No. 1570 - Linda - Wesleyan Methodist Church (c.1899)

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Linda is an abandoned mining settlement situated east of Queenstown on the Lyell Highway. Linda was located very close to Gormanston which is now a ‘ghost town’. Both towns were dependent on the mining industry, with Linda supporting the North Mount Lyell Mine and the terminus of the North Mount Lyell Railway. Copper ore was taken from the mine to smelters at Crotty (now under the waters of Lake Burbury). The refined metal taken to Pillinger on the shores of Macquarie Harbour at Kelly Basin. When North Mount Lyell was taken over by Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company in 1903, Linda was reduced in significance and gradually most residents moved to Gormanston.

According to Reverend Max Stansall’s ‘History of Tasmanian Methodism’, a Wesleyan Methodist church was established at Linda in late 1899. Stansall writes:

“Linda, another of the ‘past history’ towns, once had a Wesleyan Church. This was probably right at the end of the [nineteenth] century. It was too close to its mother Church at Gormanston to succeed. After a few months it was sold. Later it drifted into the possession of a two-up school. Perhaps it was time for nature to take a hand. One night a violent storm blew up. By morning the building scattered in small pieces along the creek bed beside which it had stood”.

While I have found no record of the church’s opening, the Mersey Wesleyan Synod’s report in November 1900 records the erection of a church at Linda. Sunday services advertised in The Mount Lyell Standard and Strahan Gazette reveal that Wesleyan Methodist services were held at Linda Valley until mid 1900.

The Linda Valley from north west - Libraries Tasmania - Item number: NS3289/1/41




Sources:

Stansall, M. E. J and Methodist Church of Australasia. Tasmanian Methodism, 1820-1975 / [by M.E.J. Stansall ... et al] Methodist Church of Australasia Launceston, Tas. 1975 

Zeehan and Dundas Herald, Tuesday 9 October 1900, page 4
The North West Post, Thursday 15 November 1900, page 2

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