Holy Trinity Anglican Church

About

Holy Trinity Anglican Church is a heritage-listed Anglican church at 68 Hawthorne Street, Woolloongabba, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Since 1869, three church buildings have stood on this hill top site. The current church was completed in 1930. It was designed by the architect Eric Ford, featuring Romanesque and Spanish Mission Revival style architecture. Its preserved original architectural features make the church a traditional wedding venue of inner Brisbane. The church was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 9 May 2008.

Woolloongabba is a densely occupied suburb of Brisbane, located 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south of the CBD. Prior to the arrival of European people, Indigenous Australians lived in the area. These were people of the Turrbal nation.

In 1825, the Moreton Bay colony, a penal colony, was established on the north bank of the Brisbane River. Free settlement in the colony by European people was allowed from 1842. From that time until the 1860s, the area south of the river that would become Woolloongabba remained an undeveloped stretch of wetland known as One Mile Swamp.

In 1851, land in the One Mile Swamp area was made available for private purchase. In 1864, a set of residential and business allotments, called the Clarence Town Estate, was sold by auction. Advertisements for the allotments cited the benefits of an uninterrupted supply of fresh water from One Mile Swamp; the development of transportation and mail routes through the area to places like Cleveland and Ipswich ; and the promise of a bridge across the Brisbane River.

In 1869, an allotment at Clarence Town Estate, atop a hill at Woolloongabba was donated to the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane by the Reverend Robert Gregory Creyke (born 9 June 1820, Yorkshire – died 11 February 1889, Cleveland, Queensland ). Creyke held multiple roles in the colony: he was a minister of the Church of England ; district registrar for Moreton Bay from 6 January 1860; and Queensland acting deputy registrar general. The deed of the allotment had been acquired in 1861 by his late son, also Robert Creyke, and Mary Ann Peterson. Meanwhile, a Church of England congregation had formed in the area. Its meetings and services were held in local buildings such as the Buffalo Hotel on the corner of Ipswich road and Hawthorne Street.

In 1870, a simple wooden church was built after a design by the Irish born, Australian architect, Richard Gailey (1834–1924). At this time, the church was called, Woolloongabba Church of England, South Brisbane. In 1873, the church was represented by Mr Robinson and children of the Sunday school at a meeting of the Church of England Sunday School Union in the City Botanic Gardens. This first church building blew down in a storm in October 1874.

A second church building was dedicated for service on 23 May 1875 by the Archdeacon Benjamin Glennie. It was known as Holy Trinity Church, Woolloongabba. It was built on a rectangular plan with a steeply pitched shingled roof and gables. Like the first church building, it was a rudimentary, timber structure. In their report of 1880, the Holy Trinity Churchwardens compared it to a woolshed. Improvements were difficult due to a lack of funds. The churchwardens went as far as raffling a chestnut horse in order to raise the monies needed. Eventually, the church ceiling was lined and a bell was installed. In 1884, a communion table was purchased.

The Reverend Hugh Thomas Molesworth (born June 1860, New Brompton, Kent – died 30 June 1930 Brisbane) was appointed curate-in-charge of Holy Trinity in 1886. At that time, Holy Trinity was a church within the Parish of South Brisbane but the congregation was growing. For instance, in 1886, the Holy Trinity Sunday School numbered 143 children and 24 teachers. Molesworth proposed the formation of a Woolloongabba parish, separate from that of South Brisbane. On 19 January 1888, the Holy Trinity Church of England Parish of Woolloongabba was constituted by the Brisbane Church of England Diocesan Council. Reverend David Ruddock (1850–1920) was appointed rector. He ministered at the church until 1893 and was replaced by the Reverend Hugh Simmonds.

In November 1889, a new wooden church hall and Sunday school were opened. The hall was designed by the Brisbane architect, John Henry Burley. It measured 66 feet (20 m) by 25 feet (7.6 m). By 1890 a rectory was constructed on the site to the design of diocesan architect, John Hingeston Buckeridge. This was in use until destroyed by fire in 1956.

On 4 November 1895, two men were executed by hanging at Boggo Road Gaol. Reverend Simmonds, Rector of Woolloongabba Parish, in which the gaol stands, attended to one of the men, an Aboriginal man called Jacky. The priest of Holy Trinity Woolloongabba, then Reverend W. P. Oakeley, also attended a condemned Aboriginal man called Billy Broom at Boggo Road Gaol on Monday 11 June 1900.

Parish life around the turn of the century was busy; there were services with large congregations (a record 154 communicants on Sunday 12 April 1903), weddings, social gatherings, concerts and activities such as amateur dramatics, debating and cricket and fund raising events.

However, on 28 April 1900, James Amos Drevesen (born 1879 – died 1954, Queensland), a 21 year old married man who worked carting produce from wharf to market, was diagnosed with Bubonic plague. He lived in a cottage at the lower part of Hawthorne Street, Woolloongabba. As authorities put in place quarantine measures, this street leading to Holy Trinity Woolloongabba was barricaded.

The year 1901 was notable for the death of Queen Victoria. Services of mourning, featuring black and purple, took place at Holy Trinity Woolloongabba.

In June 1906, a building fund was commenced to raise monies for a new and larger church building to accommodate Holy Trinity Woolloongabba's growing congregation.

In 1910, Edward VII died. The words of the Reverend D. J. Garland at the services of Sunday 8 May 1910 reflected the mood of the congregation. Garland said the King's death had "come with a suddenness which had been so shocking that it was impossible for anyone to speak calmly of the calamity which had befallen the Empire". Many of those present at the services were wearing mourning clothes. The Holy Trinity Women's Guild along with many other groups, delivered a wreath to the Brisbane mayoress at the town hall. Just one week later, Holy Trinity Woolloongabba celebrated the fortieth anniversary of its dedication.

In the first months of the Great War little changed at Holy Trinity Woolloongabba: Sunday services, weddings, fetes and fundraising continued. In mid 1915, well after the start of the Gallipoli Campaign on 25 April 1915, St Clair George Alfred Donaldson (Dr Donaldson), first Archbishop of Brisbane, sermonised at Holy Trinity Woolloongabba on the nature of the Christian spirit in war. Soon, priests, including Cecil Edwards, were leaving Brisbane to become military chaplains. Parishes were being asked to release their chaplains to accompany soldiers on troopships on full pay. Proceeds of fundraising went to the war effort and parishes were holding send-offs for men and women who were enlisting.

By September 1918, some men were returning to the parish. The rector, Cecil Edwards returned in January 1920.

In the following year, the global influenza pandemic, known as the Spanish flu reached Brisbane. Holy Trinity Woolloongabba church hall was a meeting place for organisation of care in the emergency.

In the 1920s, fund raising for a new church building at Holy Trinity Woolloongabba recommenced with a system of long-term subscriptions. A target amount of £ 5,000 was set. However, on the evening of Wednesday 11 December 1929, the church was destroyed by fire. There were no injuries. The source of the fire was not apparent. The claim to the Diocesan Fire Insurance Fund was £ 1,019.

Gerald Sharp, Archbishop of Brisbane, lay the foundation stone of the new church on Sunday 2 May 1930. Building of the new church was completed in September 1930. Bishop Batty dedicated the new church on Saturday 4 October 1930. A dedication festival took place on Sunday 4 October 1931 in the presence of the archbishop, Dr Sharp.