St Brigids Catholic Church is a heritage-listed

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

at 11 Railway Street,

Rosewood Rosewood is any of a number of richly hued hardwoods, often brownish with darker veining, but found in other colours. It is hard, tough, strong, and dense. True rosewoods come from trees of the genus '' Dalbergia'', but other woods are often ca ...

City of Ipswich The City of Ipswich is a local government area (LGA) located within the southwest of Greater Brisbane, which in turn, is situated within the vast South East region of the state of Queensland. Positioned between the City of Brisbane and the Ci ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It was designed by Reverend Andrew Horan and built in 1909 by RJ Murphy with alterations in 1935. It was added to the

Queensland Heritage Register The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. As ...

on 21 October 1992.

History

This large elaborate wooden church was built in 1909–1910 and replaced an earlier, smaller St Brigid's Church, also of timber. It was designed by Reverend Andrew Horan of the

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

parish who also donated the cost of the foundations. It was built on the day-labour system under the supervision of builder and contractor, RJ Murphy. A substantial amount of the labour was gratuitously performed by local residents. Initially, Mass in the Rosewood district was celebrated in settlers' homes, and after 1875 in a room at The Rising Sun Hotel. This practice continued until the first St Brigid's Church was built in 1885. The locality was a prosperous one, with sugar, timber and dairying supporting the predominantly Irish and German population. The foundations of the second church were blessed on 13 December 1908 and the building, which could accommodate a congregation of 1,000, was opened for religious services on 13 February 1910 by Archbishop of Brisbane

James Duhig Sir James Duhig KCMG (2 September 187110 April 1965) was an Irish-born Australian Roman Catholic religious leader. He was the Archbishop of Brisbane for 48 years from 1917 until his death in 1965. At the time of his death he was the longest- ...

. Rosewood was the first country place in which, as a priest, Bishop Duhig had celebrated Mass. St Brigid's Church remained part of the Ipswich parish until the appointment of Father Timothy Kelleher as Rosewood parish priest in 1915. The interior of the northern wall was improved for the 1935 Jubilee Celebrations. Three stained glass windows by RS Exton & Co of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, and flanking murals on fibre supports by the important Queensland artist,

William Bustard William Bustard (18 April 1894 – 24 August 1973) was an artist in Queensland, Australia. His stained glass work features in many heritage-listed buildings. Early life William Bustard was born in 1894 in Terrington, Malton, North Yorkshire, Ma ...

, were added. A scroll on the diagonal boards of the lower central section of this wall was probably painted about this time. After 1951 this part of the wall, including the top lancet-shaped sections of the vestry doors, was sheeted. It was painted with a new mural, using a photographic re-assisted technique. The scrolls on the lower sections of the side chapels were probably painted about this time. An early altar table used to celebrate Mass in settlers' homes has been brought into the church. The altar rail gates, one of the

confessionals A confessional is a box, cabinet, booth, or stall where the priest from some Christian denominations sits to hear the confessions of a penitent's sins. It is the traditional venue for the sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran ...

and the

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

have been removed. The rib-and-pan roof was replaced after 1973 and the earlier dark weatherboards are now painted a light colour. Plantings on the main southern elevation and the bitumen roads either side of the church are recent. The place has been identified in the 1997 Expanded Ipswich Heritage Study as a place of cultural heritage significance to the community. Although the church building had been slowly leaning for many years, by 2020 it was deemed unsafe and required $3 million to make it level again. As at February 2022, the repair work had not commenced. Fundraising for a project to straighten and restore the church commenced in 2020.

Description

This is a large ornate weatherboard church. It consists of three flush

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s, the central one taller and wider, facing Railway Street. In plan it is a simple broad rectangle. Small gabled porches project at the front, and each side. At the rear, a skillion-roofed central section adjoins with gabled landings. The church is set on timber stumps, about high, with battening between. Roofs are of

corrugated iron Corrugated galvanised iron (CGI) or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America), zinc (in Cyprus and Nigeria) or ...

, with front and

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

gables surmounted by a cross and decorated with triangular timber

fretwork Fretwork is an interlaced decorative design that is either carved in low relief on a solid background, or cut out with a fretsaw, coping saw, jigsaw or scroll saw. Most fretwork patterns are geometric in design. The materials most commonly u ...

panels on curved metal

brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...

. Three square, capped, ventilators line the ridge of the main

. Three small steep louvred and gauzed gables ventilate the outside roof slopes. Windows are lancet shaped. Seven, of multiple openings, are aligned along each side; others symmetrically arranged at front, and at the rear. They are operated internally. Rear

stairs Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical direction, vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps wh ...

to the western side porch have been removed for the installation of a ramp. A detached timber-framed toilet block is under construction, close to the rear western corner. The rear landing is tilted on its stumps and closed to access. A timber, cross-framed

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

with a shallow

pyramidal A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as triangu ...

corrugated iron roof, and bell in place, stands apart, to the rear of the church. The church is set back some from the street with a triangular grassed forecourt, hedged in part, with tall dense native shrubs. A flame tree ( Brachychiton spp) and a fire-wheel tree (

Stenocarpus ''Stenocarpus'' is a genus of about 22 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. They are trees or shrubs with variably-shaped leaves, Floral symmetry#Zygomorphic, zygomorphic, Plant reproductive morphology#Bisexual, bisexual flo ...

) have been planted on the central axis of the church and forecourt. Internally, a main high pointed vault is flanked by smaller similar vaults each side. A central

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

and smaller side aisles lead to a highly decorated

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

and side chapels. These spaces are divided by timber posts, chamfered. Between the posts, curved, chamfered timber members meet to form a line of pointed arches, above which extends a

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

of white-painted, moulded timber uprights. Above the frieze are panels of pressed metal linking into the pressed metal vaulted ceilings, all highly decorative and painted in shades of blue. The floor is of boards of crows ash, carpeted in the chancel, along the aisles and path linking side porches. Walls are lined in

tongue-and-groove Tongue and groove is a method of fitting similar objects together, edge to edge, used mainly with wood, in flooring, parquetry, panelling, and similar constructions. A strong joint, it allows two flat pieces to be joined strongly together to mak ...

boarding, with lower and upper panels vertical, and a central section in diagonal boarding. The rear chancel wall is flat-sheeted, with large stained-glass windows, high under each vault. The central window depicts

St Brigid Saint Brigid of Kildare or Saint Brigid of Ireland (; Classical Irish: ''Brighid''; ; ) is the patroness saint (or 'mother saint') of Ireland, and one of its three national saints along with Patrick and Columba. According to medieval Irish ha ...

, the left St Agnes and the other St Philomena. The central window is surrounded by an emblematic painting of foliage, grapes and wheat. Either side of the altar, this wall is painted with angels in shades of blue. The

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

and

altar rail The altar rail (also known as a communion rail or chancel rail) is a low barrier, sometimes ornate and usually made of stone, wood or metal in some combination, delimiting the chancel or the sanctuary and altar in a church, from the nave and ot ...

are pointed to resemble marble. Doors, either side lead into the flower rooms and

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...

. The central, closed, rear landing is used to store cleaning equipment. At the opposite end of the church, above the entry, a gallery is supported on smaller intermediate posts. To the underside, a

pressed metal ceiling A tin ceiling is an architectural element, consisting of a ceiling finished with tinplate with designs pressed into them, that was very popular in Victorian buildings in North America in the late 19th and early 20th century. They were also popu ...

, similarly elaborately painted, is of a different pattern from the vaulted ceilings. The gallery is approached by a timber stair, its

balustrade A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

crossing a window space. The gallery floor is raked, of boarding. A confessional, flat-sheeted, stands in one corner to the right of the ground floor entrance. The church, a large and striking form, set in flat extensive grounds, exhibits a highly ornate and interesting interior.

Heritage listing

St Brigids Church was listed on the

on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history. St Brigid's Church, Rosewood, erected 1909–10, is significant historically for its close association with the development of the Rosewood district in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and with the expansion of the Catholic Church in Queensland. The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage. The place is significant for the rare ecclesiastical mural by important Queensland artist, William Bustard. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. It is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a large, substantially intact timber country church built in the early 20th century. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. The place has considerable aesthetic appeal, generated by the form, materials, decorative qualities (especially the gable decoration and

s) and artworks, including stained glass windows and painted wall murals. The place is significant for the rare ecclesiastical mural by important Queensland artist, William Bustard. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. The place is valued by the local community as part of Rosewood's heritage.

References

Attribution

External links