St George's Anglican Church is a heritage-listed former

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

Beenleigh Historical Village The Beenleigh Historical Village and Museum is an open-air museum at Main Street, Beenleigh, City of Logan, Queensland, Australia. It preserves twenty buildings from Beenleigh's past which contain many collections related to the history of this d ...

, Main Street,

Beenleigh Beenleigh is a town and suburb in the City of Logan, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Beenleigh had a population of 8,425 people. A government survey for the new town was conducted in 1866. The town is the terminus for the Beenle ...

City of Logan The City of Logan is a local government in Australia, local government area (LGA) located in the south of Greater Brisbane in South East Queensland (SEQ), Australia. Situated between the City of Brisbane to the north and the City of Gold Coast ...

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

Francis Drummond Greville Stanley Francis Drummond Greville Stanley (1839–1897) was an architect in Queensland, Australia. He was the Queensland Colonial Architect. Many of his designs are now heritage-listed buildings. Early life Stanley was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 1 ...

and built in 1875 by Wohlsen and Ehlers. 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

In March 1871, the Reverend Dubois was appointed as the Church of England minister for Beenleigh , preaching his services in the local court house. By August 1871, the congregation were planning to build a church. However, by March 1873, plans for the church slowed when Dubois left the district and the Bishop of Brisbane failed to appoint a replacement minister. In January 1874, the Reverend James Gilbertson was appointed to the district and planning resumed, calling for tenders in May 1874. The church was built in 1875 by Wohlsen and Ehlers to a design by prominent

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 ...

architect FDG Stanley. It was built on land donated by local pioneer Michael Tansey in the street which bears his name. It was officially opened on Thursday 16 September 1875. It was the first church built in Beenleigh. The town was then part of the

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

Parish and later a mission district before becoming a parish in 1982. A new church (also called St George's Anglican Church) was built next door at 10 Tansey Street in 1964. In 1981 the old church building was moved to its present site at the Beenleigh Historical Village and repaired. Beenleigh st georges 1

Description

This single-skin timber church is a one-storey building on low concrete stumps with steeply pitched galvanised corrugated iron

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 ...

roofs. It is now prominently located facing Main Street in the Beenleigh Historical Village. The church is rectangular in plan with an attached chancel on the northern end. The chancel is narrower in width and has a lower roof than the nave. A gabled

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 ...

located on the western side is the only point of entry. The walls consist of vertical jointed (VJ) boards fixed to an exposed stud frame that is decoratively patterned with cross bracing. Inclined timber members fixed above the bottom plate

shed A shed is typically a simple, single-storey (though some sheds may have two or more stories and or a loft) roofed structure, often used for storage, for hobby, hobbies, or as a workshop, and typically serving as outbuilding, such as in a bac ...

water away from the walls, protecting structural timbers. The raked soffits are lined with diagonal beaded timber boards that continue internally to form a raked ceiling. The entry and front facade gable are decorated with curved and diagonal timber members. Four timber steps lead to the timber entry porch. Arched double doors constructed of diagonal timber boards open directly from the porch onto the main space of the church. This space is interrupted only by a screen enclosure in the south west corner. The

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 ...

has a raised timber floor and is framed by a chancel arch. The rafters are exposed below the diagonally boarded ceiling. Trusses are formed where timber tie beams are attached to the underside of four of the rafters and connected back to the walls by curved timber braces. Tall slender casement windows are arranged in groups of three in the end walls and singularly in the side walls. A replica of the original timber bell tower is located in front of the church.

Heritage listing

St George's Anglican 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 George's Anglican Church is significant as the first church built in Beenleigh. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. St George's Anglican Church is a fine example of a single-skin timber church demonstrating the decorative possibilities of this type of construction. The place is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period. St George's Anglican Church is a fine example of a single-skin timber church demonstrating the decorative possibilities of this type of construction. The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history. St George's Anglican Church is a surviving example of the ecclesiastical work of prominent architect FDG Stanley.

References

Attribution

External links