Newtown, NSW - St Stephen's Anglican

Year Built: 1871

Denomination: Anglican

Saint: Stephen

Address: 189 Church Street, Newtown, New South Wales, 2042

Architect: Edmund Blacket

Architectural Style: Gothic Revival

Traditional Owners: Cadigal people

Last Updated: 13/03/2024

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History and Architecture:

The Church was designed by Edmund Blacket between 1871 and 1874 on a portion of 240 acres granted to Governor Bligh and was known as the Camperdown estate. This building is one of Australia's best Gothic Revival Churches on this scale in cruciform plan with side aisles, gallery, two vestries, porch. The walls of the church are sandstone, quarried from the nearby Pyrmont stone quarries. The exterior ornamentation, apart from the stone traced windows is restrained. Interior columns are of Melbourne bluestone and the roof is slate. With dimensions of 110 by 48 feet, and cost of £13,000, it was the largest and most prominent building in the area.

The foundation stone was laid by the Governor, the Earl of Belmore, on 11 November 1871. Sydney Morning Herald, 11 November, 1871, p. 4; Sydney Morning Herald, 18 Nov, 1871, p. 5.

It is important to note that there have been incorrect attributions of the builder in several books. In the scroll that was placed in the foundation stone, 11 November 1871, Robert Kirkham and George Dowling were recorded as the builders. [Sydney Morning Herald, 11 November, 1871, p. 4; Sydney Morning Herald, 18 Nov, 1871, p. 5] In his St. Stephen s Church, Newtown: jubilee, 1974-1924, John Bidwell notes the scroll and the attribution of G. Dowling and R. Kirkham as builders on p. 13, but, however, adds on p. 17, referring to the second stage of the building, The following gentlemen were associated with the erection of the building: E.T. Blackett, architect; W. Kirkland, contractor for masonry; W. Curtis and W.E Elphinstone, carpentry; W. Watson, Sittings.

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
1866 - 1870	Rev Robert Taylor	Curate 66-69	1834	1907
1875 - 1876	Rev Richard Edgar Kemp	Curate
1877 - 1877	Rev Septimus Hungerford	Locum	1825	19927
1878 - 1879	Rev Joseph Dark	Curate	1835	1921
1880 - 1890	Rev Charles Duppuy	Curate	1852	1891
1881 - 1884	Rev Henry Martin	Curate	1851
1884 - 1885	Rev David Dunlop Rutledge	Curate	1852	1905
1885 - 1885	Rev Samuel Hart	Curate	1834	1928
1885 - 1886	Rev Gerard Addington D'Arcy Irvine	Curate	1862	1932
1886 - 1886	Rev John Theophilus Schleicher	With Macdonaldtown	1818	1892
1886 - 1886	Rev John Morgan	Curate with McDonaldtown	1843	1928
1886 - 1887	Rev Charles James Byng	Curate	1833	1904
1886 - 1888	Rev Edward Hargrave	Curate	1860	1920
1887 - 1891	Rev Arthur Edwin Bellingham	Curate	1858	1927
1890 - 1891	Rev Frederick Matthew Dalrymple	Curate
1891 - 1892	Rev Thomas Jenkyn		1836	1907
1891 - 1892	Rev Charles Henry Gibson	Curate	1846	1896
1892 - 1893	Rev John Wilson	Curate	1840	1922
1893 - 1894	Rev Lewis Alfred Wyatt	Curate	1857/58	1916
1893 - 1895	Rev Alfred Hambeldon Liley	Curate	1855	1928
1894 - 1895	Rev Lambert Kay	Curate	1851	1915
1895 - 1898	Rev Stephen Taylor	Curate	1869	1953
1897 -	Rev Richard Ord Todd	Catechist	1866	1953
1898 - 1900	Rev Henry Bradshaw	Curate	1857	1908
1901 - 1902	Rev David Henirich Melville Laseron	Curate	1857	1908
1902 - 1905	Rev William Rutledge Newton	Catchist	1876	1934
1902 - 1905	Rev William John Roberts	Curate	1865	1938
1905 - 1906	Rev William St John Chase	Curate	1862	1912
1906 - 1906	Rev Isaac Duncan Armitage	Curate	1878	1970
1907 - 1907	Rev Lewis Ketchlee	Curate	1862	1933
1907 - 1914	Rev William Leslie Langley		1875	1952
1908 - 1911	Rev Henry Mervyn Archdall Pearce	Curate	1881	1919
1909 - 1912	Rev William Thomas Louis Pearce	Curate	1883	1949
1912 - 1914	Rev Roy Kenneth Robinson	Curate	1886	1970
1913 - 1915	Rev Alfred Henry Gallop	Curate	1887	1973
1913 - 1913	Rev Edward Fethers	Locum	1861	1946
1914 - 1921	Rev Herbert Smirnoff Begbie		1871	1951
1915 - 1919	Rev Cecil Charles Short	Curate	1890	1948
1918 - 1919	Rev John Bidwell	Locum	1884	1974
1920 - 1921	Rev Leslie George Edmonson	Curate	1893	1951
1920 - 1922	Rev Charles Wesley Wilson	Curate	1883	1955
1921 - 1930	Rev John Bidwell		1884	1974
1922 - 1924	Rev David Creighton	Curate	1865	1945
1923 -	Rev Harold Duncan Bagot	Catechist	1902	1985
1923 - 1927	Rev Reginald Philip Gee	Curate	1895	1978
1924 - 1925	Rev Sidney William Bazalgette	Curate	1889	1972
1925 - 1925	Rev Oliver Tristram Cordell	Curate	1900	1981
1927 - 1929	Rev Christopher Wilder Clarke	Curate	1879	1972
1929 - 1933	Rev Arthur Norman Stanley Barwick	Curate	1890	1977
1931 - 1948	Rev Albert Edward Rook		1875	1948
1933 - 1933	Rev Cecil Joseph William Faulkner	Curate	1899	1983
1934 - 1935	Rev Mervyn Archdall Payten	Curate	1905	1964
1943 - 1943	Rev Eric George Mortley	Curate	1913	1992
1955 - 1960	Rev John Stanley Vernon Buckman		1899	1970
1965 - 1966	Rev Thomas George Rees		1909	2000
1991 - 1991	Rev Nat Lewis Sonners	Honorary Curate	1914	2008

Organ:

The Organ was built by J.W. Walker & Son of London in 1874 at a cost of £800. Several minor alterations were made in 1895 by G.K. Sandford of Newtown, including the raising of the Swell soundboard and the addition of the bottom octave of the Swell Bourdon 16', originally a Tenor C stop.
For a full description and photso click here.

Source:

1. Organ Music Society of Sydney with permission.
2. Australian Heritage Database.
3. Cable Clerical Index with permission.