All Saints Church is an Australian

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

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 ...

in the

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

suburb of Ainslie. The church is in the Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn. The parish holds to a

liberal Anglo-Catholic The terms liberal Anglo-Catholicism, liberal Anglo-Catholic or simply liberal Catholic, refer to people, beliefs and practices within Anglicanism that affirm liberal Christian perspectives while maintaining the traditions culturally associated wit ...

style of churchmanship and theology.

Description

The original building (designed by the Colonial Architect,

James Barnet James Johnstone Barnet, (1827 in Almericlose, Arbroath, Scotland – 16 December 1904 in Forest Lodge, Sydney, New South Wales) was the Colonial Architect for Colonial New South Wales, serving from 1862 to 1890. Early life Barnet was born ...

) started as the First Mortuary station in

Rookwood Cemetery Rookwood Cemetery (officially named Rookwood Necropolis) is a heritage-listed cemetery in Rookwood, Sydney, Australia. It is the largest necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world's largest remaining operating cemetery from the ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, as noted on a plaque on the church: :"The stonework of this church was originally used to build the first mortuary station on the branch railway to the necropolis rookwood near Sydney. This plaque was presented by the Australian Railway Historical Society to commemorate the old station which was in use from 1868 to 1948." The railway line went underneath the main arch in the building, where the aisle is in the present church. The side aisles are where the platforms for the station were located. Coffins would be taken out on the railway line to the cemetery for burial. The roof of the building burned down in a fire. The Ainslie parish bought the stonework for £A100, and the stonework was transported to Canberra in 1957 where the current roof was built and work undertaken to turn it into the present church. In the process, the bell tower was moved from the left side of the entrance to the right. There are two stained-glass windows from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The east window is from St Clement's, Attercliffe, in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

. There is a second, smaller, window from St Margaret's Bagendon in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

Interior of All Saints Anglican Church Ainslie before a concert September 2023

The church bell was originally on a

Shay locomotive The Shay locomotive is a geared steam locomotive that originated and was primarily used in North America. The locomotives were built to the patents of Ephraim Shay, who has been credited with the popularization of the concept of a ''geared st ...

owned by the Commonwealth Oil Corporation that ran on the former Wolgan Valley Railway in the Blue Mountains, before being dismantled in 1925. The bell was presented to the church by the

Australian Railway Historical Society The Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) has been a railway organisation concerned with history and preservation of railway heritage at a national level. It has had divisions in every state and the Australian Capital Territory, althou ...

in 1958. A stone on the church was set by the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom,

Lord Carrington Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, Baron Carington of Upton (6 June 1919 – 9July 2018), was a British Conservative Party politician and hereditary peer who served as Defence Secretary from 1970 to 1974, Foreign Secreta ...

, to mark the blessing of the church on 1 June 1958. The church contains a rare 1857 Bishop and Starr

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

, installed in 1989–90 after being transferred from Wealdstone Baptist Church in Harrow, England. All Saints maintains a traditional choir, with a weekly sung Solemn Eucharist and a monthly Evensong from April to September. At the east end of the church is a garden and

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria), also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin ''columba'' (dove) and originally solel ...

. The church has several stained glass windows, and gargoyle sculptures on the outside of the building. On the inside stonework are two carved angels. It has two side chapels located on opposite sides of the chancel, one dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the other after

Gethsemane Gethsemane ( ) is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus Christ underwent the Agony in the Garden and was arrested before his crucifixion. The garden is ...

Heritage list

The church was added to the Australian Capital Territory Heritage Register on 14 September 2000.

Rectors

*Edward Gilbert Buckle, 1959-62. Buckle was later the Assistant Bishop of Auckland.''A Station of the Cross'', p 26. *Francis Robert Woodwell, 1963-66. Woodwell was later Archdeacon of Tumut. * Neville James Chynoweth, 1966-71. Chynoweth was later Bishop of Gippsland. *James Lewis Tregea, 1971-80. * Ronald Earl Moon, 1980-87. Moon was later Dean of Goulburn. *Dennis Arnold Vanderwolf, 1987-98. Vanderwolf was later Dean of Darwin. * Anthony John Parkes, 1998-2004. Parkes was later Bishop of Wangaratta. * Sarah Anne Macneil, 2004-09. Macneil was later Bishop of Grafton. *Michael Faragher, 2009-14. *Lynda McMinn, 2015-2023. * John Stead, 2023–present.

Gallery

RookwoodStation.jpg, The Mortuary Station in Rookwood Cemetery State Rail Authority of New South Wales Archives Section, ''How & Why of Station Names: meanings and origins...'', Second Edition, 1982, State Rail Authority of New South Wales, inside back cover Plaque stonework ainslie church ACT.jpg, Stone set on the blessing of the church in 1958 Plaque stonework ainslie church ACT 2.jpg, Plaque on the church

References

External links