No. 1571 - Mount Read - Methodist Church (c.1899)
Mount Read is a mountain located in the West Coast region of Tasmania. A small township at Mount Read, located about 4 kilometres southeast of Williamsford, has long disappeared. Mount Read township was surrounded by the Hercules mine which was situated at altitude of 1000 metres, making it the most elevated town which has existed in Tasmania. The mine was in production in the late nineteenth century and was connected by a haulage incline to Williamsford.
Very little is known about the Methodist church established at Mount Read. According to Reverend Max Stansall’s ‘History of Tasmanian Methodism’, a Methodist church was established at Mount Read in about 1899. Stansall writes:
“Dundas, Ringville and Mount Read separated from Zeehan to become a Home Mission Station in 1897. Rev. W. R. Featonby was the first minister in charge. Of those three Churches very little is known….. Rev. C. W. Atkinson, who apparently succeeded Mr. Featonby in the station, is known to have visited the now non-existent towns of Farrell, Red Hills and Tyndall. He also solemnised the first marriage at Mount Read".
The information provided by Stansall is supported by a handful of newspaper reports published around the turn of the century. In May 1899 the Zeehan and Dundas Herald recorded that at Mount Read:
“The Rev. C. W. Atkinson will occupy the pulpit both morning and evening at the local Wesleyan church tomorrow. Mr Atkinson was appointed by the last annual conference held in Melbourne to take charge of the Dundas and Mount Read district. He has previously had charge of several circuits in Victoria and Tasmania, in each of which he has gained the reputation of being a thoughtful and acceptable preacher”.
In August 1900, a short article in Launceston’s Daily Telegraph provides a glimpse of life at Mount Read:
“A resident Wesleyan clergyman (Rev. Atkinson) is located here, and for the past two years has braved all sorts of weather in order to hold services at Read, Rosebery and Williamsford. Rev. Copeland, Anglican clergyman, also occasionally visits the district…. The miners can now boast of a well fitted reading-room, containing a large and well-assorted stock of books and papers. While giving the Postmaster-General credit for supplying an up-to-date mail, the residents direct his attention to another much-needed requirement, viz., the erection of a verandah in front of the rather primitive port-office. The severity of the weather is most trying here, especially at this time of year, and it is quite a usual thing to see the courteous and obliging postmistress receive the full force of a blast of snow or hail, as the case maybe, in the face when she opens the windows to deliver a letter or telegram….”.
The church, like the post office, would have been a primitive building. Given that Reverend Atkinson was based at Mount Read, it is likely that it was a dedicated building rather than a room at the one of the two hotels or at the reading room. A public hall opened at Mount Read in September 1898 but there is no record of this being used by the Methodists. The fact that a church was built is confirmed in a report in November 1900 by the annual Mersey Wesleyan Synod that a church had been erected at Mount Read, along with churches at Linda Valley and South Queenstown.
Visiting Methodist preachers also visited Mount Read. In October 1900 the Zeehan and Dundas Herald records:
“Last Sunday the Rev. H. S. Heath preached at the morning service in the local Wesleyan Church. There was a large congregation. The Reverend F. G. Copeland made his usual visit on Wednesday last, and in the evening lectured in the hall, a goodly number being present”.
Reverend Atkinson departed from Mount Read in March 1901 to take up duties at Port Cygnet. He was replaced by Reverend Heath of Zeehan and a Mr Hooper. Notices of religious services at Mount Read published in the Zeehan and Dundas Herald cease in late 1904.
By the end of the decade the settlement at Mount Read had all but faded away with the small population mostly drifting to Williamsford. I have been unable to identify which building was used as a church in the photograph of the Mount Read settlement which accompanies this article.
Sources:
Launceston Examiner, Friday 23 September 1898, page 4Zeehan and Dundas Herald, Saturday 6 May 1899, page 2
Daily Telegraph, Thursday 23 August 1900, page 3
Zeehan and Dundas Herald, Tuesday 16 October 1900, page 4
Zeehan and Dundas Herald, Saturday 16 February 1901, page 3
Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 2 April 1901, page 3
Zeehan and Dundas Herald, Saturday 5 March 1904, page 3
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
Very little is known about the Methodist church established at Mount Read. According to Reverend Max Stansall’s ‘History of Tasmanian Methodism’, a Methodist church was established at Mount Read in about 1899. Stansall writes:
“Dundas, Ringville and Mount Read separated from Zeehan to become a Home Mission Station in 1897. Rev. W. R. Featonby was the first minister in charge. Of those three Churches very little is known….. Rev. C. W. Atkinson, who apparently succeeded Mr. Featonby in the station, is known to have visited the now non-existent towns of Farrell, Red Hills and Tyndall. He also solemnised the first marriage at Mount Read".
The information provided by Stansall is supported by a handful of newspaper reports published around the turn of the century. In May 1899 the Zeehan and Dundas Herald recorded that at Mount Read:
“The Rev. C. W. Atkinson will occupy the pulpit both morning and evening at the local Wesleyan church tomorrow. Mr Atkinson was appointed by the last annual conference held in Melbourne to take charge of the Dundas and Mount Read district. He has previously had charge of several circuits in Victoria and Tasmania, in each of which he has gained the reputation of being a thoughtful and acceptable preacher”.
In August 1900, a short article in Launceston’s Daily Telegraph provides a glimpse of life at Mount Read:
“A resident Wesleyan clergyman (Rev. Atkinson) is located here, and for the past two years has braved all sorts of weather in order to hold services at Read, Rosebery and Williamsford. Rev. Copeland, Anglican clergyman, also occasionally visits the district…. The miners can now boast of a well fitted reading-room, containing a large and well-assorted stock of books and papers. While giving the Postmaster-General credit for supplying an up-to-date mail, the residents direct his attention to another much-needed requirement, viz., the erection of a verandah in front of the rather primitive port-office. The severity of the weather is most trying here, especially at this time of year, and it is quite a usual thing to see the courteous and obliging postmistress receive the full force of a blast of snow or hail, as the case maybe, in the face when she opens the windows to deliver a letter or telegram….”.
The church, like the post office, would have been a primitive building. Given that Reverend Atkinson was based at Mount Read, it is likely that it was a dedicated building rather than a room at the one of the two hotels or at the reading room. A public hall opened at Mount Read in September 1898 but there is no record of this being used by the Methodists. The fact that a church was built is confirmed in a report in November 1900 by the annual Mersey Wesleyan Synod that a church had been erected at Mount Read, along with churches at Linda Valley and South Queenstown.
Visiting Methodist preachers also visited Mount Read. In October 1900 the Zeehan and Dundas Herald records:
“Last Sunday the Rev. H. S. Heath preached at the morning service in the local Wesleyan Church. There was a large congregation. The Reverend F. G. Copeland made his usual visit on Wednesday last, and in the evening lectured in the hall, a goodly number being present”.
Reverend Atkinson departed from Mount Read in March 1901 to take up duties at Port Cygnet. He was replaced by Reverend Heath of Zeehan and a Mr Hooper. Notices of religious services at Mount Read published in the Zeehan and Dundas Herald cease in late 1904.
By the end of the decade the settlement at Mount Read had all but faded away with the small population mostly drifting to Williamsford. I have been unable to identify which building was used as a church in the photograph of the Mount Read settlement which accompanies this article.
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| Mount Read - Photo by J W Beattie, c.1898 |
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| A detail of Beattie's photograph. As well as a Methodist church Mount Read had a post office, two hotels, a general store, a reading room and a public hall. |
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| The location of Mount Read in Tasmania's north west - https://www.placenames.tas.gov.au/ |
Launceston Examiner, Friday 23 September 1898, page 4Zeehan and Dundas Herald, Saturday 6 May 1899, page 2
Daily Telegraph, Thursday 23 August 1900, page 3
Zeehan and Dundas Herald, Tuesday 16 October 1900, page 4
Zeehan and Dundas Herald, Saturday 16 February 1901, page 3
Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 2 April 1901, page 3
Zeehan and Dundas Herald, Saturday 5 March 1904, page 3
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
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