St Barnabas Church and Cemetery, South Arm, Tasmania

About

Historic St Barnabas Church and Cemetery is located in Tasmania, Australia. Built on a hill that sits above Half Moon Bay, it overlooks the shipping lines and sailing regattas on the Derwent River. St Barnabas is the parish church in the outer Hobart suburb of South Arm.

South Arm is located on a peninsula that is acknowledged as the traditional land of the Aboriginal Tasmanian Palawa people. The ancient middens in the area testify to their great affinity with the land.

Tasmania was founded by the British as a convict colony in 1788. By 1804, land grants were given out to free settlers, to convicts whose sentences were completed, and to military personnel. The grants for Tasmania were managed from Sydney until just after Tasmania was separated from New South Wales in 1825.

Main article: William Gellibrand (settler) William Gellibrand arrived in Hobart from England in 1824 and was appointed a Justice of the Peace. He received the first land grant of 2220 acres at Arm End along with ten convicts. He was known for the care and respect he gave his convict servants.

He provided them with a comfortable hut and clothing that did not distinguish them as prisoners. Thus, he gave them a fresh start, giving them the opportunity to raise families and contribute to the founding of the farm community at South Arm.

William built a large home on the northern end of the South Arm peninsula known as "Arm End". It was constructed of convict-made bricks on a stone foundation. He planted mulberry, walnut, chestnut and plum trees. His grave vault is still to be found at the former location of Spit Farm. As Attorney General of Tasmania, he managed to reform the legal system in the colony.

When his grandfather died in 1840, George Henry Blake Gellibrand took over the land leases. In 1851 he offered land leases to Christopher Calvert, and also to other farmers as they moved into the area, and pardoned convicts, who were later able to purchase the farms they established. This important social change established a democratic way of life.

GHB Gellibrand built his home on the corner of Bezzants Rd, at the foot of the hill where St.Barnabas is situated today. The Rev Joseph Tice Gellibrand conducted church services in the open air and when the small Schoolhouse was built in 1854 he held the services in the school.

Small as they were in numbers, the settlers of South Arm achieved much. It was a period when many were trying to establish the farms and orchards throughout the district. Life would have been hard as much of the peninsula was still heavily covered with trees that had to be cleared before crops could be sowed. The Mercury reports from that time mention the names of well-known families that appear on several occasions, describing how the families lived and developed their farms to become the best on the peninsula, Travel was by the waterways around South Arm and most farmers had a small boat to transport the produce to Hobart.

The produce was also sent to Hobart markets by barges, and the only means of getting the produce onto the barges was by punts, which needed to be taken out a considerable distance. This caused several drownings and a request was made to build a pier. Some gravestones at St.Barnabas indicate these unfortunate untimely deaths.

These families still have some descendants living in the area. St.Barnabas was central in their lives. The South Arm community raised the money to build the church in 1893, and both the church and the Gellibrand Fellowship Hall have been in continuous use ever since.

On 17 December 1878, the Lord Bishop of Tasmania visited the Missionary Station of South Arm in the district of Clarence Plains for the purpose of holding a confirmation. On arriving at Musk Beach he was met by the Rev R. Wilson. The Mercury of the day discussed the lack of a clergyman in South Arm.

Main article: William Gellibrand (settler) William Gellibrand arrived in Hobart from England in 1824 and was appointed a Justice of the Peace. He received the first land grant of 2220 acres at Arm End along with ten convicts. He was known for the care and respect he gave his convict servants.

He provided them with a comfortable hut and clothing that did not distinguish them as prisoners. Thus, he gave them a fresh start, giving them the opportunity to raise families and contribute to the founding of the farm community at South Arm.

William built a large home on the northern end of the South Arm peninsula known as "Arm End". It was constructed of convict-made bricks on a stone foundation. He planted mulberry, walnut, chestnut and plum trees. His grave vault is still to be found at the former location of Spit Farm. As Attorney General of Tasmania, he managed to reform the legal system in the colony.

When his grandfather died in 1840, George Henry Blake Gellibrand took over the land leases. In 1851 he offered land leases to Christopher Calvert, and also to other farmers as they moved into the area, and pardoned convicts, who were later able to purchase the farms they established. This important social change established a democratic way of life.

GHB Gellibrand built his home on the corner of Bezzants Rd, at the foot of the hill where St.Barnabas is situated today. The Rev Joseph Tice Gellibrand conducted church services in the open air and when the small Schoolhouse was built in 1854 he held the services in the school.

Small as they were in numbers, the settlers of South Arm achieved much. It was a period when many were trying to establish the farms and orchards throughout the district. Life would have been hard as much of the peninsula was still heavily covered with trees that had to be cleared before crops could be sowed. The Mercury reports from that time mention the names of well-known families that appear on several occasions, describing how the families lived and developed their farms to become the best on the peninsula, Travel was by the waterways around South Arm and most farmers had a small boat to transport the produce to Hobart.

The produce was also sent to Hobart markets by barges, and the only means of getting the produce onto the barges was by punts, which needed to be taken out a considerable distance. This caused several drownings and a request was made to build a pier. Some gravestones at St.Barnabas indicate these unfortunate untimely deaths.

These families still have some descendants living in the area. St.Barnabas was central in their lives. The South Arm community raised the money to build the church in 1893, and both the church and the Gellibrand Fellowship Hall have been in continuous use ever since.