PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (FORMER)
65 Wills Street and Templeton Street DUNKELD, Southern Grampians Shire
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Statement of Significance
The former Dunkeld Presbyterian Church now houses the Dunkeld and District Historical Society. The building is located in the south-east corner of Wills and Templeton Street , one block south of the Glenelg Highway, in the central grid of the township. The former church is a simple primitive version of the Gothic Revival style, and includes the main church with a vestry at the rear and a later porch at the front. The construction combines bluestone walls with Grampians sandstone quoins. There are no buttresses but the side walls have three lancet windows, now modified on the east elevation for extensions, and the vestry has one. The arches of the windows are treated as simple trefoils. The roofs of the nave, vestry and porch are gabled and clad with corrugated iron. The main gable has a simple finial. The building has been extended on the east side and the interiors have been modified to convert it into a museum and meeting rooms. There has been no architect or builder associated with the design of the structure. In later years, the vestry of the church was used as a police station after the devastating 1944 bushfires which burnt much of the township. In recent years the former church has been used by the Dunkeld and District Historical Society. The Historical Society have placed a collection of historical records and objects within the building, as a museum collection. These include the burnt stump of a tree carved with dates by Granville Stapylton, the second-in-command of Major Mitchell's, when they camped at nearby Lake Repose on 3rd October 1836. The church and the collection survive in good condition, and both retain a high degree of integrity.
How is it significant?
The former Presbyterian Church is of historical, architectural and social significance to the township of Dunkeld and the Southern Grampians Shire.
Why is it significant? The former Presbyterian Church is of social significance to the township of Dunkeld as the focus for the strong Presbyterian population who settled the area in the mid to late nineteenth century. Historically, it is significant for demonstrating the strong Presbyterian faith in the Shire. Architecturally, it demonstrates a style of building which is typical of Presbyterian churches in the late ninetieth and early twentieth centuries. Of further historical significance is its use after the 1944 bushfires, when the vestry at the rear of the structure was used to house the police station, which had been destroyed by fire. Its use as a historical society is also of historical and social significance, as this provides and important focus for the people of Dunkeld and surrounding districts, and provides a tangible link with the past.
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PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (FORMER) - Physical Conditions
The building is in good condition.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (FORMER) - Physical Description 1
The original church was a very simple stone structure in a primitive version of the Gothic revival style. In plan it is approximately 5m x 10m and it is 7m high to the ridge line. There is a vestry at the rear and a later porch at the front. The construction combines bluestone walls with Grampians sandstone quoins. There are no buttresses but the side walls have three lancet windows, now modified on the east elevation for extensions, and the vestry has one. The arches of the windows are treated as simple trefoils. The roofs of the nave, vestry and porch are gabled and clad with corrugated iron. The main gable has a simple finial. The building has been extended on the east side and the interiors have been modified to convert it into a museum and meeting rooms.
The historical collection includes the burnt stump of a tree carved with dates by Granville Stapylton, the second-in-command of Major Mitchell's, when they camped at nearby Lake Repose on 3rd October 1836.PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (FORMER) - 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 worship
8.8 Remembering the fallenPRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (FORMER) - Usage/Former Usage
Historical Society rooms and museum.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (FORMER) - Integrity
Good degree of integrity externally but compromised internally.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (FORMER) - Physical Description 2
Rev Robert Falconer, first Minister
Rev R W McCully, Minister from 1871 to 1875
Rev. G D Lee, Minister from 1875 to 1903, inducted 1878
Rev J S Jaffrey, Minister from 1903 to 1909
Rev W Chapman, Minister from 1909 to 1917
Rev C Attwood, Minister from 1917 to 1925
Rev J P Hamilton, Minister from 1925 to 1928
Rev R I Morris, Minister from 1928 to 1931
Rev A J Henderson, Minister from 1931 to 1937
Rev James P Gillan, Minister from 1937 to 1944 who resigned after the 1944 bush fire.
William Yound, church secretary for 52 years.PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (FORMER) - Physical Description 3
Lot 1, LP 143421
Heritage Study and Grading
Southern Grampians - Southern Grampians Shire Heritage Study
Author: Timothy Hubbard P/L, Annabel Neylon
Year: 2002
Grading:
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LOCK-UPVictorian Heritage Register H1535
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LOCK-UP, STABLES AND WC (FORMER)Southern Grampians Shire H1535
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