Eltham, VIC - St Margaret's Anglican

Year Built: 1861

Denomination: Anglican

Saint: Margaret

Address: Pitt Street, Eltham, Victoria, 3095

Architect: Nathaniel Billing

Architectural Style: Gothic Polychrome

Traditional Owners: Wurundjeri people

Last Updated: 20/03/2024

See Street View

Send your photos

Click on the image to view larger

History and Architecture:

The land on which St Margaret's Church and Vicarage stands was donated by Henry Dendy, a well known Melbourne pioneer and wealthy land owner. Dendy later moved to England returning and residing in Eltham again. He chaired a meeting held in 1860 for the purpose of devising a means of establishing a Church of England in the township.

The foundation stone was laid by the Reverend Septimus Llyod Chase of St Paul's Melbournon 4 April 1861.

The church was erected in 1861 and officially opened on 12 December of the same year. It is the oldest intact church building in Eltham. The first vicar was the Reverend Robert Mackie, from 1864 to 1866. St Margaret's builder was a local, George Stebbing, and the architect was Nathaniel Billing.

Constructed in the Gothic Revival tradition, this early polychrome brick structure has a central turret with bell housing, the patterned brickwork has been achieved using lines of manganese brick headers arranged in geometric patterns. It is an early and restrained example of patterned brick work. It was the first polychromatic church in Australia, using softly contrasting colonial brickwork.

St Margaret's was originally called 'Christ Church' until its consecration in 1871, when it was completely free of debt £1700 for the church and parsonage despite the poverty of the district. This was largely due to the free labour and materials; including local bricks, donated by local artisans and others. About half the windows -those in clear glass with gold borders - are original. The stained glass windows were made much later, but the one behind the altar is the oldest in Diamond Valley according to the National Trust. It was to be temporary until the congregation could afford to extend the church.

In 1978 the existing weatherboard hall named Gibson Hall was replaced by a mud brick building designed by local Architect Robert Marshall.

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
1864 - 1866	Rev Robert Mackie
1866 - 1869	Rev Josiah Hollis		1826	1887
1871 - 1874	Rev Andrew Brown		1834	1898
1874 - 1879	Rev Arthur Joseph Pickering	Lay Reader	1835	1914
1880 - 1888	Rev John Gason		1856	1915
1888 - 1890	Rev William Thomas Price		1827	1892
1889 - 1890	Rev Edward George Higgin	Lay Reader	1861	1934
1890 - 1897	Rev Arthur Pelham Chase		1858	1947
1897 - 1904	Rev Thomas Waklin Davis		1853	1933
1904 - 1915	Rev William Green			1945
1915 - 1922	Rev Thomas Henry Sapsford		1871	1925
1922 - 1929	Rev James Arthur Peck		1873	1944
1929 - 1931	Rev Frederick Edgar Henry Tolhurst		1895	1957
1931 - 1940	Rev Tamillas Robert Mappin		1892	1965
1933 - 1936	Rev Frederick Joseph Price	Curate	1862	1950
1940 - 1949	Rev Arthur Thomas Roberts		1907	1992
1949 - 1952	Rev R. G. Long
1951 - 1955	Rev John Fenton Gibbons		1909	1970
1956 - 1960	Rev David Brooke Warner		1927
1960 - 1964	Rev W. J. Carter
1964 - 1969	Rev C. D.H. Lonfield
1969 - 1972	Rev Kenneth John Brierty		1933	2019
1972 - 1979	Rev Ian Frederic Brown
1978 - 1981	Rev T. J. Olds	Asst
1979 - 1989	Rev Ronald Lindsay Dowing		1947
1989 - 1996	Rev V. H. Rogers
1997 - 2001	Rev E. A. Mathieson
2001 -	Rev Elizabeth Joy Delbridge
2019 -	Rev Keren Terps

Organ:

No information currently available. Submissions welcomed.

Source:

1. The Australian Anglican Directory 2000
2. Saint Margarets Anglican Church Eltham, celebrating 150 years by Geoffrey A Sandy.
3. Cable Clergy Index.
4. Nillumbik Now and Then. Margaret Marshall