St Philip's Church, Sydney is the oldest Anglican church parish in Australia. The church is located in the Sydney city centre between

York Street York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a m ...

, Clarence and Jamison Streets on a location known as Church Hill, so sometimes called Church Hill Anglican. St Philip's is part of the Diocese of Sydney, Australia. The church is listed on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate.

History

The original church was built by orders of the colony's first chaplain,

the Reverend The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctly ...

Richard Johnson Richard or Dick Johnson may refer to: Academics * Dick Johnson (academic) (1929–2019), Australian academic * Richard C. Johnson (1930–2003), professor of electrical engineering * Richard A. Johnson, artist and professor at the University of ...

, using convict labour in June 1793. The wattle and daub construction church was later burnt down by convicts in 1798. A second stone church operated on the current site of Lang Park from 1810 to 1856. It was made from poor materials and gained a reputation as "the ugliest church in Christendom". This second church had a 150-feet high, round clock tower. The current building on York Street is the second church building on Church Hill (the wattle and daub church was built on the corner of Bligh and Hunter Streets), and was designed by

Edmund Blacket Edmund Thomas Blacket (25 August 1817 – 9 February 1883) was an Australian architect, best known for his designs for the University of Sydney, St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney and St. Saviour's Cathedral, Goulburn. Arriving in Sydney from Engl ...

in the

Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style with English Perpendicular detail. It was built 1848-56. The church tower was styled after

Magdalen Tower Magdalen Tower, completed in 1509, is a bell tower that forms part of Magdalen College, Oxford. It is a central focus for the celebrations in Oxford on May Morning. History Magdalen Tower is one of the oldest parts of Magdalen College, Oxford, ...

at Oxford, United Kingdom, and was opened in 1856. The original parish was named in honour of the first Colonial Governor, Captain Arthur Phillip, . The bells were cast by Charles and George Mears at the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...

in East London in 1858. During World War II the hall was used as a hostel for women officers, who were on leave in Sydney. This was in partnership with the

Church of England National Emergency Fund The Church of England National Emergency Fund, known as CENEF, was a volunteer organisation within the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, Australia. CENEF was formed by Archbishop Howard Mowll in October 1939, one month after Australia's entry into W ...

Parish

On 1 November 2013 St Philip's merged with Holy Trinity Garrison Church in

Millers Point Millers Point is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is on the north-western edge of the Sydney central business district, adjacent to The Rocks and is part of the local government area of the C ...

to form a joint parish using both buildings for combined ministry.

Clergy

Prominent clergy in the life of the church include

William Cowper William Cowper ( ; 26 November 1731 – 25 April 1800) was an English poet and Anglican hymnwriter. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th-century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and sce ...

, his son

(the first Australian-born cleric), T. C. Hammond, Sydney James Kirkby and a former archbishop of Sydney, Donald Robinson. The church sometimes called Church Hill Anglican and the current rector is Justin Moffatt, who was previously at Christ Church,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Gallery

File:St Philips Church Hill Sydney Original Building.png, A sketch of the original building File:SLNSW 479570 67 St Philips Church SH 706.jpg, St Philip's in 1872 File:SLNSW 479559 56 St Philips School SH 692.jpg, St Philip's School in 1872 Image:1_St_Philips4.jpg Image:1_St_Philips5.jpg Image:1_St_Philips8.jpg Image:1_St_Philips9.jpg

References

External links