Churches of Tasmania

The church in the photograph is better known as All Saint’s Anglican church. Its history was covered in an earlier blog entry. [see HERE] This short history will look at the period before 1919, prior to its purchase by the Anglicans off the Methodists. The original Wesleyan Methodist church was built at Dairy Plains in 1861. This building was badly damaged in a violent storm in April 1896. The Daily Telegraph provides a detailed account of the disaster: “A great storm passed over Dairy Plains on Friday morning at about 3 o’clock, alarming the inhabitants. Its greatest strength appears to have been concentrated in the vicinity of the Wesleyan church at that place, which was a small wooden building, and stood on an allotment of about half an acre, fronting on the Dairy Plains-road. The storm came down the valley from the direction of the Needles, and struck the church with terrific force, lifting it off its foundations, then overturning and tearing it into sections, which lie scatter...

In 1875 the first Methodist services were held at Mole Creek following the establishment of a Sunday school at the settlement. The construction of a church and schoolhouse began in late 1876. A report in The Examiner reveals Launceston businessman and philanthropist, Henry Reed, [who owned Wesley Dale near Mole Creek] had a significant hand in the project: “…Neighbours and friends interested in [the] Mole Creek Wesleyan Chapel provided a tea to raise funds for liquidation of a debt upon the building, that it might be opened free. By this means £10 5s was raised, leaving a deficiency of £10. This was subscribed, Henry Reed, Esq., giving, in addition to the ground and previous subscription of £5, another similar amount. Mr Reed expressed himself prepared to sign the necessary documents [to transfer the land], now that the conditions of the grant were fulfilled…” The church opened on the 9th December 1877. The correspondent for the Launceston Examiner wrote: “The opening service was ...

The township of Lefroy lies 15 km east of George Town on the north east coast of Tasmania. Lefroy is now a virtual ghost town having at its peak a population of about 4000 which has now declined to 77 (2016 Census). It was originally called Nine Mile Springs, a reference to the distance to George Town and the existence of springs in the vicinity. The George Town and District Historical Society’s booklet on Lefroy provides the following information: “The settlement moved to its present site in the mid 1870s following the development of the Native Youth reef. Known by the locals as Excelsior, after the original mine on the site, it was named Lefroy in 1881 after the visit by the Acting Governor, Sir Henry Lefroy. It was a bustling town which is said to have contained 5,000 people in its peak boom period of 1890-95. It was the fourth largest town in Tasmania. It had a race track, rifle club, cricket club and brass band. There were six hotels, three churches, a state and private grammar ...

The first Methodist church at Glenorchy opened in 1831 at O’Brien’s Bridge  [No. 298] , about 200 metres from the present church. After the new church opened, the O’ Brien’s Bridge chapel was used as a Methodist Sunday school until 1958. Mr John Hallam, who donated the land for the new church, laid the foundation stone on 16th April 1910. The building was completed and opened on 5th October 1910. The Hobart Daily Post reported on the services and provides a short description of the church: “The church is a most handsome structure of brick with a seating capacity of 150…the windows are of stained glass, made to the designs of Rev. Vawdon by the Trowbridge Brothers of Hobart… Most of them have been given as memorial windows and are so inscribed”. The memorial windows were casualties of a bout of hooliganism in 1917. Around the time of the Great War, Glenorchy was still a rural settlement on the fringe of Hobart and evidently an area of some poverty. There are frequent reports of f...

The town of Kempton, 50km north of Hobart, is named after Anthony Fenn Kemp, a pioneering merchant and grazier. Kempton was originally called Green Water Holes, but by the 1820’s it became known as Green Water Ponds, before being shortened to Green Ponds. It was renamed Kempton in 1895. The Congregational Church was built in 1840 by the Van Diemen's Land Missionary Society at a cost of £500. The ‘Green Pond’s Congregational chapel opened on Good Friday, April 17th 1840 with services held in the morning, afternoon and evening. The church was founded by Reverend Joseph Beazley, a “bush missionary” who first visited the district in about 1835 holding services in a private house before securing the use of a schoolroom. Beazley settled at Green Ponds in January 1838 and used it as a base to help establish Congregational chapels at Bagdad, Tea Tree and Richmond. An information sign outside the church provides a few additional points of interest: “A Sabbath school was instituted, for ...

The former Richmond Hill Methodist church was situated at Kayena on the Tamar River. Kayena had previously been known as Richmond Hill, hence the name of the church. In November 1914, the Methodist synod granted permission for the removal of a church at Beauty Point to Richmond Hill. The Beauty Point Church had in fact been a classroom at Beaconsfield and had been removed at the end of the mining boom. In 1915, a team of bullocks transported the church for the second time to its final location at Richmond Hill. In Max Stansall’s Tasmanian Methodism, he makes mention of the church’s organ and a memorial tree. “At the outset the Church had no organ, but a Mr Whitfield, who often holidayed in the district, would have his organ strapped to his back and carry it a mile to provide music for the services of worship….” Stanall adds: “In 1947 a silver weeping birch was planted in memory of John Graham who was a pioneer of work here”. When the church was sold, the bronze plaque on the birch t...

The Lutheran Church of Australia is the major Lutheran denomination in Australia and New Zealand. It has 450 congregations and 70,000 members according to official statistics as of 2013. The first Lutherans to come to Australia in significant numbers were the immigrants from Prussia, who arrived in 1838 following the persecution of "Old Lutherans" who refused to join the Prussian Union, under King Frederick Wilhelm. Some 20,000 German Lutherans migrated to South Australia between 1838 and 1860. Tasmanian Lutheran communities were established from the late 1940’s following migration to the State after the Second World War. There are four Lutheran congregations in Tasmania. In the early fifties, services were conducted once a month, in German and English. Early services were held in private homes and later services were moved to St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and then the side chapel at St John’s Anglican Church. Ten years after the Launceston congregation was formed, Past...

Lieutenant-Governor Arthur laid the foundation stone of the ‘convict church’ on April 25, 1836. A convict named ‘Mason’ was credited with having designed the church but research has revealed that is in fact the work of colonial architect, (and convict forger) James Blackburn. The church was constructed using convict labour and built with stonework that had been prepared at the boys’ prison at Point Puer. A 50ft wooden spire was painted to resemble stonework and this was sprinkled with crushed sandstone to enhance the illusion. The tower contained a belfry with a set of 8 bells that had been cast at Port Arthur in 1847. These are purportedly the first bells cast in Australia. The first service was conducted in 1837 although the church was still incomplete with most of the windows unglazed. The church was never officially consecrated; partly because it was used by several different denominations and more probably because of Bishop Nixon’s opposition to convict transportation*. Convict...