St John's Anglican Church, also known as St John the Evangelist Anglican Church, is a heritage-listed

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

on York Street in ,

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. The church is the oldest consecrated church in Western Australia, consecrated in October 1848.

History

The church was built by the people of the town, with construction commencing in 1841 and completed in 1844. The church was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

on 25 October 1848 by Bishop

Augustus Short Augustus Short (11 June 1802 – 5 October 1883) was the first Anglican bishop of Adelaide, South Australia. Early life and career Born at Bickham House, near Exeter, Devon, England, the third son of Charles Short, a London barrister, offsp ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

who introduced John Ramsden Wollaston as its clergyman. At this time the church would have been able to accommodate the entire population of the town, 170 people. Construction of the

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

commenced in 1850 and was completed the same year. Originally it was a single story stone building, however a second storey was added in 1875. A second rectory was built behind the original one in 1980. The first recorded Anzac dawn service was held by the church in 1930. The church, rectory, hall and peppermint trees were listed on the register of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

in 1978. From 1968 to 1979

Warwick Bastian Warwick Shaw Bastian (4 December 1914 – 4 October 1979) was an Anglican bishop in Australia. He was the assistant bishop of the Diocese of Bunbury (with the title bishop of Albany) from 1968 to 1979. Early life Bastian was born in 1914 in Su ...

was the coadjutor bishop of Bunbury, with the title Bishop of Albany. During that time, he based himself at St John's. Canon Edward Argyl was appointed as the parish priest in 2011 until his death in 2015.

Description

The church is a stone building with gabled roofs covered in shingles. The aisle of the church is made from thick blocks that had been made in England. The stone walls are thick and the building also has stone foundations; the stone was thought to be quarried from nearby Mount Melville and

Mount Clarence Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

. The walls are so thick that no

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...

es are required. The original building is now the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

of the present church, with the gallery behind built in 1852. The tower and porch were completed in 1853. The tower is topped with battlements on the parapet.

References

Notes

Bibliography

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