937 Rev. J.A. Manton of Launceston was requested to visit Westbury with the idea of establishing a preaching place. Within a few months of his visit a Methodist Class was formed. One acre of ground was granted by the Surveyor-General under a Location Order to Revs. J. Orton, J.A. Manton and W. Simpson at Westbury on 15 Nov...

Smithton is the commercial and industrial centre of the Circular Head district in the far northwest of the island. The early settlement was known as Duck River but this was changed to Smithton in 1895. Smithton is named after an Irishman, Peter Smith, who had been a constable, and later the licensee of ‘The Plough Inn,’ at Stanley. Smith moved to Duck River after buying some 500 acres of land from the Poke and Ollington families. Smith’s successful enterprises enabled his return to Ireland. The Christian Brethren arrived at Circular Head in the late 1870s and the first regular services were held in a small hall at Scotchtown. In 1886 a Gospel Hall built on the King Street site. The focus of this blog entry is on the opening of a second hall on the same site in 1941. The history of the original hall will be the focus of a seperate article. In December 1941 the Circular Head Chronicle published a short report concerning the official opening of the hall as well as a description of the bui...

Goodwood is a small residential suburb starts just south-east of the Brooker Highway and Goodwood Road junction. Most houses in Goodwood were built in the 1950s as public housing. The Good News Centre is a former Assembles of God church located on Dodds Avenue. The building was constructed in 1962. After the church’s closure it was sold in 2004 and converted into a house. Little information about this former Assembly of God church is readily available. In the early 2000s the Assemblies of God was still a significant religious denomination in Tasmania. The Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies provides the following review of the denomination: “Assemblies of God are made up of autonomous Pentecostal churches led by an elected state President. Pentecostals are distinguished by their belief in spiritual gifts, most notably 'tongues', prophecy and healing. They are generally characterised by contemporary worship. The Australian Assemblies of God commenced in 1937 when several fle...

Hadspen is a dormitory town on the South Esk River approximately 10 kilometres south west of Launceston. The early settlement was centred on a village near Reibey’s Ford. It is believed that George Frankland (Surveyor-General 1827 to 1838) named the settlement Hadspen after an estate in his native county, Somerset. Thomas Reibey’s iconic Church of the Good Shepherd, which remained uncompleted for almost a century, is the church most closely associated with Hadspen. Few will know that another Anglican church, St Stephen’s, served the community for almost 120 years before it was removed with the eventual completion of Reibey’s church in 1961. Little is known about this church and I have found only one photograph which captures a partial section of this building. I am hopeful that an image may exist. The church was moved after it was sold to the Methodists but I have yet to establish where it was moved or even if it still exists. The foundation stone for St Stephen’s was laid by Bishop N...

St Peter’s Hall is situated within St Mary’s Cathedral precinct at the corner of Harrington and Brisbane Street. The building originally stood on lower Collins Street before it was dismantled and reconstructed at its present site in 1904. St Peter’s Hall was built in 1855 as a temperance hall and school house as well as for occasional religious services. It is marked on Jarman’s 1858 map of Hobart where it is listed as a Catholic chapel. Two 19th century ‘birds-eye’ views of Hobart (see below) clearly show details of the building which was accessed by a footbridge across the Hobart rivulet. Lower Collins Street fell within a district known as Wapping, which was one of Hobart’s poorer quarters located close to the docks. This article draws from newspaper accounts from the 1850s which describe the halls construction and opening as well reports from 1904 concerning its removal and reconstruction near the cathedral. The Colonial Times records the laying of the foundation stone of St Peter’...