ST ANDREW'S UNITING CHURCH
Martin Street PENSHURST, Southern Grampians Shire
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Statement of Significance
St Andrew's Uniting Church, formerly Presbyterian, is located on the west side of Martin Street, in the centre of Penshurst. The bluestone church was completed in 1865 and is built in the Early English version of the Gothic revival style, a departure from the Classical stream previously associated with Presbyterianism. The architect is not known for certain, but J. M. Knight (the Shire of Mount Rouse Engineer and Secretary) and A. Kerr seem very likely. A roughcast fence The gable incorporates an unusual device in contrasting stone, a nimbus around the Burning Bush representing Christ non-figuratively and Eternal Life. The church was associated with major landholders of the district, Mrs Daniel Ritchie of Blackwood laying the foundation stone. The first minister was Rev Robert Falconer. In the later 1880s, the church was associated with the temperance movement through the incumbent, Rev. J. Ringland Anderson, MA. Along with most Presbyterian congregations, St Andrew's Penshurst joined the Uniting Church in the 1970s. The church is in excellent condition and retains a high degree of integrity.
How is it significant?
St Andrew's Uniting Church, Martin Street, Penshurst is of historical and architectural significance to the township of Penshurst and to the Southern Grampians Shire.
Why is it significant?
St Andrews Uniting Church is of historical significance as the expression of the role and position of the Presbyterian Church, and subsequently the Uniting Church, and its congregation in the community for over one hundred and fifty years. It is of architectural significance for its use of the Gothic revival style to express religious values, for the range of its memorials, and as a comparison with the churches of other denominations in Penshurst. It is of particular significance for its rare iconographical use of the nimbus form and abstract Biblical symbolism.
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ST ANDREW'S UNITING CHURCH - Physical Conditions
St Andrew's Uniting Church Penshurst is in good condition. [The interior has not been inspected.]
ST ANDREW'S UNITING CHURCH - Physical Description 1
St Andrew's Uniting Church is located on the west side of Martin Street, in the centre of the township of Penshurst. The church, built in 1865, is constructed of bluestone in the Gothic Early English Rudimentary style (Lewis, 138). The design is a simple rectangular nave, with an entrance porch and Vestry. Stained glass leadlight lancet windows are positioned between buttresses, which rise in two stages with sloped ends. The window surrounds and buttress ends appear to be made of cement render painted white. The church has an unusual gable of intermediate pitch containing a nimbus, an elliptical relief of the Burning Bush, beautifully carved in contrasting stone in a highly stylised form, with a scroll bearing Latin text below. In traditional iconography, the nimbus shape is reserved for the Divine figure, symbolised obliquely here by the Burning Bush. Internally, the decoration is typically plain and there are important memorials to individuals from the congregation.
The Martin Street boundary has a roughcast rendered front fence and iron gates which were erected in 1936 in memory of the Pioneering families of the parish. A grey cement brick hall has been erected on the south side of the church, opened in May 1980. in the 1970s. The former manse is located adjacent to the church, but is now in different ownership. St. Andrews Uniting Church retains a good degree of integrity and is in good condition.ST ANDREW'S UNITING CHURCH - Historical Australian Themes
Theme 8 Developing Australia's cultural life
8.6 Worshipping
8.6.1 Worshipping together
8.6.3 Founding Australian religious institutions
8.6.4 Making places for worshipST ANDREW'S UNITING CHURCH - Usage/Former Usage
Church
ST ANDREW'S UNITING CHURCH - Integrity
Excellent degree of integrity
ST ANDREW'S UNITING CHURCH - Physical Description 2
Rev. Robert Falconer (or Fawkner), first incumbent from 1863-1869
Rev. Mr Allsworth, second incumbent, 1869-1876
Rev. Andrew Chambers, third incumbent, 1876-1881
Rev, J. R. Anderson MA, fourth incumbent in 1882-1888+, active in the local temperance movementHeritage Study and Grading
Southern Grampians - Southern Grampians Shire Heritage Study
Author: Timothy Hubbard P/L, Annabel Neylon
Year: 2002
Grading:
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PENSHURST PROTECTORATE SITEVictorian Heritage Inventory
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A. J. PAGE ELECTRICAL STORESouthern Grampians Shire
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VICTORIA HOTEL (FORMER)Southern Grampians Shire
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'CARINYA' LADSONS STOREVictorian Heritage Register H0568
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