Churches of Tasmania

This article is one of a series about buildings associated with Tasmania’s historical churches. These buildings include Sunday schools, parish halls, convents, schools and residences of the clergy. Ancillary buildings are often overlooked and rarely feature in published histories. My aim is to create a simple record of these buildings, including of those that no longer exist. Westbury is a historic town situated approximately 30 kilometres west of Launceston. It was surveyed in 1828 and was developed as an administrative centre for the district. The first regular Catholic Mass held at Westbury can be dated to 1847 when the Government permitted Catholics to use the Colonial Hospital ‘for divine service’ for Westbury and the surrounding districts. In 1850, Bishop Robert Willson asked for a Government land grant at Westbury on which to build a church, a priest's house and school. This was approved on condition that the Catholics built the church as soon as possible. Father Hogan, who ...

Cape Barren Island is the second largest island in the Furneaux Group. It is situated at the southern end of Flinders Island and separated by the Franklin Sound. The island is also known as truwana, an Aboriginal word meaning 'sleeping water’. In 1881 Cape Barren Island Reserve was established for the descendants of Aboriginal women and European sealers living in the Furneaux Islands of Bass Strait. In 1871 the inhabitants of the Furneaux Islands petitioned Governor Charles Du Cane for a reserve and the exclusive use of the mutton bird rookeries. They received only two ten hectare blocks on Cape Barren Island for homesteads and agricultural activity. While the government accepted that the Islanders were a separate community it did not acknowledge that they had exclusive land rights based on their Aboriginality. From the 1870s the Anglican Church sought to increase its influence on the Islands and, following a campaign by the Islanders, with the support of the Church, the government...