Avoca, TAS - St Thomas Anglican

Year Built: 1842

Denomination: Anglican

Address: 7 Falmouth Street, Avoca, Tasmania, 7213

Architect: Unknown

Last Updated: 01/05/2021

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History and Architecture:

The booklet in part reads,

On November 1st 1838 a meeting (notified in the Hobart town Gazette) was called to consider the erection of a church at Avoca.The meetings chairman was Capt. A Gardiner S•P•M. Out of this meeting, a building committee was formed, and three men stood as guarantors for the cost: Simeon Lord the Younger and Captains William and Humphrey Grey. Building commenced in 1839. The plan is dated February 1839, and hangs in the rear of the Church. On March 10th 1840, Sir John and Lady Franklin visited and inspected the partly completed Church. By October of the same year, one hundred and twenty-two pounds ten shillings and nine pence had been collected and expended. The total cost of building was one thousand, eight hundred pounds, to which the Government contributed seven hundred pounds.

Also during the same year, the Public Works Department sent Mr James Blackburn to inspect and make a report on the building. On October 26th 1841, the Rev'd William Richardson, Colonial Chaplain was appointed incumbent at a salary of two hundred Pounds with fifty-four pounds ten shillings forage allowance and a allowance as the parsonage was not complete.

In 1924 Mr A. F. A. O'Connor had the church redecorated, and again for the centenary. In 1942, the church was extensively renovated. At this time repairs were made to the roof, the stone work pointed and the floor, which had been destroyed by rot, renewed, and a ventilation system placed beneath it. Plaster was replaced, the central passage relaid, the cedar work restored and the font and pulpit were set upon solid foundations.

In 1979 the church was again repainted, cracks were filled, a troublesome damp patch was repaired, and the tower was pinned.

The clock in the tower is a memorial to those men who went from the district to fight in the First World War.

 

Clergy:

This list may not contain every serving cleric, past or present, for this church.
Further submissions welcomed.

Years Name Annotation D.o.B D.o.D
1840 - 1871 Rev W. Richardson
1872 - 1873 Rev C. P. Green
1874 - 1875 Rev R. Haywood
1876 - 1879 Rev W. F. Mitchell
1881 - 1886 Rev J. V.H. Geiss
1887 - 1892 Rev Dr G. W. Fielding
1893 - 1896 Rev Herbert Howlett Vale 1857 1906
1897 - 1907 Rev W. H. Hurburgh
1908 - 1912 Rev S. Dallas Smith
1912 - Rev William George Chisholm 1874 1953
1913 - Rev G. H. Sale
1914 - Rev Charles Lewis Hamilton Cox 1860 1945
1915 - 1923 Rev F. Taylor
1924 - 1928 Rev J. H.S. Harrison
1940 - 1943 Rev Arthur Stuartvant Dence 1903 1968
1943 - 1945 Rev Arthur Stanley Drewett 1883 1960
1946 - 1947 Rev Leonard Lisle Oldham 1908 1983
1948 - 1950 Rev W. Chatfield Jude
1951 - 1954 Rev A. Chamberlain
1954 - 1957 Rev H. F. Hadrill
1957 - 1960 Rev John Spencer Beaverstock
1960 - 1963 Rev D. J. Pearce
1964 - 1967 Rev A. Solomon
1967 - 1969 Rev B. Horword
1969 - 1971 Rev J. Greenhalgh
1971 - 1976 Rev T. Henricks
1976 - 1978 Rev A. Colyer
1978 - 1981 Rev E Cave
1981 - 1984 Rev P. Walker
1984 - 1988 Rev R. Flint
1988 - 1996 Rev D. LeRossignol
1996 - 2000 Rev G. Tyson
2000 - 2004 Rev K Small
2001 - 2004 Rev A. Lang From Cresey
2001 - 2004 Rev K Viney Asst
2004 - 2005 Rev K Small
2005 - 2006 Rev P. North

Organ:

No information currently available. Submissions welcomed.

Source:

1. A History of the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle Avoca. Eric Cave 1980