No. 1328 - Little Swanport - St Martin's Mission Hall - "The White Hut" (1901)

-
Little Swanport is a small settlement on the Tasman Highway approximately 20 kilometres north of Triabunna. It is located within a large inlet and takes its name from the Little Swanport River.

The following information about a church at Little Swanport is taken from Geoffrey Stephens’ ‘The Anglican Church in Tasmania’:

“The White was built in 1842 by James Claridge, to replace a wooden one which had been used as a Watch House by soldiers and police stationed there to protect settlers against aboriginals, escaped prisoners and bushrangers. The White Hut was one day’s march from Rocky Hills, Swanston and Spring Bay, and convicts being marched between Richmond, Oatlands and Swansea stayed overnight.

The Council Minutes of 24 July 1897 record that a letter was received from the Public Works Dept. asking if residents of Little Swanport could use the White Hut as a place of worship. A bazaar was held which realised sufficient money to put the building in repair and provide the necessary furniture and fittings, and was arranged by Mrs and Misses Mitchelmore at Muirland. Services were held by the incumbent, Rev’d Thomas Pitt. While being used for religious ceremonies it was called St. Martin’s Mission Hall. The building was frequently whitewashed, and there were no rear windows. It was demolished about 1942 and some of the stone was used in the nearby White Hut Bridge”.

A report published in the Mercury June 1901 contains much of the same information provided by Stephens and indicates that the church had opened in May in that year:

"Members of the Church of England in this district have long felt the want of a suitable building in which to hold their usual services. This want has, however, been supplied by the Government, who have handed over the stone building formerly occupied us constable's residence and watchhouse, but as the building needed alteration and renovation, a bazaar was held a short time ago, which happily realised sufficient to put it in thorough repair, and also provide the necessary furniture and fittings. These, by the aid of some of the lady members of the Church, principally among whom were Mrs. and the Misses Mitchelmore, of Muirland, have been so arranged as to give the little edifice quite a neat and comfortable appearance".


St Martin's Mission Hall (c.1930) - Anglican Diocese of Tasmania 


Sources:

Stephens, Geoffrey & Anglican Church of Australia. Diocese of Tasmania, (issuing body.) The Anglican Church in Tasmania : a Diocesan history to mark the sesquicentenary, 1992. Trustees of the Diocese, Hobart, 1991.

Mercury, Wednesday 5 June 1901, page 5


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 ...
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