Pilgrim Uniting Church is a church in the heart of the City on

Flinders Street, Adelaide Flinders Street is a main street in the city centre of Adelaide, South Australia. It runs from the northern end of Victoria Square to East Terrace, Adelaide. It is one of the intermediate-width streets of the Adelaide grid, at wide.

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. It is a church of the

Uniting Church in Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Union ...

Social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

, as articulated by the Uniting Church in Australia in the inaugural Statement to the Nation (1977), and the Statement to the Nation (1988) for Australia's Bicentennial celebrations, is at the basis of the church's work. Pilgrim offers music programs to the public, and has the largest organ in Adelaide.

History

Pirie Street Wesleyan Church

The congregation was originally at the Gawler Place Wesleyan Chapel. The first minister at the Pirie Street site was Daniel Draper. The first service was held on 19 October 1852.

William Bowen Chinner William Bowen Chinner (1850 – 2 July 1915) was a South Australian organist, choirmaster, teacher and composer. History Chinner was born in Brighton, South Australia, a son of George Williams Chinner ( – 27 May 1880) and his wife Caroline Chi ...

was organist and choirmaster at Pirie Street from 1869 to around 1899. His nephew Norman Chinner filled the same positions from 1939.

Stow Memorial Church

The first Congregational chapel in South Australia was a temporary structure on North Terrace.

George Strickland Kingston Sir George Strickland Kingston (23 August 1807 – 26 November 1880) was the Deputy Surveyor to William Light, engaged to survey the new colony of South Australia. He arrived in South Australia on the in 1836. Kingston was also the first Sp ...

was the architect for a building in Freeman Street (now Gawler Place), with the congregation then moving to the Flinders Street site. Stow Memorial Church, at 12

, was named in memory of the Reverend

Thomas Quinton Stow Thomas Quinton Stow (7 July 1801 – 19 July 1862), generally referred to as the Rev. T. Q. Stow, but also as Quinton Stow, was an Australian pioneer Congregational minister. Brian L. Jones,Stow, Thomas Quinton (1801 - 1862), ''Australian Dictio ...

, who had officiated at the first service in a tent on Adelaide's Park Lands in October 1837. The foundation stone was laid on 7 February 1865 and the inaugural worship service was held on 12 April 1867. The first minister was

Cadwallader William Evan Cadwallader William Evan ( – 21 August 1876), generally referred to as Rev. C. W. Evan, was a Congregationalist minister in colonial South Australia, the first to serve at the Pilgrim Uniting Church, Stow Memorial Church, Flinders Street, Adela ...

. The organist, who served for 45 years, was

James Shakespeare James Shakespeare (c. 1840 – 4 October 1912) was an organist in the early days of the colony of South Australia. History Shakespeare was born in Birmingham, England, the oldest child and elder son of Joseph Shakespeare, an engineer who claimed d ...

Union Church in the City

Pirie Street Methodist and Stow Memorial congregations united on 1 June 1969 to form the Union Church in the City. In November 1975 the church changed its name to become Pilgrim Church. The congregation joined the Uniting Church at its inauguration in 1977.

Buildings

Pirie Street

The foundation stone for the Pirie Street Wesleyan Chapel was laid on 15 July 1850. The church was designed by Henry Stuckey. Completion of the building, after Henry Stuckey's death in 1851, was under the supervision of Edmund Wright, After the merger of the two congregations the building was bought by the

Adelaide City Council The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of Sou ...

and demolished in 1976. Wright was also the architect of the Methodist Meeting Hall, located between the Pirie Street and Flinders Street churches. The hall was built in 1862 and is the only remaining part of the Pirie Street property and is now part of the Adelaide Town Hall complex.

Flinders Street

Stow Memorial Church, at 12

, had its foundation stone laid on 7 February 1865. It was designed in the Revival Gothic style. by Robert George Thomas, who was among the first colonists, arriving in South Australia in 1836 aged 16 years. Stow Hall, built 1872 alongside at 16 Flinders Street, has been a popular venue for amateur theatre productions.

Gallery

Organs

The organ in the Flinders Street building was initially installed in 1855 in the Pirie Street building with that from Flinders Street being sold to St John's Lutheran Church in Malvern. Improvements over the years have made it the largest organ in the state of South Australia.

Notable people

Pirie Street Methodist Church

* Henry Adams *

John Colton John Colton may refer to: *John Colton (politician) (1823–1902), Australian politician, Premier of South Australia and philanthropist * John Colton (bishop) (c. 1320–1404), statesman and cleric in Ireland *John Colton (screenwriter) John Colt ...

* Mary Colton *

John Langdon Bonython Sir John Langdon Bonython (;Charles Earle Funk, ''What's the Name, Please?'' (Funk & Wagnalls, 1936). 15 October 184822 October 1939) was an Australian editor, newspaper proprietor, philanthropist, journalist and politician who served a ...

*Daniel Draper * Benjamin Gould *Frank Hambly * John Hill * Henry Howard (Minister 1902–1921) *

James Wedlock James Wedlock (22 March 1842 – 30 October 1898) was an ironmaster in the early days of Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list ...

Stow Memorial Church

* Mostyn Evan *

Matthew Goode Matthew William Goode (born 3 April 1978) is a British actor. Goode made his screen debut in 2002 with ABC's TV film feature ''Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister''. His breakthrough role was in the romantic comedy ''Chasing Liberty'' (2004), for ...

*William Muirden *

William Parkin William Parkin (24 August 1801 – 31 May 1889) was a businessman politician and philanthropist in the early days of the Colony of South Australia History Parkin was a native of Glastonbury, near Barnstaple, and emigrated to South Australia on ...

* Arthur William Piper *

James Zimri Sellar James Zimri Sellar (4 November 1830 – 20 December 1906) was an Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly multi-member seat of Adelaide from 1905 to 1906 for the United Labor Party. Sellar was born in Vauxh ...

Thomas Hyland Smeaton Thomas Hyland Smeaton (15 July 1857 – 17 October 1927) was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1905 to 1921, representing the electorates of electoral district of Torrens ...

* Charles Todd * George Wright (1917–1975), a judge of the

Supreme Court of Western Australia The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of A$750,0 ...

, was the son of the Reverend George H. Wright, a minister at the Stow Memorial Church * William Roby Fletcher, minister, appointed 1876 *Alfred Depledge Sykes, minister 1904–1906 and 1907–1913

Pilgrim Uniting Church

*Judith Blake *

thea Gaia Born Dorothy Ivy Wacker, thea Gaia (stylised as thea) was the first female ordained as a Minister of Religion within the Congregational Church of Australia in Queensland. She has been described as the 'midwife' of Goddess spirituality in Austral ...

* Basil Hetzel *

Penny Wong Penelope Ying-Yen Wong (born 5 November 1968) is an Australian politician who has been Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate in the Albanese Government since 2022. A member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) ...

Laneway renaming

In August 2022, the

City of Adelaide The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of Sout ...

renamed the laneway adjacent to the church, formerly Pilgrim Lane, to Paul Kelly Lane, after Paul Kelly, a well-known musician who grew up in Norwood. This was the fourth such renaming by the council, to honour musicians associated with the city.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Uniting churches in South Australia Churches in Adelaide Methodist churches in Australia Congregational churches South Australian Heritage Register Gothic Revival architecture in Adelaide Gothic Revival church buildings in Australia