Holy Trinity Church, Adelaide facts for kids

Trinity City, also known as Holy Trinity Church Adelaide, is an important Anglican church in Adelaide, South Australia. You can find it at 88 North Terrace in the city. Trinity City holds church services every Sunday and has many other meetings during the week.

A Look at Trinity City's Past

Trinity City is very special because it has parts of the oldest surviving Anglican church building in South Australia. One amazing feature is the William IV window, which arrived in Adelaide way back in 1836.

How the Church Land Was Given

The land where the church stands was a gift from Pascoe St Leger Grenfell. He also gave 40 acres of country land. This country land was meant for a cemetery and "glebe" lands. Glebe land is a special term for land that helps provide money for the church minister.

Important people like Raikes Currie and Reverend Sir Henry Robert Dukinfield helped manage the funds. They passed their responsibilities to James Hurtle Fisher, Osmond Gilles, and Charles Mann. These men were key leaders in the new colony. The main goal was to use the city land for a church, a school, and a home for the minister. The country land was for a cemetery and to support the church.

Building the First Church

The church was built in three main stages. At first, they planned to bring a church building that was already made from England. But when this "prefabricated" building arrived, it was badly damaged. So, they decided to build a stone church instead. Henry J. Moseley was the builder.

Governor Hindmarsh laid the first stone on 28 January 1838. The church opened in August of that year, just two years after Adelaide was settled. The church quickly became a famous landmark. It had a tower with a "peaked cap" and a special clock made by Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy. He was the clockmaker to King William IV.

Changes and Rebuilding Over Time

In 1844, the church closed for repairs. The clock was taken down to keep it safe. The main part of the church was rebuilt and given a new roof. The tower also lost its "peaked cap." The church reopened in August 1845.

When Bishop Short arrived in 1847, Holy Trinity became very important. It served many of the duties of a main cathedral. It was the church for governors, important families, and the military until other churches were built.

In 1878, there was a plan to rebuild the church, but it didn't happen right away. In the mid-1880s, the church decided to completely rebuild. They used a design by the famous architect Edward John Woods. This is when the name "Holy Trinity" became common.

The church hall and the rectory (the minister's house) are also important. The hall was built in 1887 with a gift from a church member. The original rectory was a prefabricated building that arrived in better shape than the church. It was replaced in 1851 and served as home for seven ministers. Today, it is used as offices.

Reverend Lance Shilton, who later became the Dean of Sydney, was the minister of Holy Trinity from 1957 to 1973.

What Trinity City Does Today

Trinity City is a large evangelical and traditional Anglican church. Its main building is right next to the University of South Australia (Uni SA) City West campus. The church works with students from Uni SA and Adelaide University through the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students.

Members of Trinity City Church are also involved with the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and Scripture Union. Trinity has a Sunday school for younger children. There is a youth group for high school students and a group for young adults. They also have a women's meeting during the week and many small Bible study groups.

Trinity is part of the Adelaide diocese. It trains many of its own staff through programs like the Ministry Training Strategy and the Bible College of South Australia. In 2007, Trinity helped start "Equip." This program trains people for Evangelical Anglican churches in South Australia.

Churches Started by Trinity City

Holy Trinity has helped start nine other churches in different areas:

• Trinity Church Aldgate, in the Adelaide Hills
• Trinity Church Brighton, near the beach in Hove, South Australia
• Trinity Church Modbury, in Modbury, South Australia
• Trinity Church Colonel Light Gardens, in Colonel Light Gardens, South Australia
• Trinity Church Mount Barker, in Mount Barker, South Australia
• Trinity Church Victor Harbor, in Victor Harbor
• Trinity Church Golden Grove, in Golden Grove
• Trinity Church Unley, in Unley
• Trinity Church Woodcroft, in Morphett Vale, South Australia

Special Heritage Listings

Trinity City has been recognized as an important historical building.

State Listing

The building was added to the South Australian Heritage Register on 11 September 1986. This means it is protected by the state government.

National Listing

The building was also listed on the now-closed Register of the National Estate on 21 October 1980. This listing described the church and why it is important: It was the very first church in South Australia. The original building was from 1838. It was rebuilt and made bigger in 1844-45, and then rebuilt again in 1888. Only the lower parts of the current church and tower are from the original 1838 building. The clock was made in 1836 for South Australia. The church also has the William IV Window, which is thought to be the oldest window in South Australia. It came with the prefabricated church structure in 1836.

The church is very important historically because it has parts of the oldest church building still standing in South Australia. It has been part of many important events since the colony began. The William IV window is especially notable because it arrived in the first year of the colony. It is probably the oldest window still around in South Australia.

Images for kids

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  Holy Trinity Church

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  South Australian Church Notice 1836

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  Illustration of Holy Trinity Church, Adelaide, 1845.

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  Photograph of the Holy Trinity, late 1800s