St John's Church, Mundoolun

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Coordinates: 27°54′06″S 153°05′19″E / 27.9017°S 153.0887°E / -27.9017; 153.0887
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St John's Church, Mundoolun
John Hingeston Buckeridge
Architectural style(s)Gothic
Official nameSt John's Church, Memorial Church of St John the Evangelist
Typestate heritage (landscape, built)
Designated26 November 1999
Reference no.601082
Significant period1900s
Significant componentscemetery, tree groups - avenue of, church, tower, views to, furniture/fittings
St John's Church, Mundoolun is located in Queensland
St John's Church, Mundoolun
Location of St John's Church, Mundoolun in Queensland
St John's Church, Mundoolun is located in Australia
St John's Church, Mundoolun
St John's Church, Mundoolun (Australia)

St John's Church is a heritage-listed Anglican

John Hingeston Buckeridge and built from 1901 to 1915. It is also known as Memorial Church of St John the Evangelist. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 26 November 1999.[1]

History

Foundation stone, 2006

St. John's Church at Mundoolun is a private family chapel built in 1901 on a property settled by the Collins family in the 1840s. The property is located between

Albert River Valley, South East Queensland. The church is constructed of local sandstone to the design of the Brisbane Diocesan Architect John Buckeridge who was commissioned by the Collins family in 1899.[1]

The chapel was built as a memorial to John and Anne Collins by their children, soon after the death of John Collins in 1898. The Collins had arrived in Australia from Ireland in 1839, the same year that the closure of the Moreton Bay penal colony made way for settlement of the area within a fifty-mile radius of Brisbane. Anne's cousin, William Humphries, had taken up 17,000 acres at Mundoolun in 1842, a venture the Collins followed with great interest. In 1844, they joined him as partners and by 1847, the Collins had bought Humphries out. The family went on to be prominent pastoralists, eventually owning Tamrookum, Rathdowney and Nindooinbah, as well as the home station of Mundoolun.[1]

The couple had five children. From 1863, when John Collins' sons joined him in the family business, they began to acquire properties further north and west. In 1877, Robert and William Collins formed the North Australian Pastoral Company in the

Royal Geographical Society of Queensland in order to further his goal. Unfortunately he did not live to see the proclamation of Lamington National Park which eventually took place in 1915; however, he has been credited with the title of Father of the National Park Ideal.[1]

At about the turn of the century, Mundoolun and the Collins family were at the peak of their success. It was decided by the five children that a memorial to their pioneering parents should be built. They selected a site on a ridge of the Birnam Range, near the small cemetery overlooking the homestead and the Albert Valley.[1]

The family commissioned architect John Buckeridge to design the chapel. Buckeridge had come to Queensland in 1886 to supervise the construction of

Hall and Dods.[1]

Sketch of the church during construction, 1900

Hence, it was architect Robin Dods who supervised the construction of St. John's, Mundoolun. Work began on 22 June 1900. The construction took nearly eighteen months to complete, with fifteen men employed almost continuously for this time. The local stone proved very hard to work and progress was slow. The sandstone was quarried from an area further along the spur on which the church was sited and was brought to the masons' shed by dray. The altar, lectern, prayer desk, seats, doors and ceiling timbers were made of red cedar felled at Tamborine Mountain.[1]

The Archdeacon of Brisbane, Arthur Evan David, formally dedicated the church on

Bishop of Brisbane.[2] A tower was added in 1915 as a memorial to Robert Martin Collins who died in 1913. The footings for the tower had been laid in 1900 with the rest of the chapel, but took almost twenty years to be completed. Bells have never been installed. Services at that time were held in the church every second Sunday. More recently, the church has been used for weddings and other public events.[1]

In 2015, St John's Church at Mundoolun is part of the

Anglican Archdiocese of Brisbane.[3]

Description

Side view of church, 2006
Cemetery beside the church, 2006
The inscription says "John Allen, native name BULLUMM of the Wangerriburra tribe, born at Tabragalla about 1851, died Mundoolan Jan 1931, he was the last survivor of his tribe, all his life he served the Collins faithfully"

St. John's Church, Mundoolun is a family chapel constructed of

hoop pine leading to the entry porch. A small cemetery, also planted with hoop pines, is located to the southwest of the church.[1]

The church is simple in form but has a substantial quality that belies its size. It is orientated with the

corrugated iron rainwater tank on the south side of the church.[1]

The walls of the church are of random ashlar sandstone, their thickness indicating a rubble core. The stone is rough dressed with a birds eye texture on the exterior and smooth faced on the interior. Also on the exterior, window surrounds and buttress cappings are smooth tooled. The steeply pitched roof is clad with wide pan corrugated galvanised iron. The porch, vestry and organ chamber have separate gable roofs below the main roof eaves. The north porch ceiling is lined with v-jointed cedar boards and the ornate framed and boarded two-leaf porch door is also made of cedar. The outer porch door has been removed as a result of vandalism and has been replaced by a metal security screen door.[1]

The walls of the tower are supported by

castellated parapet and three belfry windows inset with timber louvres on each side. Lancet windows on each side of the church provide the only lighting for the church. Many of the windows have been replaced or repaired due to vandalism.[1]

The interior is characterised by high quality joinery constructed of red cedar gained from the local district. The

altar rails and other furniture are also of cedar. The floors of the chancel, sanctuary, baptistry and vestry are raised above the floor of the nave and along with the nave passage, are laid with carpet. Around the walls are memorial plaques to various local identities including members of the Collins family.[1]

The small cemetery to the southwest of the church contains the graves of many members of the Collins family and their descendants, the Strachan, Delpratt and Balls families. Also buried here is Bullum, also known as John Allen, the last survivor of the Wangerriburra tribe who had a lifelong association with the family.[1]

Heritage listing

St John's Church was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 26 November 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.[1]

The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.

St. John's Church, Mundoolun is important in demonstrating the pattern of development of South-East Queensland, in particular the evolution of the pastoral district around Beaudesert.[1]

The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage.

As a substantial masonry private family chapel, St John's Church, Mundoolun is a rare and uncommon type of building in Queensland.[1]

The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.

St. John's demonstrates the principal characteristics of an Early English Gothic Revival Church, specifically the use of lancet windows, simple rib vaults, buttresses and the addition of a square, castellated bell tower.[1]

The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.

It has strong architectural and aesthetic qualities derived from an accomplished design, a combination of local materials and fine workmanship and an attractive, bucolic setting.[1]

The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

St John's Church, Mundoolun has a special association with the Collins family, early settlers of the Beaudesert area who became eminent and influential pastoralists with properties and business interests throughout Queensland and the Northern Territory. Robert Martin Collins is important for the pivotal role he played in campaigning for the establishment of a national park in the McPherson Range and for launching the movement for national parks in Queensland in the 1890s. The cemetery contains the graves of many members of the Collins family and Bullum, also known as John Allen, the last survivor of the Wangerriburra tribe, who had a lifelong association with the family.[1]

The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.

The church also has an association with ecclesiastical architect, John Buckeridge.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "St John's Church (entry 601082)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  2. The Brisbane Courier
    . Vol. LXII, no. 14, 863. Queensland, Australia. 31 August 1905. p. 4. Retrieved 14 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Connect". Anglican Church Southern Queensland. Retrieved 21 March 2015.

Attribution

State of Queensland under CC-BY 3.0 AU licence (accessed on 5 September 2014, archived
on 15 October 2014).

External links

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