No. 1567 - Geeveston - St Peter's Anglican Church (1887-1970)

-
Geeveston is a country town on the Huon Highway approximately 45 kilometres south of Hobart. The town is named after William Geeves, an English settler, who received a land grant at what was then called Lightwood Bottom. The settlement was renamed Geeves Town in 1861 before becoming Geeveston.

St Peter’s Anglican church has closed in recent years and the building was sold in 2017. [See No. 1134] The church was built in 1971 replacing an earlier church which opened in 1887. The old church was demolished in 1970.

There is little information about the establishment of the original church. I have not come across any reports describing the buildings opening which took place in January 1887. A report in the Mercury from April 1887 confirms that the church had been completed:

“Among the improvements to the township of late is the completion of the Church of England. A bazaar was held in December last, when sufficient money was netted to effect the necessary work. The church has been lined throughout with tongued and grooved pine, and nicely varnished. The outside has been completed and well painted, so that it presents a very respectable appearance. The churchwardens would earn the thanks of the community if they would only make the church grounds look more presentable. The scrub and logs certainly require to be cleared off, but perhaps their motto is one thing at a time, and now the church is done the burial ground will be the next work undertaken when funds are in hand”.

In November 1887 the foundation stone of a parsonage built alongside the church was ceremonially laid by Bishop Sandford. The residence was completed in early 1888.

A cemetery was situated in the church grounds but this was closed in 1889 after a new cemetery near Cairns Bay was opened. The Church of England section of the new cemetery was consecrated in 1911.

Nothing remains of the parsonage or old cemetery. The columbarium at the new church has been relocated to the Cairns Bay Anglican Cemetery.

An undated postcard of St Peter's Church and parsonage


Sources:

The Mercury, Monday 20 December 1886, page 3
The Mercury, Tuesday 1 February 1887, page 3
The Mercury, Wednesday 27 April 1887, page 3
The Mercury, Friday 11 November 1887, page 3
The Mercury, Saturday 25 June 1892, page 4
The Mercury, Wednesday 9 August 1911, page 7

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



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. 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

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