City Congregational Church, Brisbane

City Congregational Church was a church building of the Congregational Church in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, which replaced the Wharf Street Congregational Church, Brisbane.

Construction

Construction commenced in 1927 while Sunday services were temporarily held in the Constitutional Club rooms and His Majesty's Theatre.[1]

On Saturday 14 January 1928, the church hall at 409 Adelaide Street was opened. Costing £19,000, it had two floors. The ground floor had shops, offices and social rooms, while the upper floor was a large hall. On 27 May 1928 the new pipe organ was used in services for the first time.[2] The intention was to use the hall for services while funds were raised over the following two to three years to enable the construction of the church itself on the Queen Street side of the property.[3] However, during the Great Depression, the funds to build the church were not raised and services continued to be conducted in the church hall.

World War II and Wickham Terrace
Wickham Street church (about 1889)

World War II began, and in September 1941 evening services at the City Congregational Church were shifted to the late afternoon to accommodate the black-out.[4] In January 1942, the church hall was commandeered by the Australian Government Department of Munitions and Supplies. The Albert Street Methodist Church offered their church as a venue for services for the Congregational community.[5][6]

In October 1942, the congregation found a new home in a former Presbyterian church on Wickham Terrace. This church had been acquired in 1905 for extensions to Brisbane's Central Railway Station (the Presbyterian congregation established St Andrew's Presbyterian Church to replace their Wickham Terrace church).[7] As the extensions to the railway station did not take place immediately, the railways used the building as for storage of records until 1929, after which they leased it out as a gymnasium until 1941. The Congregational community leased the Wickham Terrace church building from 1942 to 1960, after which the church was demolished for road works.[8]

Ministers

The initial minister was Rev. Percival Watson, who had transferred with the congregation from the former Wharf Street church. He served (at Wharf Street, Adelaide Street and Wickham Terrace) for 22 years until he left in May 1947 to take up the ministry of the Pitt Street Congregational Church in Sydney.[9]

T. Rees Thomas was minister from 1947 to 1981. He was inducted in February 1948 by his old principal Rev. E. S. Kiek and distinguished wife Rev. Winifred Kiek.[10]

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References
  1. City Congregational Church, Brisbane Courier, Saturday 8 October 1927, page 10
  2. "CONGREGATIONAL". The Brisbane Courier. National Library of Australia. 26 May 1928. p. 7. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  3. Fine Building: New Congregational Church Hall, Brisbane Courier, Monday 16 January 1928, page 20
  4. "NORTHERN A.R.P. MEN HERE FOR BLACK-OUT". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 13 September 1941. p. 3. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  5. "CHURCH NEWS". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 3 January 1942. p. 6. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  6. "CHURCH TAKEN OVER". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 12 January 1942. p. 5. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  7. "CENTRAL RAILWAY STATION". The Brisbane Courier. National Library of Australia. 24 June 1899. p. 5. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  8. Unidentified (1890). "Second Wickham Terrace Presbyterian Church in Brisbane, 1890". John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  9. "FAREWELL TO MINISTER". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 6 May 1947. p. 6. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  10. "News of the Churches". The Courier-mail (3496). Queensland, Australia. 7 February 1948. p. 4. Retrieved 20 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.

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