St. Barnabas, Broadway

About

St Barnabas' Anglican Church, Broadway, is an Anglican church in the Diocese of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The church is located on Broadway, near the University of Sydney and University of Technology in the Sydney suburb of Ultimo. Commonly called "Barneys", the church is well known in Sydney for its church signs, including a celebrated "battle" with the publican across Broadway. The church would put up one sign and the hotel would have another with a witty reply to the church's sign. Some of the signs attracted the attention of the Sydney media.

Built by slum labourers in the Inner West region of Sydney, the foundation stone for the building was laid in 1858. Much later, some of the land in front of the church was sold and became the site of a commercial building in the Beaux-Arts style.

A fire ravaged the church building at 3.30 am on 10 May 2006. It took firefighters around eight hours to completely contain the fire. Destroyed in the fire were a 100-year-old pipe organ, a historic stained-glass window (valued in the media at over a million dollars) and memorials to parishioners who died in World War I.

The investigation concluded that the fire was probably started at the power box. No accelerants were found, indicating that arson was not a cause.

2010: demolition of old church building and rebuilding

The old church building was demolished in 2010 and the new building, designed by Sydney architects Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp, was opened in June 2012.

The new church building also houses a social community centre and creche. It was awarded a High Commendation (buildings of religion) at the 2013 World Architecture Festival in Singapore and the 2013 International Architecture Award.

A fire ravaged the church building at 3.30 am on 10 May 2006. It took firefighters around eight hours to completely contain the fire. Destroyed in the fire were a 100-year-old pipe organ, a historic stained-glass window (valued in the media at over a million dollars) and memorials to parishioners who died in World War I.

The investigation concluded that the fire was probably started at the power box. No accelerants were found, indicating that arson was not a cause.

The old church building was demolished in 2010 and the new building, designed by Sydney architects Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp, was opened in June 2012.

The new church building also houses a social community centre and creche. It was awarded a High Commendation (buildings of religion) at the 2013 World Architecture Festival in Singapore and the 2013 International Architecture Award.

Arthur Stace, a member of the congregation, attracted attention for writing the word " eternity " in chalk on the streets of Sydney from the 1940s through to the 1960s in a distinctive copperplate style. "Eternity" was featured on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the 2000 New Year's celebrations.

A documentary about Stace, called Eternity, by Lawrence Johnston was released in 1994.

R. B. S. Hammond began the weekly ritual of the St. Barnabas message board. His witty and often thought provoking messages were what made St Barnabas famous. Some include; "Drink and trouble are like petrol and fire", "Alcohol makes your mind stagger long before your feet do", "Do not nurse a grievance, teach it to walk" and "Divorce is the hash we make from domestic scraps". Continuing on the tradition was Robert Forsyth, who found that he had competition from Arthur Elliot, publican of the nearby pub, Broadway Hotel. The two noticeboards would often display subtle wordplay, including the following:

- St Barnabas: "This church is for sinners"

- Broadway Hotel: "This pub is for drinkers"

- St Barnabas: "Money does not make you happy"

- Broadway Hotel: "I'd rather be rich and happy than poor and happy"

- St Barnabas: "God made sex for marriage not for money"

- Broadway Hotel: "Wish he had made money for marriage"