St Johns Anglican Cathedral History
St John’s Cathedral is located near Parramatta railway station and is the oldest church site in Australia in continuous use. In October 1788, soon after the first load of convicts arrived at Sydney Cove, Governor Arthur Phillip took a trip up to find the head of the Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson). Finding inhabitable land there he formed a settlement at Rose Hill (named after Sir George Rose the Under-Secretary of the Treasurer) and mapped out the bare bones of a town that extended from the foot of Rose Hill for one mile eastward along the creek. This place he named Parramatta as this was his interpretation of the name given by the first peoples to the spot on which the town is situated.
The Chaplain of the First Fleet, Reverend Richard Johnson, conducted the first Christian worship in Parramatta on 28 December 1788. Johnson visited Parramatta fortnightly and held services under a tree on the river bank near the present day ferry terminal at the end of Smith Street. The service on Christmas Day 1791 was held in a carpenter’s shop near Governor Phillip’s residence in Parramatta. By then, there were one thousand people living in the district and being ministered by Reverend Johnson.
In a letter to Governor Phillip dated 23 March 1792, Johnson states: “Last spring there was the foundation of a church laid a Parramatta. Before it was finished it was converted into a gaol or lock up house, and now it is converted into a granary. … I go up to Parramatta, as usual, once a fortnight the distance by water about fourteen miles.”
On 10 March 1794, the Reverend Samuel Marsden, who had been appointed Assistant Chaplain, arrived in Parramatta and relieved Johnson of the care of these Western settlements.
The First Timber Church
In 1796 Marsden dedicated a makeshift building of two old timber huts at the corner of George and Marsden Streets (the site of the present-day Law Courts) as the first church building in the settlement. In a letter dated 17 September 1796 at Parramatta, Marsden wrote, “A convict hut is almost now ready for me to preach in at Parramatta, the first building of any kind that has ever been appropriated for that sacred use here since I came to the Colony.”.
On 14 September 1798, Marsden wrote about his first service in this church, attended by twelve worshippers. This reference has caused confusion to historians due to an editor’s note (most likely erroneous) which states that this temporary church was “Built where St John’s now stands.”
In his book In Old Australia: Records and Reminiscences from 1794, Reverend James Samuel Hassall twice mentions the old timber church: “There had been a church, built of timber, at the corner of George and Macquarie (sic) Streets, but it was gone in my time, and a Court-house built upon the site…” and “At Parramatta, the services were held in a carpenter’s shop or in the open air, until, on the first Friday in August, 1796, Mr. Marsden opened a church built out of the materials of two old huts. This temporary place of worship stood at the corner of George and Marsden streets.”
Hassall did not name the streets correctly in the first quote with George and Macquarie Streets being parallel and not intersecting. But the additional information that a court house was later built upon the site shows it to correctly be the corner of George and Marsden Streets, as named in the second quotation. This is likely to be an authoritative location; for, aside from the confusion over the street names, Hassall is a reliable source due to his long-term familiarity with Parramatta and his personal connection to Marsden, the man who established this first, temporary church. Hassall, born in Parramatta in 1823 and educated locally at The King’s School, was the eldest son of Reverend Thomas Hassall and a grandson of Reverend Marsden, both of whom were in Parramatta during its earliest days. Hassall, therefore, would have had ample opportunity to hear about these times from them both before his grandfather Marsden died when Hassall was 15 years old.
Services continued to be held every Sunday in this temporary timber church until the first permanent brick church (on the site of the present St John’s Cathedral) was opened in April 1803.
A Church Made of Brick & Stone
Governor John Hunter was a religious man and was concerned that there were no proper churches. On 1 November 1798, Hunter reported he had laid the foundation of a small church at Parramatta. It was later claimed that the foundation stone of St John’s, the first brick church in Australia, was laid on 5 April 1797.
Foundations were also laid for a stone church at Sydney to measure 150 feet long and 52 feet wide. Preparations for “making a similar building at Parramatta of smaller dimensions” were reported. A Return of Public Works since October 1796 showed that by 25 September 1800, Hunter had “Erected an elegant church at Parramatta one hundred feet length and forty-four feet in width, with a room of twenty feet long raised on stone pillars intended for a vestry or council room.” The Church was open but not complete in 1800. Work proceeded slowly, so when a number of “glaring untruths” were published by “some persons in the Colony for sinister ends,” apparently including the suggestion that there was already a church in Sydney, Governor King was prompted to set the record straight in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks on 21 August 1801: “Nor have we an Elegant stone Church built at Sydney…- one of brick and stone will be finished in the course of the year at Parramatta and the foundation of one at Sydney is just begun.”
In 1802, David Collins published a “Plan & Elevation of a Church Built at Parramatta [sic] New South Wales during the Government of John Hunter Esqr 1800.”
Governor King proclaimed the two first parishes in the colony on 23 July 1802 being St Phillip’s, Sydney and St John’s, Parramatta. On 9 November 1802 he declared that the church being built at Parramatta would be named as St John in honour of the former governor, John Hunter. The new St John’s was opened on 10 April 1803 when Reverend Marsden performed Divine Service for the first time, with a service based on 2 Chronicles c. 6 v.18. The church was described as being sizeable, handsome and well finished though the pews were to yet to be installed. The original Church was stuccoed brick and was more than likely built by convict labourers.
Governor King reported on 1 March 1804 that when he took control the church at Parramatta “was just covering in” [i.e. being roofed] but was now complete. A sketch of the Parramatta Church in the Banks Papers from 1807 apparently sent by Governor Bligh was inscribed “Parramatta Church, built of brick and in a very bad state; unfinished in the inside – Stands in a Swamp.” The last notation may explain why there were problems with the stability of the church. Construction of a brick barrel drain from the 1820s onwards from the market place opposite the church (now the site of Parramatta Town Hall) to the river greatly improved the drainage of this vicinity. Continuing problems with the church were reported over the next few years.
Andrew Houison claimed that the vestry fell down though did not know when this occurred. No other reference to this event can be found but, on 1 August 1810, Governor Macquarie instructed Lieutenant Durie, commandant at Parramatta, to detail Richard Rouse to make temporary repairs to the church, as directed by Marsden, that could be completed “with little labour and Expense.” Durie instructed Rouse to do this within the next few days. In 1812, James Harrax was paid £110 for “Repairs” to the church. From 1 October to 31 December 1813, repairs to St John’s to the value of £431/3/4 were completed.
Early 19th Century Alterations
In an article in the Parramatta Historical Society Journal, Frank Walker refers to Watts’s drawing folder held in the State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, which includes drawings of the towers and spires; one of the drawings bears the watermark of 1813 and has Macquarie’s initials written on it. Also in the portfolio is an excellent water-colour of St Mary’s Church by Watts with a note in Macquarie’s hand that he laid the foundation stone on 23 December 1818. Like the 1803 church, though, the rest of the labour on the towers, which were completed in 1819, was most likely the result of convict labour.
When listing achievements in the colony, Macquarie noted that at Parramatta he had “The Old Church repaired, new roofed, lengthened and greatly improved, inside and out, new Chancel and Spire being added thereto, the Outer Walls stuccoed in imitation of Stone, and the Church Yard enclosed with a neat Paling.”
Featured above left: St John’s Church, 1913, Parramatta, Sydney, from publication Centenary Celebrations
In 1902, Reverend James Samuel Hassall, published his book In Old Australia, Records and Reminiscences from 1794, in which he gives the following description of this church:
Featured right: Stone from St Mary’s Church, Reculver, and explanatory plaque
“The church, in which my grandfather officiation, old St John’s, was a large brick building, stuccoed, with two towers and spires. The church itself was removed afterwards, and was rebuilt of stone, all but the towers, which are still standing. …Within were high pews and galleries. The soldiers sat in one gallery, and afterwards, the King’s School Boys in another. A high pulpit stood in the middle of the church. I remember my grandfather preaching from it about the patriarchs and saying that Abraham was a squatter on Government ground. The reading-desk was below the pulpit, and the clerk’s desk somewhat lower still. The clerk’s desk was occupied for many years by Mr. J. Staff, who repeated the responses and amens in a loud voice and gave out the hymns.”
In 1838 Reverend Marsden died and was replaced by Reverend H. H. Bobart, his son-in-law.
1850’s Reconstruction
St John’s was damaged by a fierce storm on 21 December 1841 when the chamber between the two towers was heavily damaged by lightning. Its shingles and rafters were ripped apart and the roofing lead was swept away. “The whole west end appears shaken” wrote an observer. At a meeting in the vestry in 14 April 1846, Reverend HH Bobart noted the poor condition of the church roof. A campaign commenced to raise funds to replace it.
In April 1850, it was reported St John’s had two roofs, and the outer one was leaking water into the cavity where it ran into the walls. The steeples were losing their shingles. The exterior timber needed paint and the stucco on the walls was flaking away. By June 1852, the Church was reported to be a “perfect ruin”. The roof was removed and the walls needed replacing. When removing the laths, the ceiling joists fell in several places. A decision had already been made to replace the church. Local architect and builder James Houison was contracted to complete the new nave and chancel for £1,350 ($2,700).
Late in July 1852, when workmen were removing the foundations of the church during demolition, they found a copper sheet in Latin. It translates as, “The foundation stone of this church was laid Anno Domini 1799, during the Governorship of John Hunter. George III, King of England, has reigned 38 years”.
Reverend H. H. Bobart and churchwardens Francis Watkins, E. Rowling and J. McManus were responsible for the plan of the new church. It would be “Saxon” in design (i.e. Norman) with semi-circular windows and doors, with interior arches and columns of similar character. Proposals to include Gothic windows were rejected by the churchwardens, as it would confuse the design. The Herald suggested that a “massive Saxon door” be erected at the western end. In 1915, the Minister W J Gunther reported that the “Norman doorway” between the two towers was the design of Reverend H. H. Bobart.
Bishop William Broughton, when laying the foundation stone on 11 August 1852 (before his return to England) also changed the dedication of the church when he noted that he laid “the foundation stone of a Church to be rebuilt in this place named the Church of St John the Evangelist”.
The nave and aisles were re-opened for Divine Service on 1 July 1855. Gunther stated this was when church was dedicated. The Church was properly consecrated by a service by Bishop Barker on 19 March 1858. The towers were re-coated and lightning conductors were added and galvanised tiles replaced the shingles. By April 1858, the cost of rebuilding the church, repairing the towers and erecting a lodge amounted to (Pounds)5,864 ($11,728) with (Pounds)900 ($1,800) still owed to Houison. Re-building in stone removed the older brick church except the towers erected by Watts for Macquarie. In the renovations of the 1850s, the tower windows were altered to round headed ones to accord with the Norman style of architecture.
The land had not yet been granted to the Church. On 11 January 1856, surveyor M. Burrowes transmitted his plan of the Church land for grant purposes. It showed the church outline on the site plus some small buildings in the south-west corner of the site (C.584.730 Crown Plan). On 22 December 1857, the United Church of England and Ireland was granted the church site as 1 acre 2 roods 18 perches (Grants, volume 330, No 57/3, Lands). The 1856 Plan of Site aligns with Lot 2 DP 1110057 (at October 2009).
The church lands were enlarged around 1911 with the addition of a land parcel fronting Hunter Street on the north-western boundary of the site. The 1910 Memorial Church hall and later church hall additions were built on this additional land parcel (which aligns with Lot 1 DP1110057 at October 2009).
The foundation stone of two transepts designed by Blacket and Sons was laid on 24 April 1883. Cyril Blacket appears to have completed the design after he borrowed Houison’s plans and matched his detail so that the new work blended in successfully. Robert Kirkham a Sydney stonemason and contractor undertook the construction work. This was completed in November 1883 and a service held. Additionally, the lower part of the towers was re-cemented to 8 feet above the ground. In a fierce storm on 10 November 1885 lightning struck the lightning rod on the tower but jumped across into the tower wall cracking it and blasting a hole a foot in diameter, shearing off plaster and smashing the vestry ceiling.
With the addition of the transepts and vestries in 1885 the church building took on its present form.
On 15 September 1917 the laying of the foundation stone of the Royal Memorial Gateway was carried out by the Lt-Governor. This memorial to the soldiers of St. John’s was opened and dedicated by the Governor General on 23 March 1918 before a crowd of “thousands of spectators”. The Governor-General had secured King George V’s permission to place the royal coat of arms over the gates.
A peal of 13 bells (the memorial carillon) was installed in the southern tower in 1923 and these were dedicated before a crowd of “about 4,000 persons” by the Archbishop of Sydney on 26 May 1923.
During the 1960s, in the process of re-coating the towers, workmen found that in the course of original construction, rough bush poles inserted into the brickwork had provided scaffolding. They were cut off as the rendering work proceeded from the top of the tower to the bottom.
St. John’s was granted the status of a Provisional Cathedral with the appointment of the first Bishop in Parramatta in 1969, who became the Bishop of Western Sydney in 1998.
The Cathedral grounds were first opened to the public in 1953. Since the 1986 closure of Church Street to motor vehicles, the parish council administration, St John’s clergy and Parramatta City Council have worked cooperatively to open up the church’s grounds to community access and use.
Although the church building is a traditional cruciform Anglican church, the uses to which it is put continue to evolve. Services range from traditional prayer book with organ music, hymns and robed clergy to modern more informal styles using contemporary music and instruments and incorporating computerised sound and projection systems. Also St. John’s now reflects the rich cultural diversity of the City of Parramatta with services being conducted in four languages: English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Farsi.
Description
The Setting & Grounds
St. Johns Anglican Cathedral sits (today) in the heart of Parramatta’s Centennial Square, its former town square and Governor Macquarie’s market place.
The extensive church grounds (which are open to the public) are largely landscaped with flower beds, lawns, hedges and several established trees. A small late Victorian cottage, probably originally the verger’s cottage, is located on the south-west corner of the site. The Royal Memorial Gates stand at the Church Street entrance to the grounds. These were erected in 1918 by the congregation as a memorial to men and women who volunteered for service in World War I. The pillars of the gates serve as a roll of honour and include the memorial’s dedication on 23 March 1918. The stonework over the gateway displays the Royal Arms, permission for this being granted by King George V in November 1917.
The surroundings of the cathedral are grassed to south and east, and paved to west and north, with some English oak (Quercus robur) trees and a brush box (Lophostemon confertus) amongst paving. A number of hybrid plane trees (Platanus x hybrida) also mark the north-running alignment of Church Street south to the cathedral. Several plaques around the oldest oak, commemorate the commencement and completion of the Church Street mall, which was the last major transformation of this space, closing off this section fo Church Street between Darcy and Macquarie Streets, making it a pedestrian only space.
Major trees south of the cathedral include jacarandas (Jacaranda mimosifolia) and brush boxes along the southern boundary of the space and further north. A mature Norfolk Island hibiscus / white oak / cow itch tree (Lagunaria patersonia) is also to the cathedral’s south-east, in lawn. A line of hybrid plane trees traces the former kerb line of Church Street through what is now paved pedestrian mall.
The Church Hall
The 1910 Memorial Church Hall and its associated later buildings are located in the north-west corner of the Centennial Square/the Cathedral grounds which provide hall and parish office premises and car parking.
The Cathedral
The cathedral itself was built in three main stages, St John’s Anglican Cathedral combines Victorian Romanesque style with an (earlier) pair of Old Colonial Gothic towers.
The oldest part of the current building, the two western towers, were built between 1817 and 1819 on apparently new foundations to replace the collapsed vestry. The towers are modelled on the towers of the ruined 12th century Saxon Church of St Mary’s at Reculver, Kent, England. The towers are four-storey structures of handmade sandstock bricks overlaid with cement render to give the appearance of stone. Each tower is divided into four storeys by string courses and topped by a tall copper clad spire. The corners have rendered quoins. Each level of the towers has small arched openings on the external faces. The openings on the top levels have louvred vents. On the first floor the openings have a window sash divided into a pair of pointed arches. At the ground floor of the towers, there is a pair of arched openings. The northern tower has a black clock face with gold markings on the upper floor of the north face. The spires are pyramidal with a broached base and are each topped by a cross. On each face of the spires is a vent.
The rest of the church building is constructed from local sandstone in the Victorian Romanesque style. This is demonstrated in the round-headed windows, round arches and columns in the nave and plain pillars. The mouldings and motifs of the door and panelling all display particular features of the style. Features of the Romanesque style are repeated internally and externally on the stonework and preserved in the later woodwork and fittings.
The nave and chancel of the church were built between 1852 and 1855 under the direction of James Houison, a noted architect and builder of Parramatta. The style of the church is Victorian Romanesque, due to the decision of Reverend H. H. Bobart and his church wardens that the new church should be Saxon (ie Norman) in design. A gabled roof with parapets at the east and west end is centred between the towers. Lower roofs over the side aisles are terminated at the west end by the towers.
Transepts added in 1883 to the design of Cyril Blacket continued the Saxon theme. An entry porch is located on the northern side. Vestry rooms are located on the eastern side of the transepts. The walls are of sandstone, smooth faced and margined to the quoins and sparrow pecked to the main walls. The roof is clad with slate shingles. Guttering is copper with a quad profile. Rainwater heads have the Fleur de Lis motif representing the trinity.
The church has its main entry at the west end, between the towers, facing the eastern end of Hunter Street. The entry is a large arch with moulded recesses. Above the arch is a pair of arched windows then a circular window near the top of the gable.
The faces on either side of the eastern and western windows are reminiscent of early medieval ecclesiastical architecture as are the crude lion heads above the eastern windows.
The mouldings on the western door are repeated in part on all of the internal woodwork, reredos, communion table, pulpit and round the external stonework of the windows. The western door has five rows of mouldings:
- a triple row of chevrons (zigzags), the most common of the decorations,
- beakheads. A grotesque and crude ornament suggesting either a head with a beak or a tongue hanging out like a cat’s. The western door has three different beakhead designs, carved in pairs and repeated in sequence. The heads characterise owls, pigs and cats.
- ball flowers. A spherical flower with three lobes opening to show an enclosed sphere. This was commonly used in the 14th century.
- cog-like design, representing the teeth on a cog.
- chevrons, repeated.
The nave of the church is divided by buttresses into four bays between the transepts and the tower. Each bay has an arched opening to the nave and to the aisle with a series of recessed mouldings. The chevron motif, typical of Saxon design, features in the recesses. A label mould finishes the top of the openings. The east wall of the church has three tall arched openings. All the windows to the church have stained glass. At the eaves and near the top of the parapet walls, the stonework is finished with a dentilated motif. Stone crosses top the east and west facing parapet gables. Metal finials are at the top of the north and south parapet gables.
Inside the Cathedral, the reredos repeats the chevron and ball flower designs and also includes billets, which are small cylindrical blocks set in a hollow. These are also carved into the stone below the eastern windows. Another common motif that decorates the pulpit is the dog-tooth which consists of a row of pyramidical projections, each carved with four leaves.
The Cathedral’s present day interior contains church furniture, furnishings and stained glass windows as well as a number of memorials and items of historical significance. These include:
- the 1599 Geneva (Breeches) Elizabethan Bible from Bath, England, located in the south transept;
- the London-made clock installed in 1821 in the northern tower;
- the 1846 tapestry, with portraits, that illustrates the unusual three-decker pulpit (for the rector, curate and clerk) that was used at St John’s until 1855;
- the JW Walker pipe organ brought from England in 1862, installed in the western gallery in 1863 and moved to the north transept in 1900;
- 13 memorial bells installed in the southern tower in 1923 with associated tablet;
- the font carved from totara wood and inlaid with paua shell, gifted by representative Maoris from New Zealand and installed in 1969 to commemorate the ministry of the Rev Samuel Marsden (the first rector of St John’s), to the Maoris’ from 1814;
- a piece of stone from the Reculver Towers of the 12th century St Mary’s Church, Kent, England with associated plaque mounted in the west wall;
- tapestries depicting Parramatta landmarks and flora located in the Sanctuary, the Chancel and some front pews.
There are significant memorials located within the Cathedral’s interior, including the stained glass windows memorial tablets. Pre-1850 tablets commemorate the Rev Samuel Marsden (died 1838); Elizabeth Jane, wife of Governor Bourke (died 1832); John Blaxland (died 1845), and the first confirmation in Australia (1836).
St Johns Cathedral Portfolio
