No. 1104 - Tullah - Sacred Heart Catholic Church (c.1932)

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Tullah is a small town on the Murchison Highway approximately 110 kilometres south of Burnie. It was established in 1900 as a remote mining settlement known as Mount Farrell. In the 1970s Tullah was used by the Hydro Electric Commission to house workers engaged in the various parts of the Pieman River Power Scheme. At this time Tullah’s population peaked at 2500. The town is divided into two sections; the older northern mining settlement and the newer southern part developed by the Commission. Four churches were built at Tullah representing the Methodist, Catholic and Anglican denominations. These have all closed and in recent years were replaced by the Tullah Community Church.

The history of Tullah’s Catholic church is not well established. Shortly after the turn of the 20th century Catholic services were held at Kelly’s Hall. In 1910 Archbishop Delany visited the town to conduct a confirmation service. About twenty years passed before a church was built. The year in which the church was built is not known but references to the church appear in newspaper reports from 1933.

In February 1948 the Advocate reported that the church came close to burning down following the spread of a bushfire south of the building.

The year of the church’s closure is no known. It is also not know what became of the church after is closure.




Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Tullah - undated photograph - posted by Butch Richardson - West Coasters, Who remembers when,  Facebook Group, (28 February 2014). Photographer not known.


An early photograph of Tullah - Source: QVM 1988:P:1040


Scenes from Tullah featured in the Weekly Courier (1917) The photos show a view of the township, the railway line to Tullah with the Dunkley Bros.' engine, Horse tram on the Mount Farrell Tramway and the Tullah rifle range. Photographer - J. Robinson 


Sources:

North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times, Thursday 17 November 1910, page 2
Advocate, Thursday 31 May 1934, page 8
Examiner, Saturday 23 April 1938, page11
Advocate, Monday 5 September 1938, page 8
Advocate, Friday 6 February 1948, page 4

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