St John's Cathedral, Parramatta

About

St John's Cathedral is a heritage-listed, Anglican cathedral in Parramatta, City of Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. St John's was given the status of provisional cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney in 1969, and designated a Regional Cathedral in 2011 for the Western Region. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 5 March 2010. The current rector is Reverend Canon Bruce Morrison.

St John's Cathedral is located near Parramatta railway station and is the oldest church site in Australia in continuous use. In October 1788, soon after the first load of convicts arrived at Sydney Cove, Governor Arthur Phillip took a trip up to find the head of the Sydney Harbour ( Port Jackson ). Finding inhabitable land there he formed a settlement at Rose Hill (named after Sir George Rose the Under-Secretary of the Treasurer) and mapped out the bare bones of a town that extended from the foot of Rose Hill for one mile eastward along the creek. This place he named Parramatta as this was his interpretation of the name given by the first peoples to the spot on which the town is situated.

The Chaplain of the First Fleet, Reverend Richard Johnson, conducted the first Christian worship in Parramatta on 28 December 1788. Johnson visited Parramatta fortnightly and held services under a tree on the river bank near the present day ferry terminal at the end of Smith Street. The service on Christmas Day 1791 was held in a carpenter's shop near Governor Phillip's residence in Parramatta. By then, there were one thousand people living in the district and being ministered by Reverend Johnson.

In a letter to Governor Phillip dated 23 March 1792, Johnson states: "Last spring there was the foundation of a church laid a Parramatta. Before it was finished it was converted into a gaol or lock up house, and now it is converted into a granary. … I go up to Parramatta, as usual, once a fortnight the distance by water about fourteen miles."

On 10 March 1794, the Reverend Samuel Marsden, who had been appointed Assistant Chaplain, arrived in Parramatta and relieved Johnson of the care of these Western settlements.

In 1796 Marsden dedicated a makeshift building of two old timber huts at the corner of George and Marsden Streets (the site of the present-day Woolpack Hotel) as the first church building in the settlement. In a letter dated 17 September 1796 at Parramatta, Marsden wrote, "A convict hut is almost now ready for me to preach in at Parramatta, the first building of any kind that has ever been appropriated for that sacred use here since I came to the Colony."

On 14 September 1798, Marsden wrote about his first service in this church, attended by twelve worshippers. This reference has caused confusion to historians due to an editor's note (most likely erroneous) which states that this temporary church was "Built where St John's now stands."

In his book In Old Australia: Records and Reminiscences from 1794, Reverend James Samuel Hassall twice mentions the old timber church: "There had been a church, built of timber, at the corner of George and Macquarie (sic) Streets, but it was gone in my time, and a Court-house built upon the site..." and "At Parramatta, the services were held in a carpenter's shop or in the open air, until, on the first Friday in August, 1796, Mr. Marsden opened a church built out of the materials of two old huts. This temporary place of worship stood at the corner of George and Marsden streets."

The Rev. James Samuel Hassall was born in Parramatta in 1823 and lived there during his childhood, being educated at The King's School. He was the eldest son of Rev. Thomas Hassall (1794-1868) and a grandson of Rev. Samuel Marsden (died 1838). Both James Hassall's father and grandfather were in Parramatta during its earliest days and undoubtedly James would have heard about these early times from them both. Hassall's first reference to the old church is a little confused. The streets aren't named correctly, with George and Macquarie Streets being parallel rather than intersecting. The second quotation correctly places the building at the corner of George and Marsden Streets. However Hassall's mention of a court house being on the site is not correct. From 1796 to 1895 the Woolpack Hotel and it predecessors stood on the north-east block at the corner of George and Marsden Streets so it is not possible that Marsden's timber church was on this site – it was already occupied by the hotel. This was the land, and not the church site, that was sold to the Crown in 1895 and a Court House built. The timber church was located across George Street on the south-east corner of the intersection, in fact where the hotel that bears the name Woolpack stands today. A convict hut was on this block in 1792 and part of this block was leased to the Rev. Samuel Marsden. It was on this site, and in this crude converted hut, that services were conducted Sunday by Sunday at Parramatta from September 1796 until Easter Day 1803 when the first St. John's Church was opened about 350 metres (1,148 ft) away at, what was then, the southern end of Church Street.

Governor John Hunter was a religious man and was concerned that there were no proper churches. On 1 November 1798, Hunter reported he had laid the foundation of a small church at Parramatta. It was later claimed that the foundation stone of St John's, the first brick church in Australia, was laid on 5 April 1797.

Foundations were also laid for a stone church at Sydney to measure 46 metres (150 ft) long and 16 metres (52 ft) wide. Preparations for "making a similar building at Parramatta of smaller dimensions" were reported. A Return of Public Works since October 1796 showed that by 25 September 1800, Hunter had "Erected an elegant church at Parramatta one hundred feet length and forty-four feet in width, with a room of twenty feet long raised on stone pillars intended for a vestry or council room." The Church was open but not complete in 1800. Work proceeded slowly, so when a number of "glaring untruths" were published by "some persons in the Colony for sinister ends," apparently including the suggestion that there was already a church in Sydney, Governor King was prompted to set the record straight in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks on 21 August 1801: "Nor have we an Elegant stone Church built at Sydney…- one of brick and stone will be finished in the course of the year at Parramatta and the foundation of one at Sydney is just begun."

In 1802, David Collins published a "Plan & Elevation of a Church Built at Parramatta [sic] New South Wales during the Government of John Hunter Esqr 1800."

Governor King proclaimed the two first parishes in the colony on 23 July 1802 being St Phillip's, Sydney and St John's, Parramatta. On 9 November 1802 he declared that the church being built at Parramatta would be named as St John in honour of the former governor, John Hunter. The new St John's was opened on 10 April 1803 when Reverend Marsden performed Divine Service for the first time, with a service based on 2 Chronicles c. 6 v.18. The church was described as being sizeable, handsome and well finished though the pews were to yet to be installed. The original Church was stuccoed brick and was more than likely built by convict labourers.

Governor King reported on 1 March 1804 that when he took control the church at Parramatta "was just covering in" [i.e. being roofed] but was now complete. A sketch of the Parramatta Church in the Banks Papers from 1807 apparently sent by Governor Bligh was inscribed "Parramatta Church, built of brick and in a very bad state; unfinished in the inside – Stands in a Swamp." The last notation may explain why there were problems with the stability of the church. Construction of a brick barrel drain from the 1820s onwards from the market place opposite the church (now the site of Parramatta Town Hall ) to the river greatly improved the drainage of this vicinity. Continuing problems with the church were reported over the next few years.

Andrew Houison claimed that the vestry fell down though did not know when this occurred. No other reference to this event can be found but, on 1 August 1810, Governor Macquarie instructed Lieutenant Durie, commandant at Parramatta, to detail Richard Rouse to make temporary repairs to the church, as directed by Marsden, that could be completed "with little labour and Expense." Durie instructed Rouse to do this within the next few days. In 1812, James Harrax was paid £110 for "Repairs" to the church. From 1 October to 31 December 1813, repairs to St John's to the value of £431/3/4 were completed.

Between 1817 and 1819, a facade incorporating twin towers topped with spires was added at the western end where the vestry had been. Made out of brick, the facade, towers and spires were copied from those of St Mary's Church, Reculver, in Kent, England: that church was founded in the 7th century, the towers were added in the 12th, and the spires by the early 15th. A campaign to save St Mary's Church was raging when the Macquaries left England. Elizabeth Macquarie showed Lieutenant John Cliffe Watts, aide-de-camp of the 46th Regiment, a watercolour of the church at Reculver and asked him to design some towers for St. John’s.

In an article in the Parramatta Historical Society Journal, Frank Walker refers to Watts’s drawing folder held in the State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, which includes drawings of the towers and spires; one of the drawings bears the watermark of 1813 and has Macquarie's initials written on it. Also in the portfolio is an excellent water-colour of St Mary's Church by Watts with a note in Macquarie's hand that he laid the foundation stone on 23 December 1818. Like the 1803 church, though, the rest of the labour on the towers, which were completed in 1819, was most likely the result of convict labour.

When listing achievements in the colony, Macquarie noted that at Parramatta he had "The Old Church repaired, new roofed, lengthened and greatly improved, inside and out, new Chancel and Spire being added thereto, the Outer Walls stuccoed in imitation of Stone, and the Church Yard enclosed with a neat Paling."

In 1821 a clock built by Thwaites and Reed of London was installed in the north tower, with a single clock face pointing north. The clock has to be wound manually, requiring an ascent of two flights of stairs. This clock is one of the oldest still functioning timepieces in Australia.

In 1902, Reverend James Samuel Hassall, published his book In Old Australia, Records and Reminiscences from 1794, in which he gives the following description of this church: