Churches of Tasmania

This ‘blog entry’ is one of a series of articles about places of worship which are barely represented in the historical record. Usually no images of these buildings have survived. My hope is that these brief articles may result in further information and photographs coming to light enabling a more complete history to be preserved. Longford is an historical country town approximately 25 kilometres south of Launceston. The district around Longford was first known as the Norfolk Plains after the Norfolk Islanders who were resettled here in 1813. The Cressy Road Church School (also known as the Halfway School) was situated near the corner of Cressy Road and Munden Lane which is about 2 kilometres south of the town centre. The church was built in 1871 and closed in the early 1930s before being removed in 1941. The opening of the “Cressy Road School House and Chapel” took place on Sunday 25 June 1871. The event was recorded by the Cornwall Chronicle: “On Sunday….a building, which has been

This article is one of a series about buildings associated with Tasmania’s historical churches and religious orders. These buildings include Sunday schools, parish halls, convents, schools and residences of the clergy. Ancillary buildings are often overlooked and rarely feature in published histories. My aim is to create a basic record of these buildings, including those that no longer exist. Holy Trinity Parish dates back to 1833 when Reverend Philip Palmer was appointed Rural Dean of Hobart. The Penitentiary chapel, or ‘Old Trinity’, was the parish’s first church. In 1845 a Wesleyan chapel on High Street (now Tasma Street) was used as a temporary place of worship. After six years of construction Holy Trinity Church on Warwick Street was finally completed. The church was officially opened in January 1848. Holy Trinity’s parsonage was built 6 years before the church was completed. Like the church, it was designed by Colonial architect James Blackburn and built by "Messrs. Cleghorn

Sandy Bay is a southern suburb of Hobart. The northern half of Sandy Bay was known as Queenborough between the years 1859 and 1878. This articles is about the first Catholic church at Upper Sandy Bay. It was built in 1934 as a temporary church that doubled as a community hall. It was known a Pentecost Hall which incorporated the Church of the Holy Ghost. In the 1950s and 1990s the building was effectively rebuilt and enlarged and it is now known as the Church of the Holy Spirit. Another article on the new modern church will be posted on the blog. New Catholic Parish of Sandy Bay established in January 1934 and in the same year construction of a combined church hall began. The building’s foundation stone was ceremonially laid on Sunday 20 May: The Mercury reported: “The ceremony of laying the foundation stone of a new church hall, to be known as Pentecost Hall took place yesterday morning at Sandy Bay. The Archbishop of Hobart (Most Rev. Dr. W. Hayden) presided at the Mass at 11 a.m.

This article is one of a series about buildings associated with Tasmania’s historical churches and religious orders.These buildings include Sunday schools, parish halls, convents, schools and residences of the clergy. Ancillary buildings are often overlooked and rarely feature in published histories. My aim is to create a basic record of these buildings, including buildings which no longer exist. Dover is a small town on the Huon Highway approximately 80 kilometres south of Hobart. It was first settled in the 1850s. The original name for Dover was Port Esperance after one of the ships of the French Admiral Bruni D'Entrecasteaux. Dover’s Congregational church opened in 1877. It was originally a Bethel or nondenominational church. In 1904 a Sunday school hall was built behind the church. The hall’s foundation stone was ceremonially laid by Mrs W. Davis in March 1904. The following report from Mercury describes the opening of the hall in June 1904: “The new Congregational Sunday schoo

In 1861 the Primitive Methodists acquired the former Knox Chapel on Collins Street for a place of worship. The building was erected in 1836 as an Independent or Congregational church and Sunday school. [ see No. 1000 ]. In 1857 the building was sold to Reverend John Downes and reopened as the Knox Chapel. [ see No. 1093 ] In 1861 Downes left Tasmania to take up a position at a church at Learmonth in Victoria. The departure of Downes resulted in the closure of Knox Free Chapel which was then taken over by the Primitive Methodists. The Primitive Methodist movement began in 1808 and was led by Methodist lay preacher Hugh Bourne, who had been expelled from the British Methodist movement. Bourne and his followers became known as Primitive Methodists, meaning ‘first’ or ‘original’. Bourne's followers were also disparagingly called ‘Ranters’, a reference to their crude and often noisy preaching. Their outdoor camp meetings generally attracted the working classes who sometimes did not feel

Gould’s Country a rural area off the Tasman Highway and is approximately 15 kilometres west of St.Helens. Although it is now virtually a ghost town, it once had a population of about 400 with a post office, school, three churches, council chambers, bank, hotel and a public hall. The town went into decline once tin mining in the district ceased. The district is named after Charles Gould, who was appointed the first Geological Surveyor in Tasmania (1859–69). The foundation of the Union Church is linked to Benjamin Smith who arrived in Gould’s County in 1870. Smith was a devout Methodist and was instrumental in establishing a church. In 1871 when Bishop Charles Bromby passed through the district he observed: “In Gould’s Country I found a young but enterprising body of settlers, who had carried with them to their seclusion a love of religious ordinances. As no ordained clergyman lives within fifty miles of them, it was gratifying to find that one settler reads the prayers of the Church to

Dilston is settlement on the East Tamar Highway about 15 kilometres north of Launceston. In earlier times it was an important stop on the highway between George Town and Launceston. The name Dilston originates from Dilston Lodge, a property established by Captain George Coulson in the 1830s. Coulson also established the Friend’s Arms hotel which overlooked Freshwater Point on opposite side of the Tamar River. Dilston’s only church originated in the home of Mr Alfred Ray who started a Sunday school. This paved the way for the construction of a church in late 1884 and which opened on Friday 23 January in the following year. A correspondent for the Launceston Examiner described how the church was established: “A very interesting episode in the history of Dilston, East Tamar, has to be recorded for last Friday. For some time past a good work has been going on here in a quiet, unostentatious way… A number of children have been growing up without any means of obtaining either secular or reli

This article is one of a series about buildings associated with Tasmania’s historical churches and religious orders.These buildings include Sunday schools, parish halls, convents, schools and residences of the clergy. Ancillary buildings are often overlooked and rarely feature in published histories. My aim is to create a basic record of these buildings, including buildings which no longer exist. Ross is a historical town off the Midlands Highway approximately 120 kilometres north of Hobart. It was named by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1821 after the Seat of his friend H.M. Buchanan of Loch Lomond in Scotland. Of the five churches built at Ross, three remain. Little is known about the origins of the Wesleyan Sunday School which is believed to have been built in 1854. The original building still exists and is located on the corner of High Street and Bond street. In 1839 a Wesleyan Methodist chapel opened on a site next to the Sunday school. The chapel was demolished in 1932 and stone

Sandy Bay is a southern suburb of Hobart. The northern half of Sandy Bay was known as Queenborough between the years 1859 and 1878. The first Methodist church at Sandy Bay was a Primitive Methodist Mission Hall which opened in Princes Street in 1895. The 1902 Union between the Primitive Methodists and the Wesleyan Methodists soon created a need for a larger place of worship. Following the Union, proceeds from the sale of the Collins Street Primitive Methodist chapel was used to build a new church at Sandy Bay. In early 1904 construction began on a new church at a site on Princes Street which was only a short distance from the old Mission Hall. The traditional ceremonial laying of the foundation or memorial stones was unusual in that seven stones were set, which was a record number for a Tasmanian church. The Mercury reported: “There was a large attendance yesterday afternoon when the memorial stones were laid, among those present being Hon. T. Gant, M.L.C., Mr. A. E. Eckford, chairman