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Archive for the 'churches' Category

Building a church in a day – East Warwick

Monday, August 16th, 2021

(Image source https://www.flickr.com/photos/70994841@N07/47748828911)

The East Warwick Methodist Church was built in a day on 13 March 1915. It was probably a record for the construction of a church in Queensland.

The Warwick Examiner recorded the construction of the church.

For the first time in the history of Warwick a church was built in a day on Saturday. The need for a Church at East Warwick, where there are about 32 Methodist families, has made itself insistent, and it was decided that the only method of erecting it in a single day should be proceeded with. The arrangements were left in the hands of Mr. D. J. Hutchings, and he had command of any amount of voluntary labour.

At 6 a.m., on Saturday, the site was pegged out, and about 25 workers commenced operations. This number was soon added to, and it was quite a sight to see the men with spud-bars engaged in the arduous labour of sinking the post-holes. By 7.15 am all the blocks were in the ground and levelled, thus enabling Mr. G. P Barnes to perform the stump capping ceremony. A halt was then called for breakfast, and at 8 am work was resumed. At about 10.45 the whole of the frame-work was erected, and the roof pitched.

Morning tea was then supplied, after which the floor and frame-work were made ready for the boards. After lunch work began in earnest. The workers, whose number had now been increased to 40, were divided into two batches. One commenced on the outside walls, while the second was engaged with the lining and ceiling.

The plumbers also started operations on the roof. About 5.45 a further halt was called, and the workers assembled outside the building, where a group photograph was taken by Mr. M. H. Poulsen.

Mr. G. P. Barnes took the opportunity to thank Mr. D.J. Hutchings, and his loyal band of workers for the wonderful amount of work put forward that day. It was, he believed, a record day’s work for Warwick

Thus, by 7.15 p.m., the new church stood erected and painted, wanting only a few minor details in the hardware line to be attended to.

The new church was erected at a cost of about £110, measures 26 ft. x 21 ft, and is constructed of hardwood weather boards on the outside, being fully lined and ceiling inside. Ventilation has been amply provided for, there being no less than nine awning windows, while there is a large double door At the front and a smaller door at the back. The colour scheme in the bodv of the building is dark brown, the facings being finished in white. Occupying as It does, a commanding site on high ground, the new church is certainly a great tribute to the zeal and energy of the Warwick Methodists.

St Peter’s Anglican Church, Proston

Monday, April 25th, 2011

St Peter's Anglican Church, Proston

St Peter's Anglican Church, Proston

St Peter’s Anglican Church , Proston is a fine example of an interwar church with romanesque and modernist influences. Brisbane architects Lucas and Cummings were responsible for the design of this striking building.

Proston is a small town in the South Burnett and the church is located on a major intersection.

Location

St Paul’s Anglican Church, Talwood – appearances can be deceptive

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

St Paul's Anglican Church Talwood

Interior St Paul's Anglican Church Talwood

St Paul’s Anglican Church at Talwood in southwest Queensland does not seem on first appearances to be unusual or remarkable. But it is.

This was the first church in Queensland to be built that was unambiguously modern it is style and represented a clear break from the accepted Gothic or Romanesque. The architect was Edwin Hayes of the Brisbane firm Hayes and Scott.

The driving force behind the construction of the church was local pastoralist and chruch warden Arthur Warner. It was probably Warner who engaged Hayes and the reason why such a striking building was erected in a remote part of Queensland.

Just as remarkable is the interior with an elaborately carved rood screen and Italian crafted reredos. How these two pieces of ecclesiastical furniture came to be in a small rural church is a unusual story.

Warner was born in England and his parents had a house at Hyeres on the French Rivera. His father had been responsible for the construction of a Anglican Church in Hyeres prior to World War I. When Arthur Warner travelled overseas after World War II he became aware that some of the furnishings from the Hyeres church had been removed from the church during the war. Warner managed to obtain the rood screen and reredos and shipped them back to Australia. The rood screen was repaired by Harvey Bros, Brisbane and then installed in St Paul’s.

Location

Bundaberg Lutheran Church

Wednesday, May 24th, 2006

A church with a difference. Designed by Karl Langer, this Lutheran Church erected in the late 1950s is a prominent landmark in Bundaberg. The building is distinguished by two verses on the front wall, John 3:16 and 1 John 4:11-12.