No. 1523 - Adventure Bay - St Paul's Anglican Church (1905-1927)

Adventure Bay is small settlement on the eastern side of Bruny Island. It lies at the southern end of the Adventure Bay named after Captain Furneaux's ship "Adventure" in which he visited Van Diemen's Land in 1773. Adventure Bay was also visited by Captain Cook on three occasions, first in the "Endeavour" then twice in the "Resolution". Two other noted visitors were Captain Bligh of "Bounty" fame and Matthew Flinders, who set foot on Australian soil for the first time Bruny Island. British whalers were reported in Adventure Bay by 1804. Whaling stations operated in the bay from 1826 at four separate locations. During the 19th and 20th century the bay was used by the timber industry and the township of Adventure Bay at the southern end of the bay was the site of both extensive timber mills and a long jetty from where seagoing vessels could load timber.

In 1905 an Anglican church was built at Adventure Bay. This was destroyed by bushfires in 1927. This was replaced by a new church was built at another site in 1933. The focus of this article is on the first church.

In May 1904 local residents met at Adventure Bay to consider the construction of a church. The Mercury reported:

“A largely attended meeting was held here on Saturday 21st inst. for the purpose of considering the desirability of building a new church. The Rev J.W. L'Oste was in the chair, and in opening the meeting made some remarks as to the necessity of a church being built. Mr J. Joseph moved - “That it is desirable to build a church” and in speaking to the motion, instanced the state of the building at present used and of the many other uses made of it. The motion was seconded by Mr. Burke who also spoke of the necessity for such a building…. A committee was then elected to lake preliminary steps. The following are the members: - Messrs J Joseph, W Zschachner, E. H. Pybus, L. Hansson, and J. Iles. The Messrs. Gray Bros. have donated the material for the building, so that it will only be necessary for the residents to provide sufficient funds for the labour….”.

The church's foundation stone was ceremonially laid on Saturday 4 February 1905 by Mrs M. Gray and Reverend J. W. H. L’Oste. After some delay the church was completed by August and was officially opened on Sunday 3 September with Bishop Edward Mercer and the Premier, John Evans, in attendance. The Hobart Mercury reported:

“The afternoon saw the opening of the new church at Adventure Bay. The s.s. Ronnie arrived from Hobart, bringing the Hon. the Premier and Hon. T. M. Fisher also other friends. Residents from Mill's Reef, Daniels' Bay, and North Bruni, as well as locals, put in an appearance, so that the building, which is of fair size, was quite inadequate to accommodate all who were present. The Bishop, who was listened to with rapt attention, gave a splendid address, and much impressed his hearers. There was a crowded congregation again in the evening,…The Rev. L'Oste assisted at each service. There were two baptisms at the opening service”.

The church was in use for a little over 20 years when it was destroyed by bushfires which swept across Bruny Island in the summer of 1927:

“Terrific bush fires raged on Bruny Island during the week-end, the island in the day time having been enveloped in smoke, whilst flames by night lighted the sky for miles around. Fanned by high winds from the early hours of Saturday morning until early yesterday morning, the fires made a clean sweep of many miles of the island, but fortunately there was no loss of life, though a good deal of property was destroyed…. From Saturday, day and night, residents in almost all parts of the island turned out en masse to fight the flames, which swept onward with terrific speed, and it is safe to assume that had it not been for their strenuous efforts, much more damage would have been done…The fires raged the fiercest in the Lunawanna district, and around Adventure Bay, and many daring incidents are related of the fire fighters’ efforts to cheek the onward progress of the flames toward their homesteads. Bruny is a sparsely populated island, and the thick scrub made fine fodder for the flames. However, in their endeavour to protect their homes, the farmers knew no fear, and literally walked into walls of fire. At Adventure Bay residents had a very trying experience, and throughout Saturday night they were out flogging back the flames. St. Paul's Anglican Church, which was not covered by insurance, was destroyed. The church was built in 1905 largely owing to the generosity of the late Rev. J. W. H. L’Oste".

Following the fires, religious services were held in Adventure Bay hall for a period of six years when another church was built in 1933 on a new site some distance from the original building. The only photograph of the church is a poor quality image from an interpretation sign at the site of the first church. I hope to locate a better quality photograph for a future update of this article.

The history of the new church will be the subject of a follow-up article on the blog.

St Paul's Anglican Church - Photograph: Interpretation signage at the site of the church.

A memorial stone marking the site of the church.

An early photograph of Adventure Bay (c.1910) Libraries Tasmania - Ash, Bester & Co Item number: NS4077/1/27

Sources:

Mercury, Saturday 28 May 1904, page 7
Mercury, Friday 10 February 1905, page 7
Mercury, Monday 26 June 1905, page 2
Mercury, Wednesday 13 September 1905, page 2
Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 6 September 1905, page 4
Mercury, Tuesday 15 February 1927, page 11

Interpretation signage at the site of the church

Henslowe, Dorothea I and Hurburgh, Isa. Our heritage of Anglican churches in Tasmania / by Dorothea I. Henslowe ; sketches by Isa Hurburgh s.n [S.l. 1978