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 Uni ...

Social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

, 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 Gawler Place is a single-lane road in the city centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It runs north to south from North Terrace to Wakefield Street, parallel to and approximately midway between King William and Pulteney Streets. ...

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 Chinn ...

was organist and choirmaster at Pirie Street from 1869 to around 1899. His nephew

Norman Chinner Norman Chinner LRSM OBE (7 August 1909 – 5 November 1961) was a South Australian organist and choirmaster. History Chinner was born in Malvern, South Australia, a son of Charles Williams Chinner (18 July 1866 – 21 March 1953) and Winnifred ...

filled the same positions from 1939.

Stow Memorial Church

The first

Congregational chapel Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

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 Spea ...

was the architect for a building in Freeman Street (now

), 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, 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. The organist, who served for 45 years, was James Shakespeare.

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 Pirie Street is a road on the east side of the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. It runs east–west, between East Terrace and King William Street. After crossing King William Street, it continues as Waymouth Street. It forms the souther ...

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 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 Robert George Thomas (16 February 1820 – 14 April 1883) was a draftsman and architect in the British colony of South Australia. He copied Surveyor-General Colonel William Light's original plan for the City of Adelaide and was later responsible ...

, 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 Malvern or Malverne may refer to: Places Australia * Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide * Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne * City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne * Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...

. Improvements over the years have made it the largest organ in the state of South Australia.

Notable people

Pirie Street Methodist Church

Henry Adams Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. Presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Fr ...

* John Colton * 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 Benjamin Apthorp Gould (September 27, 1824 – November 26, 1896) was a pioneering American astronomer. He is noted for creating the ''Astronomical Journal'', discovering the Gould Belt, and for founding of the Argentine National Observatory and ...

*Frank Hambly *

John Hill John Hill may refer to: Business * John Henry Hill (1791–1882), American businessman, educator and missionary * John Hill (planter) (1824–1910), Scottish-born American industrialist and planter * John Hill (businessman) (1847–1926), Austral ...

* Henry Howard (Minister 1902–1921) * James Wedlock

Stow Memorial Church

Mostyn Evan Mostyn is a village and community in Flintshire, Wales, and electoral ward lying on the estuary of the River Dee, located near the town of Holywell. It has a privately owned port that has in the past had a colliery and ironworks and was invo ...

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), f ...

*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 o ...

Arthur William Piper Arthur William Piper (5 July 1865 – 19 February 1936) was a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia History Piper was born at Faversham, Hertfordshlre, a son of the (Bible Christian) Rev. Thomas Piper, who arrived with his family from E ...

* James Zimri Sellar *

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 Torrens (1905–1915) and S ...

* Charles Todd *

George Wright George Wright may refer to: Politics, law and government * George Wright (MP) (died 1557), MP for Bedford and Wallingford * George Wright (governor) (1779–1842), Canadian politician, lieutenant governor of Prince Edward Island * George Wright ...

(1917–1975), a judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, was the son of the Reverend George H. Wright, a minister at the Stow Memorial Church *

William Roby Fletcher William Roby Fletcher (6 April 1833 – 5 June 1894), commonly known as Roby Fletcher or W. Roby Fletcher, was a Congregational minister and vice-chancellor of the University of Adelaide. Fletcher was born in Manchester, England. He was the son ...

, minister, appointed 1876 *Alfred Depledge Sykes, minister 1904–1906 and 1907–1913

Pilgrim Uniting Church

*Judith Blake * thea Gaia *

Basil Hetzel Basil Stuart Hetzel (13 June 1922 – 4 February 2017) was an Australian medical researcher who made a major contribution to combating iodine deficiency, a major cause of goitre and cretinism worldwide. Early life and education Hetzel was bor ...

Penny Wong Penelope Ying-Yen Wong (born 5 November 1968) is an Australian politician who has been Minister for Foreign Affairs (Australia), Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate (Australia), Leader of the Government in the ...

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 South ...

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