No. 1114 - Magra - St John's Anglican Church (1955)

-
Magra is a residential area approximately 3 kilometres north of New Norfolk. Magra is a word used by Eastern Aboriginal peoples meaning 'day'. The area was previously called Back River.

Magra's former Anglican church was originally a church built at Black Hills which is situated approximately 7 kilometres north of the settlement. Anglican services were held at Black Hills from about 1898. A church was built in 1900 and mostly financed by Mrs A.H. Sharland on land donated by Isaac Triffitt. St John’s was consecrated by Bishop Mercer in September 1903.

For reasons not known services at the Black Hills church ceased in 1916 and the building fell into a state of disrepair over the next sixteen years. Occasional services continued at the Black Hills State school. In February 1933, as a result of the efforts of Reverend Brammall, St John’s was reopened after it had been reroofed and new windows installed. A second-hand organ was donated by the Anglican congregation at Molesworth in 1935.

Regular services were held until the late 1940s after which the congregation dwindled and the church once again closed. In August 1954 the Mercury reported that the "residents of Magra...have contributed more than £55 towards the removal of the Black Hills Church of England to Magra". In 1955 the church was moved onto a site near the Magra State Primary school.

By the 1990s services ceased and the church was sold and removed once again in 1999. The church is now located on the Hamilton Road and is known as “The Blue Chapel” which is currently in the process of being restored to its former glory and third life as part of a local pottery business.


The former Black Hills church in the process of being restored with a new roof and windows and the spire still to be replaced. Photograph: Duncan Grant 2019

The former Black Hills church in the process of being restored with a new roof and windows and the spire still to be replaced. Photograph: Duncan Grant 2019

St John's at Black Hills (1933) The Mercury

The location of Black Hills in the Derwent Valley - placenames.gov.tas.au

Sources:

Mercury, Friday 29 April 1898, page 3
Mercury, Monday 30 January 1933, page 3
Mercury, Monday 27 February 1933, page 3
Mercury, Wednesday 1 March 1933, page 12
Huon and Derwent Times, Thursday 25 July 1935, page 6
Mercury, Saturday 13 March 1948, page 5
Mercury, Tuesday 20 July 1954, page 15
Mercury, Wednesday 4 August 1954, page 13

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

Links of Interest:

The Blue Church - Pottery https://earthlingcup.com/contact/

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. 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

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