No. 1142 - Launceston - St Aidan's Sunday School Hall (1919)

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This entry is another in a series of articles about buildings associated with some of Tasmania’s most significant churches. These buildings include Sunday schools, parish halls, convents, schools and residences of the clergy. Ancillary buildings are often overlooked and are rarely featured in published histories. My aim is to create a basic record of some of the most significant of these buildings, including those which no longer exist.

St Aidan’s Anglican Church in East Launceston dates back to 1892 when a branch Sunday school of St John's Church opened in a shop at the corner of Abbott and Arthur streets. In 1894 St Aidan’s church was built to serve the growing eastern suburb of the city. In 1919 St Aidan’s established a dedicated hall for the Sunday school established in 1892.

The foundation stone for new “St Aidan’s Schoolroom” was officially laid on Tuesday 13 May 1919. The Launceston Examiner published an account of the occasion:

“His Excellency the Governor (Sir Francis Newdegate) laid the foundation-stone of St. Aidan's Sunday Schoolroom yesterday afternoon in the presence of a large gathering of parishioners and residents of East Launceston…. The building of the schoolroom has been found necessary in consequence of the rapid growth of the locality in recent years. The church itself has been used for Sunday school purposes up to the present, but the accommodation is far too small for the number of scholars attending. The new building will therefore fill a long-felt want, besides providing a hall for other purposes….”.

The building was completed and opened in December 1919. It was designed by architect Thomas Tandy and built by Mr. F. J. Dell at a cost of £1440.











Sources:

Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 14 May 1919, page 6
Examiner, Wednesday 14 May 1919, page 4

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