Churches of Tasmania

Montello an inner southern suburb of Burnie situated on the Montello Hills between the city and Upper Burnie. The name comes from the hills named by the Van Diemen's Land Company. The Montello Community Church situated in Mace Street was opened in 1952 as the Montello Gospel Hall. I have not established which denomination the original church was affiliated with but from its beginnings in the late 1940’s it was a community focused church in the Evangelical tradition. In October 1952 the Burnie Advocate reported on the opening of the new Gospel Hall: “The opening services of the recently-completed Gospel Hall in Mace st., Montello, yesterday were attended by large congregations, representative of several denominations and the Montella Progress Association. The hall was built largely by voluntary labor. Services were conducted at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Prayers were read yesterday afternoon by Mr. O. A. Simpson and Mr. F. H. Atkinson, who conducted the meeting….In a welcoming speech, Mr. A...

In 1938 the Sheffield district lost two of its churches when both buildings were removed to the North West coast. In January 1938 Sheffield’s Presbyterian church was transported to Ulverstone where it became a Sunday school hall [ see No. 323 ] Five months later the Barrington Presbyterian church was removed to Gawler to become the McCulloch Memorial Church [ see No. 458 ]. The photograph used in this article was taken in the early 1960’s and shows the church at the new site on Gawler Road. This article provides a brief history of the church, which, few people will remember since more than 80 years have passed since its removal from Barrington. The foundation stone of the Barrington Presbyterian church was laid on Sunday 19 March 1893. For some years prior to this the Presbyterians had held services in the Barrington Wesleyan-Methodist Church [ see No. 512 ] and also in Mr Tuckworth’s Hall. The building was completed in less than 6 months and was officially opened on Sunday 24 Septe...

Mangana is a village in the Fingal Valley which in the 19th century was a significant mining boom-town. Gold was discovered here in 1852 but by the late 19th century declining yields resulted in the town experiencing a significant decline in population. Although there was a small revival in mining activity by 1930 the last mine had closed. At the time of the 2016 census Mangana had a population of only 36. Two Catholic churches were built at Mangana; the first, St Basil’s, was opened in 1869 by Father Michael Beechinor. The present church, which is still open, was built in 1912. There are no published descriptions of St Basil’s opening. However there is a detailed report in the Hobart Mercury from November 1884 relating to repairs to St Basil’s and its enlargement with the addition of a chancel and sacristy: “The little church of St. Basil having lately undergone repairs and been enlarged by the addition of a chancel and sacristy was solemnly blessed by the Bishop of Hobart...

Montello an inner southern suburb of Burnie situated on the Montello Hills between the city and Upper Burnie. The suburb's name comes from the hills mapped by officials of the Van Diemen's Land Company. The Coastlands Church was originally known as the Montello Baptist Church. The church began as a Sunday School established in the 1940s which was initially held in a “motor garage”.  The Montello Baptist Church was constituted as a church of the Baptist Union of Tasmania in July 1953. In 1957 the foundation stone for a church on Mace Street was laid on 8 June by the President of the Tasmanian Baptist Union.  The church was officially opened in the same year. An interesting feature in this church's history is that it is the first Tasmanian Baptist church to appoint an ordained woman as senior minister. In November 2017 Gwenith Alexander was appointed sole minister of the church, a position which she held until May 2021. Photograph: Duncan Grant 2019 Photograph: Duncan...

Burnie is a port city on the north-west coast of Tasmania. When it was first settled in by the Van Diemen’s Land Company in 1827 it was named Emu Bay. In the 1840’s the company's settlement was renamed Burnie after William Burnie, a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company. St Mary’s Star of the Sea is the second Catholic church built at Burnie. An earlier church, St Saviour’s, was built in 1855 in the centre of the town on the corner of Cattley Street and Wilson Street. In the year the church was built, Emu Bay was described by the local correspondent for the Launceston Examiner: “The settlement at Emu Bay is seldom noticed in the local papers and from its increasing prosperity it may be as well to give a short account of it.… It contains about four hundred inhabitants, exclusive of the surrounding districts of Wivenhoe and Table Cape, which have a large population.... There…[are] three Inns, one kept by Mr. Garner, is a first-rate hotel - a post-office, several stores and s...

Settlement of the district surrounding Deloraine dates back to 1825 when some of the first land in Van Diemen's Land became available through the purchase of government leases. Settlement was slow until the 1850s when the government started selling land outright for £1 an acre. This resulted in a dramatic increase in population which led to Deloraine becoming a municipality by 1863. St Mark’s Anglican church it is situated above the east bank of the Meander River and dominates Deloraine’s skyline. It opened in 1859 but it is not the first Anglican church built at the town. The first church opened in 1845 on a site on Emu Bay Road on the west bank of the Meander River. The year 1845 was a busy one for for Bishop Nixon the newly appointed and (and first) Bishop of Tasmania. In April 1845 Nixon opened a new church at Franklin Village which was followed by the consecration of St Matthias at Windermere the next day. Before the month was out he opened another church at Bishopsbourne,...

Occasionally I stumble across a ‘lost church’, that is a building which has slipped off the published record and has effectively become ‘forgotten’. While researching the Epping Forest Presbyterian church which opened in 1885, I came across a reference to an earlier Presbyterian church, the Eskvale Chapel, which served the Epping Forest region. Initially I thought that this may have been a reference to the Kirklands Chapel but a close reading of the record of a 1884 Presbyterian Synod meeting reveals precise information about this chapel’s location. The Synod was responding to a petition requesting the Eskvale Chapel’s closure: “The following petition was received : — The petition of the undersigned showeth — That the church at Eskvale is a considerable distance from Epping, the natural centre of population, and standing by itself is unprotected; and those who live between the church and the river Esk generally drive to church, and would find no inconvenience in travelling a...

Sheffield is a country town in northern Tasmania approximately 25 kilometres south of Devonport. The area was explored by the surveyor Nathaniel Kentish in 1842 who was trying to find a route from Deloraine through to the north west coast. According to J. R. Skemps’ ‘A History of the North West Coast’, in 1861 the first public house, the Sheffield Inn, was opened by James Poulett, a native of Sheffield in England. This is possibly the origin of the town’s name. The Salvation Army arrived at Tasmania in the early 1880s and first established bases at Launceston and Hobart. The initial reception to the ‘Army’ was hostile and sometimes even violent. This was a reaction to the raucous nature of the Salvation Army’s gatherings as well as middle class prejudice towards the working classes who were attracted to its meetings. Noisy recruiting strategies such street processions led by brass bands and mass open-air meetings were regarded as disruptive by the authorities. The Salvation Army’s rec...

Breadalbane is a small settlement situated on the Midlands Highway approximately 10 kilometres from Launceston. Breadalbane was named by Governor Macquarie after the Earl of Breadalbane, his wife's cousin. The word ‘Christadelphian’ means ‘Brethren in Christ’. The denomination was founded in 1848 by Dr. John Thomas (1805-1871), who broke from the Disciples of Christ. Christadelphian’s hold several beliefs that differ from traditional Christian denominations. They reject the doctrine of the Trinity and believe that Jesus Christ was a man. They do not mix with other Christian groups and have no interest in ecumenism. Members of this religion do not vote, do not run for political office, or engage in war. The word "ecclesia" is used by Christadelphians instead of church. Ecclesia is a Greek word usually translated as "church" in English Bibles. It also means "a people called out." Christadelphians communities are autonomous and they have no central gover...

Penguin is a coastal town situated approximately 30 kilometres west of Devonport. It was one of the last coastal towns to be settled in the 1860’s. The Victorian gold rush created a renewed demand for timber and consequently wood cutters and splitters settled in the area. The town was named by the botanist Ronald Campbell Gunn after the penguin rookeries that were once common along this part of the coast. St Stephen’s was the third Anglican church built in the old Forth and Leven parish which was created in 1868. The church that now stands at Penguin is substantially different from the original which was cut in half and incorporated into a new building. The first church was built in 1874 on land donated by Alexander Clerke. The Cornwall Chronicle’s report on the opening of St Stephen’s on 7 May provides interesting details about the appearance of the earlier building: “The opening ceremony at this newly erected edifice took place on Thursday, 7th inst., in the presence of a congregati...