Churches of Tasmania
A personal blog of photographs and histories of all churches in Tasmania - both past and present.
No. 1167 - Hobart - Swan Street Methodist Sunday School - "Child Culture of the Present Age"
This entry is another in a series of articles about buildings associated with some of Tasmania's most significant churches. These buildings include Sunday schools, parish halls, convents, schools and residences of the clergy. Ancillary buildings are often overlooked and are rarely featured in published histories. My aim is to create a basic record of some of the most significant buildings, including those which no longer exist.
The Swan Street Methodist Church opened in 1905 as a new place of worship for a congregation which had previously met in a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel on High Street (now Tasma Street). [see No. 966]. Plans were made to build the new church on Swan Street soon after the Methodist Union of 1902. Two foundation stones for the new building were ceremonially laid on Wednesday 7 September 1904. The church was officially opened on Wednesday 15 March 1905.
In 1913 the building of a Sunday school began on a site behind the church. The foundation stone for the school was ceremonially laid on Saturday 18 October as reported in the Mercury:
"The ceremony of laying the foundation-stone of the new schoolroom of the Swan-street Methodist Church was performed by the superintendent of the Sunday-school, Mr G.W.R. Ife, on Saturday afternoon. There was a fairly large and representative gathering. The scaffolding was artistically decorated with multi-coloured flags and the Union Jack, for the occasion. Both the children and the parents participated in the singing of specially chosen hymns. The Rev. L.E. Bennett officiated in the service, as also did the Rev. J. Williams…"
"Mr G. R. W. Ife, in laying the stone (which is in memoriam of the late Mr. G. W. Ife, who for many years was superintendent of the High-street Methodist Sunday-school), said the ceremony that day marked an era in keeping with the general principles of child culture of the present age. The old idea that anything was good enough for the children had been completely wiped out, but instead, people were at last beginning to realise that the very best facilities should be offered for their spiritual education….".
The school, which was a single story building, was constructed by Mr A.G. Brownell at a cost of £380. The building was opened for use in January 1914.
In 1922 an additional storey was added to the school at a cost of £800. The extension was opened on 23 July 1922. The Mercury reported:
"For some time past the junior portion of the Swan-street Methodist Sunday-school has been hampered by lack of space, and it was determined by the trustees to remedy this defect by building another room for this department of the work. In 1913 a room was put up at the rear of the church, for use by the kindergarten and primary scholars. The new junior school room, which is to be dedicated on Sunday morning, has been built over the top of the kindergarten schoolroom. It is approached by a short flight of stairs built out from the present building, in order to give the full benefit of space. Care has been taken to make the building worthy of the work for which it is intended. The front facing Elizabeth-street has been carried up and tastefully designed with a large leadlight window. The room is excellently lighted and ventilated, and will possess every convenience for a well regulated Sunday-school…".
The Sunday school building is now partly obscured by a modern extension to the church. The school rooms are currently used as church offices.
The Sunday school behind the church (2021)
The Swan Street Uniting (Methodist) Church (2021)
Mercury, Monday 20 October 1913, page 2
Mercury, Thursday 20 July 1922, page 6
Stansall, M. E. J. & Methodist Church of Australasia. (1975). Tasmanian Methodism, 1820-1975. Launceston, Tas: Methodist Church of Australasia
Welcome to Churches of Tasmania
I love history and photography and also have an interest in architecture. When I started this blog in 2017 I had the goal of photographing every historical church in Tasmania. This was initially driven by the proposed mass sell-off of Anglican churches. I was concerned that these buildings would be modified and no longer be accessible once in private hands. As the years have passed this goal has changed to writing short histories of each and every church built in Tasmania, of which there are about 1600. My earliest posts are rather amateurish but my research and writing has improved somewhat over the years. In time my hope is to revise and update every article to a publishable standard. I have received an overwhelming amount of material from followers of the blog and I will incorporate this into the articles in the revision phase. Eventually I hope to publish the best of the articles. At present the blog attracts about 1000 views per day and I hope that this will continue to grow.
No. 1058 - Strahan - St Finn Barr's Catholic Church (1900-2005)
Strahan is a small town on the west coast lying at the western end of the Lyell Highway. It was originally developed as a port of access for the hinterland mining settlements. The town was known as Long Bay or Regatta Point until 1877, when it was formally named after the colony's Governor, Sir George Cumine Strahan. Catholic services at Strahan were first held in the mid 1870s with mass celebrated in the local court house for almost 25 years. Construction of a church began in 1899 and was completed in the following year. St. Finn Barr's was officially opened on Sunday 10 June 1900 by Archbishop Patrick Delany. The ceremony was reported by several newspapers including the Zeehan and Dundas Herald: "A most beautiful day favoured the ceremonies in connection with the opening of the Roman Catholic Church today. The service commenced at 8 a.m., and at 11 high mass was celebrated. Long before that time the church was packed, and large numbers could not gain admission. The church had bee
No. 1205 - Hobart - All Saints' Anglican Church (1859) - "A perfect specimen of architecture"
The landmark All Saints Anglican church on Macquarie Street, South Hobart, is the second church built on this site. Following the creation of the All Saints parish in 1855, a 'temporary church', known as 'All Saints chapel', was erected as a place of worship until a permanent church could be built. [ see No. 575 ] In 1858 construction began on a new church. It was of an early English Gothic design by architect Henry Hunter. The building's foundation stone was ceremonially laid on Thursday 2 December 1858: "The ceremony of laying the first stone of the Church proposed to be erected in the Upper part of Macquarie-street took place, as announced in the Courier of yesterday, at three o'clock in the afternoon. The ceremony was performed by His Excellency the Governor, attended by the Lord Bishop of Tasmania, in the presence of a large number of ladies and gentlemen, ….The parish of All Saints, which was formerly included in St. George's parish, is fast increasing in population, par
images by Duncan Grant
7th Day Adventist
Assembly of God
Central Highlands
Chapel of Ease
Chinese Methodist Church
Christian Brethren
Christian Community Churches
Congregational
Coptic Orthodox
Former church
Free Church of Scotland
Free Reformed Church
Greater Hobart
Interdenominational
New Apostolic
North East Tasmania
North West Tasmania
Northern Tasmania
Northern Tasmania Islands
Plymouth Brethren
Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia
Primitive Methodist
Reformed Church
Russian Orthodox
Scottish National Church
South East Tasmania
Southern Tasmania
Ukrainian Catholic
United Methodist Free Church
Uniting Church
Wesleyan Methodist