No. 1579 - South Launceston - 'Sandhill Congregational Chapel and Sunday School' (1862-1905)
In the 19th century Sandhill was an area of Launceston which extended from Melbourne Street to Gascoyne Street and west of Lawrence Vale Road. Parts of South Launceston and Glen Dhu were unofficially included within Sandhill. The northern end of Sandhill was the location of the Sandhill Potteries, notably McHughes Pottery and Campbell’s Pottery. Between the potteries was a small Congregational chapel and Sunday school which stood on the corner of Wilmot Street and Wellington Street.
The chapel was established as a “Sabbath School” in 1862 as an outreach of Christchurch Congregational Church on Frederick Street. Under the leadership of of Reverend William Law, Congregational chapels and Sunday schools were also established at Prospect [See No. 75 ] and Rosevale [See No. 363]
The Sandhill chapel’s opening in December 1862 is recorded in the Launceston Examiner:
“On Sabbath afternoon last this building was opened by a public religious service, and notwithstanding a heavy torrent of rain falling at the time, nearly 100 persons, including the school [children], were assembled. The Rev. Wm. Law preached a good practical sermon, and the children sung several of their sweet melodies with admirable effect. A public tea-meeting was held next day, at which the Hon. W. S. Button, Esq., presided. Upwards of 80 persons partook of an excellent tea, generously provided by the ladies. Addresses were delivered by the Rev. Wm. Law and Messrs. C. E. Button Sen., Woodhill, Sinclair, West, and others. The proceeds of the tea and the collection of the previous Sabbath are applied to the building fund”.
“The building itself is a neat and suitable structure, 30 x 17, and with the surrounding fence and outbuildings cost about £70. It is vested in trustees, and is the property of the Congregational Church, St. John-square. The Sabbath School connected with it was formed by the Town Missionary two years since. The gradual increase required the enlarged accommodation now afforded. Day and evening schools are contemplated; and thus an amount of sound and useful instruction will be available to a much neglected class in the neighbourhood. On Tuesday the Sabbath School received their annual treat. The children met for recreation in Mrs. Ellis's paddock, Mulgrave-street, and were afterwards regaled with the usual refreshments in the new building”.
As indicated in the Examiner’s report, the school had been established by the Town Mission as a “ragged” or “free Sunday-school”, similar to the school established at the Bethel Chapel on the New wharf which had opened in the previous year. [see No. 368]. With the involvement of Congregationalists after 1862, the Sandhill Sunday school was also used as a place of worship. From the 1880s it it was referred to in local newspapers as the “Sandhill Chapel” or the “Sandhill Sunday school”. An 1891 map of Launceston marks its location simply as “school”.
In 1867 the Congregational Church records reveal that 46 boys and 52 girls attended the school with an average attendance of 50 in the morning and 53 in the afternoon services. These numbers were more or less maintained until the 1890s.
In 1883 the building was renovated with the addition of a platform (stage), a porch and new seating. In the 1880s building was regularly used for religious services and also as a hall for public meetings. A survey of the newspaper record reveals gatherings held by the YMCA as well as temperance organisations such as the Blue Ribbon Movement and was the venue for meetings of the Independent Order of Good Templars. Religious services led by the Town Missionary continued to be held well into the 1890s.
The chapel features prominently in a number of reports in the 1880s concerning the activities of ‘larrikins’, who over a number of years interrupted services and caused a general nuisance in the neighbourhood.
In 1884 an aggrieved Sandhill resident wrote to the Daily Mail complaining:
“Of late the larrikins have been increasing in their mischievous habits, emboldened, I presume, by the absence of the police, until at last their conduct has become unbearable. Not content with annoying the shopkeepers and their customers on business nights, they continue their annoyance on Sunday evenings to the great discomfort, and sometimes danger, of those who attend the Sandhill Congregational Chapel. Last Sunday they went as far as to hang a stone attached to a length of thread, on to the chapel door, and were pulling it for some time, until the cause of the knocking was found out. They also placed laths or strips of paling in the fence close to the ground, and projecting over the pathway, which would have had the effect of tripping some of the congregation when leaving had they not been discovered in time. It is a great reproach to the locality that peaceful members of the community cannot attend a place of worship without being insulted and interrupted during the progress of the service by such a band of hoodlums as assembled last Sunday evening…”.
More seriously, an alleged “unlawful assault” took place outside the chapel in June 1884. The details of the incident are captured by the Examiner’s report of the Police Court proceedings. It was claimed that a member of the congregation, William Mace, set on and kicked 15 year old Thomas Reilly, who stated that he had intended to attend a Sunday evening service at the Sandhill church. While the details of the incident are contentious, the court record nevertheless provides an interesting glimpse into the ‘larrikin element’ who commonly preyed on worshippers attending Launceston church services in the latter half of the 19th century. The testimony of Reverend Law and other congregants makes interesting reading:
“The Rev. W. Law was called for the defence, and stated that he sometimes officiated at the Sandhill Congregational Church, and the proceedings were very often greatly disturbed by boys making a noise outside the building, and he himself had been often greatly inconvenienced, and for several Sunday nights a constable had to be stationed by the door. Evidence was also given by Mr. T. Jackson, who was conducting service on the Sunday evening in question, when there was a great disturbance, stones being thrown on the roof and in the doorway, hats thrown in through the doorway, the disturbance being so great that he had to stop the service and ask them to be quiet. Two of the congregation went out to quell the disturbance, and it ceased. He had often been interrupted in the same way before. Mr. T. W. Richards, who was the first to go out from the church to quell the noise, deposed that when he went out the boys were throwing stones; one boy was on the fence; most of the others were outside; but some were inside; some of the boys were under Mr. West's verandah; he tried to pacify the boys, and they gave him impudence instead of taking heed to what he said, and the noise continued; Wm. Mason then came out and tried to drive the boys away from the building; and they ran away from the door and scattered about; he recognised one of the boys named Reilly; Reilly took a boy’s hat off his head and threw it into the chapel; when Mace came out Reilly was in front of the church; the boys then ran away to the middle of the road and gathered a fresh supply of stones, which they threw at Mace….”.
Mace was accused of assaulting Reilly, causing him to fall. However, it appeared that young Reilly had good form in trouble-making. The Examiner commented:
“After a patient hearing the case was dismissed, and it is to be hoped that these proceedings will be a lesson to the boys who seem to derive pleasure from disturbing the worship of others”.
However young Thomas Reilly seems not to have learnt his lesson. In September 1884 he was back before the courts charged with attempting to set fire to Mr West’s store which was adjacent to the chapel. The store was used as a venue for a tea-meetings following services at the chapel. The Examiner reported:
“Thomas Reilly, who was charged on remand at the Police Court yesterday, with having attempted to set fire to a store or the Wellington-road, the property of Mr. E. West, was fully committed for trial. A little boy named Tattersall, only nine years of age, who gave his evidence in a very clear and straightforward manner, saw the prisoner throw straw on the candle. This should be a lesson to a number of boy who take a delight in disturbing public meetings, and perpetrating acts of larrikinism. Parents are greatly to blame, but probably this - will also be a lesson to them not to spare the rod and spoil the child.”
The outcome of the case for Reilly is unclear. It was rumoured that he was responsible for setting another fire in Kings Meadows but this was never proved. Reilly does not reappear in the Police Court records after 1884 so it might be assumed that the boy finally learnt his lesson.
The chapel remained in use until 1905. In that year the Sandhill Presbyterian church was established and rented the building for services until a Presbyterian church could be built in neighbouring Wilson Street. [See No. 93] However, disaster struck in March 1905 when the chapel was badly damaged from a fire that broke out in a neighbouring building. The Daily Telegraph reported:
“When residents of South Launceston first observed clouds of smoke rising from the south-western part of the suburb before 5 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, little notice was taken of the matter. The idea entertained was that the smoke was from a pottery or some rubbish burning in the vicinity. Even, when the Sandhill bell pealed out, it was at first believed by residents that the brigade were being summoned on another fool's errand, for lately false alarms have been rung for gorse burning in South Launceston”.
“Unfortunately, the surmise proved incorrect. The fire was a serious one. It completely razed to the ground a large wooden building occupied by Mr W. Huston, in connection with his general store at the corner of Wilmot-street and the Wellington-road….From the time the outbreak was first discovered till the brigade arrived on the scene it is estimated that something like 20 minutes elapsed….When the roof of the store fell in the flames spread to the Presbyterian church, a wooden building close by. The fire worked its way under the iron roof, a portion of which had to be removed and more loosened by the firemen. Even then it was no easy task to get at the fire, but, after a plucky and risky fight, the men were successful in confining the fire to one side of the church. This building is insured, also the organ, and other furniture, belonging to the Sunday-school and Good Templar Lodge….”.
It appears that the building was not restored and may have been demolished. It is unlikely that a photograph of the building exists. A photograph of the McHughs Pottery, taken in the 1920s, shows a weatherboard building which may have incorporated remnants of the old school and chapel. In recent years the site of the chapel has been occupied by a second hand car business and is presently used by “Guerilla Espresso”.
Sources:
Launceston Examiner, Thursday 22 August 1861, page 2
Launceston Examiner, Saturday 1 March 1862, page 3
Launceston Examiner, Thursday 18 December 1862, page 5
Launceston Examiner, Tuesday 23 December 1862, page 4
Launceston Examiner, Saturday 30 May 1863, page 5
Launceston Examiner, Tuesday 25 December 1866, page 4
Launceston Examiner, Tuesday 24 December 1867, page 3
Launceston Examiner, Tuesday 19 September 1882, page 2
Launceston Examiner, Tuesday 19 December 1882, page 2
Launceston Examiner, Friday 22 December 1882, page 2
The Tasmanian, Saturday 6 January 1883, page 23
The Tasmanian, Saturday 20 October 1883, page 20
Launceston Examiner, Thursday 8 November 1883, page 1
Daily Telegraph, Saturday 12 April 1884, page 3
Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 4 June 1884, page 3
Daily Telegraph, Saturday 7 June 1884, page 3
Launceston Examiner, Saturday 7 June 1884, page 3
Launceston Examiner, Tuesday 2 September 1884, page 3
Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 2 September 1884, page 2
Launceston Examiner, Friday 5 September 1884, page 2
Tasmanian, Saturday 6 September 1884, page 12
Launceston Examiner, Monday 20 April 1885, page 2
Daily Telegraph, Thursday 24 December 1885, page 3
Launceston Examiner, Friday 5 November 1886, page 2
Launceston Examiner, Tuesday 17 March 1991, page 2
Launceston Examiner, Saturday 27 October 1894, page 7
Launceston Examiner, Monday 28 June 1897, page 5
Examiner, Monday 27 March 1905, page 4
Daily Telegraph, Monday 27 March 1905, page 5
Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 8 November 1905, page 2
Examiner, Thursday 1 April 1926, page 4
The chapel was established as a “Sabbath School” in 1862 as an outreach of Christchurch Congregational Church on Frederick Street. Under the leadership of of Reverend William Law, Congregational chapels and Sunday schools were also established at Prospect [See No. 75 ] and Rosevale [See No. 363]
The Sandhill chapel’s opening in December 1862 is recorded in the Launceston Examiner:
“On Sabbath afternoon last this building was opened by a public religious service, and notwithstanding a heavy torrent of rain falling at the time, nearly 100 persons, including the school [children], were assembled. The Rev. Wm. Law preached a good practical sermon, and the children sung several of their sweet melodies with admirable effect. A public tea-meeting was held next day, at which the Hon. W. S. Button, Esq., presided. Upwards of 80 persons partook of an excellent tea, generously provided by the ladies. Addresses were delivered by the Rev. Wm. Law and Messrs. C. E. Button Sen., Woodhill, Sinclair, West, and others. The proceeds of the tea and the collection of the previous Sabbath are applied to the building fund”.
“The building itself is a neat and suitable structure, 30 x 17, and with the surrounding fence and outbuildings cost about £70. It is vested in trustees, and is the property of the Congregational Church, St. John-square. The Sabbath School connected with it was formed by the Town Missionary two years since. The gradual increase required the enlarged accommodation now afforded. Day and evening schools are contemplated; and thus an amount of sound and useful instruction will be available to a much neglected class in the neighbourhood. On Tuesday the Sabbath School received their annual treat. The children met for recreation in Mrs. Ellis's paddock, Mulgrave-street, and were afterwards regaled with the usual refreshments in the new building”.
As indicated in the Examiner’s report, the school had been established by the Town Mission as a “ragged” or “free Sunday-school”, similar to the school established at the Bethel Chapel on the New wharf which had opened in the previous year. [see No. 368]. With the involvement of Congregationalists after 1862, the Sandhill Sunday school was also used as a place of worship. From the 1880s it it was referred to in local newspapers as the “Sandhill Chapel” or the “Sandhill Sunday school”. An 1891 map of Launceston marks its location simply as “school”.
In 1867 the Congregational Church records reveal that 46 boys and 52 girls attended the school with an average attendance of 50 in the morning and 53 in the afternoon services. These numbers were more or less maintained until the 1890s.
In 1883 the building was renovated with the addition of a platform (stage), a porch and new seating. In the 1880s building was regularly used for religious services and also as a hall for public meetings. A survey of the newspaper record reveals gatherings held by the YMCA as well as temperance organisations such as the Blue Ribbon Movement and was the venue for meetings of the Independent Order of Good Templars. Religious services led by the Town Missionary continued to be held well into the 1890s.
The chapel features prominently in a number of reports in the 1880s concerning the activities of ‘larrikins’, who over a number of years interrupted services and caused a general nuisance in the neighbourhood.
In 1884 an aggrieved Sandhill resident wrote to the Daily Mail complaining:
“Of late the larrikins have been increasing in their mischievous habits, emboldened, I presume, by the absence of the police, until at last their conduct has become unbearable. Not content with annoying the shopkeepers and their customers on business nights, they continue their annoyance on Sunday evenings to the great discomfort, and sometimes danger, of those who attend the Sandhill Congregational Chapel. Last Sunday they went as far as to hang a stone attached to a length of thread, on to the chapel door, and were pulling it for some time, until the cause of the knocking was found out. They also placed laths or strips of paling in the fence close to the ground, and projecting over the pathway, which would have had the effect of tripping some of the congregation when leaving had they not been discovered in time. It is a great reproach to the locality that peaceful members of the community cannot attend a place of worship without being insulted and interrupted during the progress of the service by such a band of hoodlums as assembled last Sunday evening…”.
More seriously, an alleged “unlawful assault” took place outside the chapel in June 1884. The details of the incident are captured by the Examiner’s report of the Police Court proceedings. It was claimed that a member of the congregation, William Mace, set on and kicked 15 year old Thomas Reilly, who stated that he had intended to attend a Sunday evening service at the Sandhill church. While the details of the incident are contentious, the court record nevertheless provides an interesting glimpse into the ‘larrikin element’ who commonly preyed on worshippers attending Launceston church services in the latter half of the 19th century. The testimony of Reverend Law and other congregants makes interesting reading:
“The Rev. W. Law was called for the defence, and stated that he sometimes officiated at the Sandhill Congregational Church, and the proceedings were very often greatly disturbed by boys making a noise outside the building, and he himself had been often greatly inconvenienced, and for several Sunday nights a constable had to be stationed by the door. Evidence was also given by Mr. T. Jackson, who was conducting service on the Sunday evening in question, when there was a great disturbance, stones being thrown on the roof and in the doorway, hats thrown in through the doorway, the disturbance being so great that he had to stop the service and ask them to be quiet. Two of the congregation went out to quell the disturbance, and it ceased. He had often been interrupted in the same way before. Mr. T. W. Richards, who was the first to go out from the church to quell the noise, deposed that when he went out the boys were throwing stones; one boy was on the fence; most of the others were outside; but some were inside; some of the boys were under Mr. West's verandah; he tried to pacify the boys, and they gave him impudence instead of taking heed to what he said, and the noise continued; Wm. Mason then came out and tried to drive the boys away from the building; and they ran away from the door and scattered about; he recognised one of the boys named Reilly; Reilly took a boy’s hat off his head and threw it into the chapel; when Mace came out Reilly was in front of the church; the boys then ran away to the middle of the road and gathered a fresh supply of stones, which they threw at Mace….”.
Mace was accused of assaulting Reilly, causing him to fall. However, it appeared that young Reilly had good form in trouble-making. The Examiner commented:
“After a patient hearing the case was dismissed, and it is to be hoped that these proceedings will be a lesson to the boys who seem to derive pleasure from disturbing the worship of others”.
However young Thomas Reilly seems not to have learnt his lesson. In September 1884 he was back before the courts charged with attempting to set fire to Mr West’s store which was adjacent to the chapel. The store was used as a venue for a tea-meetings following services at the chapel. The Examiner reported:
“Thomas Reilly, who was charged on remand at the Police Court yesterday, with having attempted to set fire to a store or the Wellington-road, the property of Mr. E. West, was fully committed for trial. A little boy named Tattersall, only nine years of age, who gave his evidence in a very clear and straightforward manner, saw the prisoner throw straw on the candle. This should be a lesson to a number of boy who take a delight in disturbing public meetings, and perpetrating acts of larrikinism. Parents are greatly to blame, but probably this - will also be a lesson to them not to spare the rod and spoil the child.”
The outcome of the case for Reilly is unclear. It was rumoured that he was responsible for setting another fire in Kings Meadows but this was never proved. Reilly does not reappear in the Police Court records after 1884 so it might be assumed that the boy finally learnt his lesson.
The chapel remained in use until 1905. In that year the Sandhill Presbyterian church was established and rented the building for services until a Presbyterian church could be built in neighbouring Wilson Street. [See No. 93] However, disaster struck in March 1905 when the chapel was badly damaged from a fire that broke out in a neighbouring building. The Daily Telegraph reported:
“When residents of South Launceston first observed clouds of smoke rising from the south-western part of the suburb before 5 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, little notice was taken of the matter. The idea entertained was that the smoke was from a pottery or some rubbish burning in the vicinity. Even, when the Sandhill bell pealed out, it was at first believed by residents that the brigade were being summoned on another fool's errand, for lately false alarms have been rung for gorse burning in South Launceston”.
“Unfortunately, the surmise proved incorrect. The fire was a serious one. It completely razed to the ground a large wooden building occupied by Mr W. Huston, in connection with his general store at the corner of Wilmot-street and the Wellington-road….From the time the outbreak was first discovered till the brigade arrived on the scene it is estimated that something like 20 minutes elapsed….When the roof of the store fell in the flames spread to the Presbyterian church, a wooden building close by. The fire worked its way under the iron roof, a portion of which had to be removed and more loosened by the firemen. Even then it was no easy task to get at the fire, but, after a plucky and risky fight, the men were successful in confining the fire to one side of the church. This building is insured, also the organ, and other furniture, belonging to the Sunday-school and Good Templar Lodge….”.
It appears that the building was not restored and may have been demolished. It is unlikely that a photograph of the building exists. A photograph of the McHughs Pottery, taken in the 1920s, shows a weatherboard building which may have incorporated remnants of the old school and chapel. In recent years the site of the chapel has been occupied by a second hand car business and is presently used by “Guerilla Espresso”.
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Source: Libraries Tasmania: Item Number -LPIC147-4-212 |
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A detail taken from a map of Launceston (1891) The map shows the location of the chapel and Sunday school between McHughes Pottery and Campbell's pottery. The original map can be seen HERE |
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McHughes Pottery c.1920s. The chapel would have been located in the vicinity of the weatherboard building on the far left. Source: QVMG Registration Number 1986:P:1066 |
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Daily Telegraph, Thursday 24 December 1885 |
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The site of the chapel near the corner of Wilmot Road and Wellington Street (Google Streetview) |
Sources:
Launceston Examiner, Thursday 22 August 1861, page 2
Launceston Examiner, Saturday 1 March 1862, page 3
Launceston Examiner, Thursday 18 December 1862, page 5
Launceston Examiner, Tuesday 23 December 1862, page 4
Launceston Examiner, Saturday 30 May 1863, page 5
Launceston Examiner, Tuesday 25 December 1866, page 4
Launceston Examiner, Tuesday 24 December 1867, page 3
Launceston Examiner, Tuesday 19 September 1882, page 2
Launceston Examiner, Tuesday 19 December 1882, page 2
Launceston Examiner, Friday 22 December 1882, page 2
The Tasmanian, Saturday 6 January 1883, page 23
The Tasmanian, Saturday 20 October 1883, page 20
Launceston Examiner, Thursday 8 November 1883, page 1
Daily Telegraph, Saturday 12 April 1884, page 3
Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 4 June 1884, page 3
Daily Telegraph, Saturday 7 June 1884, page 3
Launceston Examiner, Saturday 7 June 1884, page 3
Launceston Examiner, Tuesday 2 September 1884, page 3
Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 2 September 1884, page 2
Launceston Examiner, Friday 5 September 1884, page 2
Tasmanian, Saturday 6 September 1884, page 12
Launceston Examiner, Monday 20 April 1885, page 2
Daily Telegraph, Thursday 24 December 1885, page 3
Launceston Examiner, Friday 5 November 1886, page 2
Launceston Examiner, Tuesday 17 March 1991, page 2
Launceston Examiner, Saturday 27 October 1894, page 7
Launceston Examiner, Monday 28 June 1897, page 5
Examiner, Monday 27 March 1905, page 4
Daily Telegraph, Monday 27 March 1905, page 5
Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 8 November 1905, page 2
Examiner, Thursday 1 April 1926, page 4
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