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Our 150th Birthday!
Celebration Service
On Sunday21st February 2010 Tthe communtiy of Cooks Hill along with hundreds of its pastand present friends celebrated 150 years of ministry to Newcastle and the Cooks Hill region.
Almost 400 people including the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, surrounding members of the clergy as well as the last two surviving previous rectors of the parish attended what was a magnificent afternoon: with a wonderful time had by all. Below are some pictures to commemorate this fantastic event...
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A little bit of history...
St. John’s is the oldest, still existing, church building in the Newcastle district and is on the Register of the National Estate and has a Permanent Conservation Order under the State Heritage Act 1977. It was built for the largely mining population of Newcastle as Bishop Tyrrell had noted that only the wealthy of the district attended Christ Church and in order that the people may be “reclaimed from practical atheism”.
The new parish included the suburban area at that time as far as Waratah, Lambton, Adamstown and Cardiff in addition, of course, to its mining core in the Glebe and Merewether. In 1856 a school and parsonage were commenced on 1½ acres of land “at present in a state of bush and abutting on the Lake Macquarie Road” (later to become Darby Street). The land was donated by the Australian Agricultural Company (AA Coy) and the new parish was founded on March 1, 1856 by Bishop Tyrrell.
The building of the church commenced in 1857. The foundation stone was laid on Saturday 31st of July that year and the building consecrated on February 20th, 1860. The AA Coy made the money available mainly through the efforts of Walter
Stevenson Davidson, a director and a banker who co-instigated in 1854 a fund to provide money for the construction of churches and schools in this area where the Company had derived considerable wealth through mining and agriculture.
Over time changes have been made to the interior layout and in the early 1950’s a major reconstruction took place, enlarging and raising the Sanctuary and Chancel, raising the floor level and replacing two side aisles with a wide centre aisle.
For more information on our History you can view our historical website