(PRESBYTERIAN)PRINCES HIGHWAY, TERANG A superb church which must be preserved at all costs. This is a magnificent church which would not be out of place as a provincial cathedral – indeed it is more imposing than some of the cathedrals of rural Australia. As a building it is a product of generosity and imagination. AsContinue reading “THOMSON MEMORIAL CHURCH, TERANG”
Tag Archives: Stone churches
ST GEORGE’S, GEELONG
(PRESBYTERIAN)CORNER OF LA TROBE TERRACE AND RYRIE STREET, GEELONG Closed and to all appearances forgotten. This is one of those mysterious cases where a church shuts its doors after a service and shut they stay without anything further happening. Time goes by and no attempt seems to be made to reopen the building or toContinue reading “ST GEORGE’S, GEELONG”
ST ANDREW’S, ROKEWOOD
(UNITING)FERRARS STREET, ROKEWOOD I spoke too soon. St Andrew’s Uniting, formerly Presbyterian, church at Rokewood was built in 1866, in bluestone with freestone dressings to a design by Alexander Davidson. The spire, with its unusual adaptation of a broach at the base and canopied upper openings, was added in 1905. The building is now forContinue reading “ST ANDREW’S, ROKEWOOD”
ST ANDREW’S, WILLIAMSTOWN
(PRESBYTERIAN)CECIL STREET, WILLIAMSTOWN A fine tower on an historic church. St Andrew’s is a substantial church with a tower of great dignity and noble proportions. It stands in well-kept grounds and looks, if one can say this of a building, rock solid. But the correspondent who suggested that I write about it told me thatContinue reading “ST ANDREW’S, WILLIAMSTOWN”
HOLY TRINITY, GREENDALE
(FORMERLY ANGLICAN)NAPOLEON STREET, GREENDALE Less than half a church, rescued from ruin. This church is not at risk, nor was it ever a completed church, but I include it as a curio of rural architecture. For 86 years it was one of the few genuine ruins accessible from Melbourne. Holy Trinity, or the “half church”,Continue reading “HOLY TRINITY, GREENDALE”
HOLY TRINITY, BALACLAVA and ELWOOD
(ANGLICAN)CORNER BRIGHTON ROAD AND CHAPEL STREET, BALACLAVA Palms give this substantial church the exotic air of an English expatriates’ church in the Mediterranean. “We’re asset-rich but people-poor,” announced an elderly lady I encountered when I looked inside Holy Trinity, Balaclava, and asked what the attendance was like on a Sunday. She might have spoken forContinue reading “HOLY TRINITY, BALACLAVA and ELWOOD”
MYRNIONG UNITING CHURCH
(FORMERLY PRESBYTERIAN)OLD WESTERN HIGHWAY, PENTLAND HILLS Closed as unsafe, though its congregation wants to repair it. “Position, position, position,” as estate agents used to say and perhaps still do. This tiny church occupies one of the best positions of any church anywhere. That will be its attraction when it’s sold to someone wanting toContinue reading “MYRNIONG UNITING CHURCH”
ST JOSEPH’S, BLAMPIED
(ROMAN CATHOLIC)MIDLAND HIGHWAY, BLAMPIED Left to the rats and bats. PLEASE SEE UPDATE BELOW St Joseph’s, Blampied, well illustrates the kind of church nineteenth-century rural faith was capable of building and twenty-first-century indifference doesn’t want to know about. It is a substantial bluestone building, very satisfying to look at in its solidity and proportions, andContinue reading “ST JOSEPH’S, BLAMPIED”
ST THOMAS AQUINAS’S, CLUNES
(FORMERLY ROMAN CATHOLIC)BAILEY STREET, CLUNES Unfinished but impressive, and sold because no priest was available. The existing building is the nave of what would have been a very imposing church, designed for a town that was a rich centre of gold mining in central Victoria. More than a thousand people attended the opening on 9Continue reading “ST THOMAS AQUINAS’S, CLUNES”
ST ANDREW’S KIRK, BALLARAT
(FORMERLY PRESBYTERIAN, THEN UNITING)STURT STREET, BALLARAT Its spire makes St Andrew’s Kirk the most prominent church in Ballarat. It is now closed and awaiting – what? Conversion into flats? Most of the churches to be described in this blog will be in Melbourne, but a few will be in other places that can be easilyContinue reading “ST ANDREW’S KIRK, BALLARAT”
HERE TODAY... 