Search for an image
Dedication of St Brigid's, Red Hill, 1914
Congregation of St Theodores, Townsville, 1947
Construction of St Matthew's Anglican Church, Sherwood, 1893
Feature - Queensland churches
By 2004 the Picture Queensland project had digitised over 300 images of churches throughout Queensland. It was therefore in a position to help the National Trust of Queensland celebrate its 2004 Heritage Festival on the theme of Beacons of Faith – Places of Religious Significance.
Churches were (and often continue to be) an important part of the fabric of their community and often the centre for spiritual and social gatherings. Townships all over Queensland are represented in the Picture Queensland collection, including Chinchilla, Mount Morgan, Coolangatta, and Hughenden.
Founding a church
It was obviously not possible to perform a foundation stone ceremony in the case of the wooden churches in Queensland, so stump capping was sometimes employed as an alternative method of celebrating the initial stages of the construction of a church. Another phenomenon largely restricted to the timber churches of Queensland was the physical removal of these buildings from one district to another. An instance of this is the Charters Towers Baptist Church in the process of removal to another site. Some congregations out west did not have a religious structure for worship at all as in the case of the Methodist Bush Mission which spread the gospel from the back of a covered wagon.
In Brisbane, many of the suburban religious structures are featured, with photographs of the dedication of St Brigid’s at Red Hill, the erection of St. Matthew’s Anglican Church at Sherwood, a Sunday School group gathered outside St James’ Anglican Church at Enoggera and the results of a violent storm on Christ Church at Milton in 1890.
Plans for the erection of cathedrals did not always proceed as expected. The foundations of the Holy Name Cathedral in Ann Street were laid in 1928, though the cathedral was never built. Now, a block of apartments has been erected on the land. St John’s Cathedral has also been a continuing saga, for even though the foundation stone was laid by the Duke of York in 1901, the building is still not complete.
Brisbane's Michelangelo
Brisbane had its very own Michelangelo in James Wieneke, a well known artist who painted the roof of St Joseph’s Church at Kangaroo Point. St Theodore’s, the Greek Orthodox Church in Townsville and the St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Brisbane illustrate the multicultural aspects of the Queensland community.
Some of the great architectural structures in Brisbane are churches situated on spectacular sites with commanding views. They have been designed and built at huge expense by the most prominent architects, engineers and builders of the period. A large proportion of these buildings remain largely unchanged and are a significant part of our cultural heritage.
- Find more Picture Queensland churches.
- Search PictureAustralia [new window http://www.pictureaustralia.org] for churches across Australia.
More information
If you have an enquiry, you can contact us in any of the following ways:
For general enquiries:
- Ask at your local Queensland public library
- Other libraries [new window http://www.nla.gov.au/libraries/]
Last updated: 11th February 2008
Creatively linking Queenslanders to information, knowledge and each other
