Churches of Tasmania

St Helens is the largest town on Tasmania’s east coast. It was a whaling station in the early 19th century and when tin was discovered in the hinterland in the 1870s, St Helens developed as a port for the mines. The focus of this article is on St Helens’ original Catholic church which was replaced by the present church 100 years ago. Records of the establishment of the first church are very patchy and the precise date of its construction is not known. It was most likely built in 1871 for it is recorded that the foundation stone of the second church, laid in 1921, took place “50 years after the first church was built”. Catholic worship at St Helens dates back to the 1860s. Walch’s Almanac (1870) refers to Fr. M.J. Beechinor from Campbelltown attending the parishioners at St Georges Bay, which was an earlier name for the settlement. The first direct reference to the church dates to July 1876. A description of St Helens published in the Hobart Mercury mentions that a Roman Catholic Cha...

The reopening of Hobart’s St Mary’s Cathedral in 1881 brought an end to a 40 year saga which had begun in 1841, when a foundation stone was laid for new church at ‘Mount Carmel’ on Harrington Street. It took three attempts before the first Cathedral was built between 1860 and 1866. The history of the first Cathedral, which was dismantled due to serious structural issues, has been the subject of a previous article on ‘Churches of Tasmania’ [ see No. 990 ]. The focus of this article is on the present Cathedral and it will be limited to a brief outline of the buildings construction and development, given that the history of St Mary’s is fairly well known. In 1876, the St Mary’s Cathedral was closed due to significant structural issues which had developed as a result poor construction practices and inadequate oversight by Henry Hunter, the supervising architect. Nonetheless, Hunter was charged with leading the reconstruction project which was completed by 1881. William Wardell’s original ...

The Baptist denomination first appeared in Hobart in 1835. The church’s progress was fairly limited until the 1880s. In 1883 the arrival of Irish born preacher Rev. Robert McCullough, who was financially backed by William Gibson of Native Point, marks the revival of the Baptist cause in the city. The focus of this article is on a ‘Tabernacle School-room’ which served as a place of worship prior to the completion of the present Baptist church fronting Elizabeth Street. The ‘Tabernacle School-room’ still stands, albeit with a somewhat altered facade and is mostly hidden behind the Baptist church. The building was used a church for only four years and then became a permanent schoolroom. It now known as the Gibson Hall. The history of the revived Baptist movement is succinctly outlined in an 1887 article published in the Hobart Mercury: “The history of the Baptist cause in Hobart, or at least that portion of it over which Pastor McCullough exercises spiritual charge, is not a long one....

Ellesmere is the original name for Scottsdale which is located in Tasmania’s North East. The first settlement was near Ellesmere Hill but as the town developed the centre shifted about 1 kilometre south east and renamed Scottsdale in 1893. The first church services at Scottsdale were conducted in the Union Chapel built at Ellesmere in 1863. The first permanent minister was Reverend Robert Thompson who was appointed in 1878. A year after Thompson’s appointment, a Wesleyan Methodist church was built opposite Listers Road. It was built by P. and T. Brewer of Bridport at a cost of £380. A parsonage was built in 1881 at an additional cost of £370. The official opening of the Ellesmere church took place on March 9 1879. The occasion was reported by The Tasmanian: “…The highly esteemed and energetic bush missionary, Mr William Blackett, preached in the afternoon…and in the evening… On the following day a tea meeting was held in the neat and commodious church at 4 p.m., when about 140 persons...

Jericho is small settlement located on the western side of the Midlands Highway, approximately 15 kilometres south of Oatlands. It was an important way station during the coaching era. Jericho is among a number of locations in the southern Midlands, such as Bagdad, Jerusalem, the Jordan River and Lake Tiberias, which have Middle Eastern names. These were supposedly given by Private Hugh Germain, a member of the Royal Marines, who in the early 1800s travelled through the area on a hunting expedition. It is said that Germain carried a copy of the Bible and the Arabian Nights, the source of his inspiration for naming the localities he visited. Two Anglican churches were built at Jericho; the first was constructed in the early 1830s and was replaced by the present church built in 1883. This article concerns the first Jericho church which was the 10th Anglican church to be built in the colony. The first recorded religious service held at Jericho took place on 23 February 1823. It was conduc...

Badger Corner was a small settlement at the southern end of Flinders Island, approximately 7 kilometres west of the town of Lady Barron. It is now a conservation area. It was considered a safe anchorage and was used as a drop off point for ships bringing supplies to Flinders Island. The ‘foundation stone’ for the Badger Corner church was laid by Archdeacon Whitington in June 1914. The church was opened and dedicated in January in the following year. The Launceston Examiner reported: “On Sunday, January 23, the first church on the island was opened and dedicated at Badger Corner. Holy communion being celebrated at 10.30 a.m., evensong, sermon, and holy baptism at St. Mark's Mission Hall, Lady Barron at 3 p.m., and at 7.30 p.m. dedication service and sermon in the new church, which is to be known as St. Barnarbas. The Rev. J. H. Wills gave an interesting and impressive sermon. All three services were largely attended, many coming from considerable distances”. In 1926 the church w...

Newstead is a suburb of Launceston situated on the eastern side of East Launceston. It is named after "Newstead House" which was built and named by Ronald Campbell Gunn in 1855. The Plymouth Brethren Hall at Newstead is located at the intersection of Lantana Avenue and Rintala Street. The hall which was built in the 1980s is an unadorned face brick building typical of Exclusive Brethren buildings. The Exclusive Christian Brethren, now known as the Plymouth Brethren, originated in Plymouth, Great Britain, in the 1820s. By the mid 19th century the Christian Brethren became established in Australia. The 'Exclusive Brethren' is a restrictive group which broke away from the original Christian Brethren in 1848. In 2012 the Exclusive Brethren adopted the name 'Plymouth Brethren Christian Church’. Tasmanian Plymouth Brethren churches are part of global organisation with about 50 000 members. The Plymouth Brethren are notorious for avoiding social interaction with people o...

Strahan is a small town on the west coast lying at the western end of the Lyell Highway. It was originally developed as a port of access for the hinterland mining settlements. The town was known as Long Bay or Regatta Point until 1877, when it was formally named after the colony’s Governor, Sir George Cumine Strahan. The Wesleyan Methodists appeared in Strahan in the late 1880s and by 1892 regular services were held in the town’s State school. A Methodist church opened in 1893 at a site on the Esplanade. In mid 1895 this building was moved to a new site Harvey Street. The Zeehan and Dundas Herald reported: “Since the appointment of the Rev R. H. Bailey to Strahan, as the first resident minister, the Wesleyan Church there has made considerable strides. The building, which formerly stood on the Government Esplanade, has been removed to a central position in Harvey-street, and service will be conducted there for the first time on the new site by the minister next Sunday; and a few Sunday...

Mountain River is a small settlement in the Huon Valley located on the southern slopes of Mount Wellington. It takes its name from the river which rises in the Wellington Ranges and flows through the area to join the Huon River. Three religious denominations were once active in Mountain River. The Methodist’s built a church at Mountain River in 1901 and the Salvation Army opened in hall in 1947. Regular Anglican services were first held from 1918 in the local public hall before a church was built. The Salvation Army’s presence at Mountain River dates back to the turn of the 20th century with occasional visits from the ‘Army’s’ Corps at Crabtree and Ranelagh. A hall was built at Mountain River in 1947. A report published in the Mercury, concerning the the official opening of the building on Saturday 31 May, provides most of what is known about the Mountain River Hall: “A new new Salvation Army hall erected at Mountain River was opened on Saturday afternoon by Brig. F. L. Inglis, Divisi...