Churches of Tasmania

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. The Church of the Epiphany is the second Anglican church built on Cape Barren Island. The history of the first church and the involvement of the Anglican Church in establishing an aboriginal mission is described in a previous article on ‘Churches of Tasmania’ which can be found on the link here: No.1590 - Cape Barren Island - Church at The Corner. By the 1930s the original church, built in 1893, was in a serious state of disrepair. In 1937 Reverend S.C. Brammall, the Flinders Island chaplain, complained: “If the wind blows before they go into the building…they do not go in”. Despite th...