Churches of Tasmania

Waratah is a former mining town located approximately 80 kilometres south of Burnie. Waratah was briefly the site of the largest tin mine in the world. The town had its beginnings in 1871 when James "Philosopher" Smith discovered tin at Mount Bischoff. The population of Waratah reached 2500 at its peak but is now under 300. The town was once was connected to the Emu Bay Railway by a branch line, which was opened in 1885 then closed in 1940. Six religious denominations were established at Waratah including St Joseph’s Catholic church. In 1903 Launceston’s Daily Telegraph’s “Special Travelling Representative” visited Waratah and described a town which was near the peak of its prosperity: “The township itself does not possess any striking characteristics, beyond those met with in the ordinary bush mining towns, that is so far as buildings and such like are concerned; but as regards climatic peculiarities, then it has decidedly characteristic. Wind and rain there are particul...

Natone is a small rural community near the junction of the Stowport and Camena Roads, approximately 20 kilometres south of the city of Burnie. The Natone district once had two churches, a Methodist church at Upper Natone and St Michael’s Anglican church at Natone village. From about 1905 Anglican services were held at the Natone State school. This changed in 1919 following an off-the-cuff remark made during a Sunday service: “The Rev. W.G. Thomas on Sunday preached there for the first time since his appointment to this parish, and during the service mention was made of the purchase of a wooden church building at Wynyard to enlarge the Burnie Sunday school. Before the rector left Natone residents conferred with him, stating they were prepared to purchase the building and erect the same at Natone, and offered to pay the whole cost within three months. This offer was accepted by the rector, who thanked the deputation on behalf of the congregation for their devotion to the extension of ch...

Wynyard is a town on the North West coast approximately 20 kilometres west of the city of Burnie. The area around Wynyard was originally named Table Cape by the explorers Bass and Flinders. The name was changed to Wynyard in the 1850s, in honour of Edward Buckley Wynyard, Lieutenant-General of the New South Wales Corps. In his capacity as commander of troops in New South Wales, Van Diemen’s Land and New Zealand, Wynyard visited Table Cape in 1850-1. Wynyard’s Baptist Church is located on the corner of Hogg Street and Dodgin Street. The church was built in the early 1970s, replacing an earlier building, which is now the Baptist Hall. The Baptist church’s origins at Wynyard date back to 1905 when a branch of the church was established. In November 1905, Launceston’s Examiner reported: “An endeavour is being made to establish a branch of the Baptist Church in Wynyard, and a mission conducted by Paster Williamson has been carried on during the past week. The meetings have been fairly atte...

New Norfolk is a large town on the banks of the Derwent River approximately 40 kilometres west of Hobart. It is a historic town mostly settled by Norfolk Islanders soon after its establishment. When Governor Lachlan Macquarie visited the township he named it Elizabeth Town after his wife. However, it was later decided to adopt the name New Norfolk to acknowledge the new settlers. New Norfolk has been the home of at least 10 religious denominations since the area was settled over two hundred years ago. The Salvation Army had an early presence in New Norfolk and a group from Hobart visited the town as early as 1887. There are few records of the ‘Army’s’ early years in the town although gatherings took place in a building on Montague Street from 1911: “For many years prior to and during the Great War there was a group of the Salvation Army at New Norfolk, and much good work was done. The expense involved in maintaining the unit evidently proved too great, and the officers were withdrawn a...

Cygnet is a small coastal town situated about 70 kilometres south of Hobart. It is named after the adjacent bay of Port Cygnet which was 'discovered' by D'Entrecasteaux and named ‘Port des Cygne’ (meaning the port or harbour of swans). The settlement was known as Port Cygnet until 1895 when it was changed to Lovett. In 1915 the town’s name was changed again becoming Cygnet. In 1875 a ‘special correspondent’ for the Hobart Mercury published an article titled “The Huon District: Its Conditions and Wants”. The report contains a detailed description of the settlement at Port Cygnet including the religious life of the inhabitants: “The houses of Port Cygnet, nearly all built of wood, are somewhat scattered, but the nucleus of the township consists of some thirty or forty tenements clustered near the head of the bay, and containing, perhaps, a hundred and fifty inhabitants. Here all the business of the town is transacted. There are two hotels (one near the wharf, kept by Mr. Joh...

The historic colonial cottage located at 150 George Street Launceston was for a time used as a place of worship. After locating the building’s listing on the Tasmanian heritage register, I assumed that it was originally built as a chapel and later converted into a house. The register’s statement of significance notes that the building is an “early colonial cottage with previous residential and religious functions”. It is also states that the building was “originally used as a chapel”. However, the cottage’s status and function as a chapel is in fact relatively recent. The Launceston Examiner’s 1976 publication, “History in Trust”, a collection of newspaper articles on the city’s historic buildings, is a useful source of information about the building’s origins and use: “The land in this part of George Street…was granted to Geoffrey Eager, who arrived in Launceston in 1830….William Lachlan Jordan bought the land from Eager in 1834 and built the house, recently known as the Georgian Cha...

Claremont is a suburb of Greater Hobart. It is named after Claremont House built in the 1830s by Henry Bilton. Claremont was the home of an Army training camp during the Great War.  At the time the area had only a few scattered houses and a railway station in a largely rural setting. The first regular Anglican services at Claremont were held from about 1908 but were limited to four meetings a year. By late 1911 a Sunday school was established and within a few years the growing population was able to support the construction of a church. The ceremonial foundation stone laying ceremony took place on Saturday 5 July 1913. The event was reported by Mercury: “The Governor, who was accompanied by Lady Ellison-Macartney, and attended by Major Kerr-Pearce and Mr. George Browne, I.S.O.. laid the foundation-stone of a new Anglican Church at Claremont on Saturday, in the presence of a large number of people. The new church is being erected to meet the requirements of a rapidly-growing pa...

The history of a temporary church hall which briefly stood on Arthur Street in West Hobart is worthy of telling. Erected in 1919 as temporary place of worship, it was never consecrated and in fact was controversially demolished before it could be used! In 1918 a new parish was established in West Hobart, a developing and poorer part of the city. In late 1918, Reverend Thomas Gibson, the rector of the new parish of St Michael’s and All Angels, was presented with a unique opportunity to provide a temporary place of worship for his flock until a permanent church could be built. Gibson’s haste to open a hall, located at the intersection of Arthur Street and Hill Street, resulted in an extraordinary conflict between the Hobart City Council and the Anglican Church, which resulted in the buildings demolition. At the conclusion of the Great War, the temporary military camp at Claremont (north of Hobart) was dismantled. Amongst the buildings at the camp was a “hut” used “for church purposes”....

South Riana is a small rural settlement which is centred around the junction of Pine Road and Masters Road approximately 20 kilometres south of Penguin. The settlement began as a base camp for loggers and cutters before farming developed. At the close of the 19th century the Riana district was described by a correspondent for the Launceston Examiner: “…The district is a rising and most promising one. Riana is the southern portion of the Pine road, Penguin, and, has been opened up only within the last six or seven years… The soil is a good dark chocolate and black, and yields excellent crops. For the first eight miles from Penguin the timber is almost solely stringy bark, beyond that myrtle, sassafras, celery top pine, and blackwood are the most plentiful. The Dial Range is said to contain various minerals, but nothing of importance has yet been discovered…..The chief industries are farming and timber getting. Potatoes and oats are the chief crops”. South Riana once had two churches,...