No. 1605 - Barnes Bay - St Peter's Anglican Church (1968-2015)

Barnes Bay is a small settlement on the northern end of Bruny Island. Barnes Bay was the site of the ferry terminal between 1954 to 1983 and also a quarantine station in the 19th and early 20th century. The settlement and bay is named after one of the first settlers on the island.

In 1845 the first Anglican church established at Barnes Bay and dedicated to St John. It was also used as a schoolroom. [see No. 1535] St John’s was replaced by a new church built in 1896 on a nearby site. [see No. 1543] The new church, dedicated to St Peter, served the Anglican community for a little over 70 years when it was burnt in the 1967 bushfires which raged across southern Tasmania destroying over 80 churches.

In 1968 St Peter’s was replaced by a new church, a modern cement block building which was dedicated by the Archdeacon of Hobart, the Venerable Ian MacDonald, on Sunday 15 December 1968. The foundation stone of the old church, along with that of St Mark’s Anglican church at Dennes Point [see No.1229], is incorporated into the wall of the new building. The church’s bell is dedicated in memory of John McDonald Reay Campbell (1911-1952), who was struck and tragically killed by a flying piece of stone while working in the Barnes Bay quarry.

Due to declining attendance at the church, St Peters was de-consecrated by the Anglican Church. In May 2015 the building and land was purchased by the Bruny Island Cemetery and Chapel Association Incorporated. St Peter’s was renamed as the Barnes Bay Chapel. As a non-denominational body the Association encourages the use of the building for various events including weddings, funerals, burials and other community events.


Photographer: Colin Chick

Photographer: Colin Chick

The cornerstone of the earlier church as well as that of St Mark's at Dennes Point - Photographer: Colin Chick



Sources and Further Information:

Henslowe, Dorothea I and Hurburgh, Isa. Our heritage of Anglican churches in Tasmania / by Dorothea I. Henslowe, 1978

The Mercury, Friday 25 July 1952 page

https://www.aaybee.au/BarnesBayChapel/About.html
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Campbell-30911


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