St Luke's Anglican Church, Toowoomba facts for kids
St Luke's Anglican Church is a beautiful old church in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. You can find it at 152 Herries Street. This church was designed by John Hingeston Buckeridge and finished in 1897. It's a very important building, listed on the Queensland Heritage Register since 2000 because of its history and design.
Quick facts for kids St Luke's Anglican Church, Toowoomba |
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Church and grounds, 2014
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| Location | 152 Herries Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia |
| Design period | 1870s–1890s (late 19th century) |
| Built | 1897–1959 |
| Architect | John Hingeston Buckeridge |
| Architectural style(s) | Gothic |
| Official name: St Lukes Anglican Church, St Luke's Church of England | |
| Type | state heritage (built, landscape) |
| Designated | 28 July 2000 |
| Reference no. | 601878 |
| Significant period | 1890s (historical) 1890s, 1940s, 1950s (fabric) ongoing (social) |
| Significant components | views to, memorial – chapel, trees/plantings, furniture/fittings, memorial – honour board/roll of honour, church, stained glass window/s |
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Contents
A Look Back: St Luke's History
St Luke's Anglican Church is a large building made of bluestone. It stands at the corner of Herries and Ruthven Streets in Toowoomba. The church was built in stages between 1897 and 1959. It followed the original plans by John Hingeston Buckeridge, who was an architect for the Church of England. This building replaced an older church made of timber slabs from the mid-1850s.
Early Days and Reverend Glennie
The Church of England bought the land for St Luke's in Toowoomba in 1854. At that time, a nearby town called Drayton was bigger than Toowoomba. The first Church of England minister, Reverend Benjamin Glennie, settled in Drayton in 1850.
Reverend Glennie had a special plan. He wanted to build four churches on the Darling Downs. Each church would be named after one of the four apostles:
Thanks to Glennie's plan, the church got the land in Toowoomba for its first local church.
The First Church Building
By 1857, a small timber slab building was built on the site. It was used as both a church and a school. Later, in the 1860s, Toowoomba grew into the main town of the Darling Downs. The Church of England then built a new brick church called St James' in a different part of Toowoomba.
Church services moved from the simple St Luke's building to the new St James' church. However, the school stayed at the old slab building. There was a lot of discussion about moving the main church away from the original St Luke's site. Some important church members wanted the church closer to where people lived.
Even though the main church moved, the debate continued for many years. In 1891, the Toowoomba church area was split into northern and southern parts. By the early 1880s, services had started again at the original St Luke's. Small additions were made to the old building. With its own new parish, people worked hard to build a much bigger church on the St Luke's site.
Building the New Church
In 1892, John Hingeston Buckeridge was asked to design a new church made of stone. He was the architect for the church's diocese. In 1894, a local builder named J Renwick was chosen to start the first part of the building work. On March 13, 1895, Lady Norman, the wife of the Queensland Governor, laid the first foundation stone for the new church.
John Hingeston Buckeridge designed many Church of England buildings. He came to Brisbane in 1887 as the church's architect. Before that, he learned from a famous English church architect, John Loughborough Pearson. Buckeridge became very skilled at designing buildings in the Gothic Revival style. He designed many beautiful churches in Queensland.
Design and Features
St Luke's was designed as a traditional Gothic Revival church. This style often looks like old European cathedrals. It has a cross shape when viewed from above, with a long main part (the nave) and two side sections (the transepts). It also has a steeply sloped roof, tall, narrow windows called lancet windows, and pointed arches. The inside is decorated, and it has beautiful stained glass windows.
The original design also included a large bell tower with a pointed roof, called a steeple, at the entrance. The first part of the building included five sections of the nave and a small, many-sided room called a baptistery at the western end. This is where baptisms take place.
Later Additions and Changes
The church community has continued to finish the building in several big stages.
- In 1907, a large organ from England was installed at the eastern end of the church.
- In 1947, a special stained glass window was added. It was designed by William Bustard and made by RS Exton and Co. This window, in memory of the Griffith's family, showed the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the Divine Son. It was a copy of a window from the famous Chartres Cathedral in France. This window was later moved closer to the altar area.
- In 1945, the church decided to finish the eastern part of the building as a war memorial. The foundation stone for these additions was laid in 1947. A new design was made by Charles Beresford Marks. These extensions included the northern transept and the chancel (the area around the altar).
- The extensions were built in stages and finished in 1959. The foundations for the southern transept were also laid at this time, but that part has not been completed yet.
- In the 1960s, the organ was moved to a special organ loft near the altar.
- In 1990, the inside walls of the church were re-plastered.
Church Leaders: Vicars
- 1860–1861: Vincent Ransome
* He was the son-in-law of an early Toowoomba settler, Thomas Alford. After some disagreements in the church, he moved to St Matthew's in Drayton.
- 1929–1957: Rupert Warner Shand
* He was the father of Bishop David Warner Shand. He was also a cousin of Florence Griffiths Buchanan, a pioneering missionary and church worker in Queensland.
What St Luke's Looks Like
St Luke's Anglican Church is a large building made of blue stone. It stands out on the corner of Ruthven and Herries Streets in Toowoomba. Big, old trees, including some tall conifers, surround the building on the Herries Street side.
Gothic Revival Style
St Luke's Church is built in the traditional Gothic Revival style from the late 1800s. This style has several key features:
- It has an (unfinished) cross shape when seen from above.
- The roof is steeply sloped and pointed.
- It has Gothic details like pointed arched openings.
- There are sandstone buttresses (support structures) along the building's walls. These buttresses stick out above the roof line and have triangular tops.
- The bottom parts of the building and the base layers are made of sandstone. A line of sandstone separates the sandstone base from the bluestone walls.
The roof of St Luke's has pointed gables over the eastern altar end, the western entrance, and the completed northern transept. The roof is covered with corrugated iron sheets.
Entrance and Windows
The front of the church, on the western side, has a five-sided section in the middle. This section is not as tall as the rest of the front. Inside, it holds the baptismal font, a basin used for baptisms. This small section has a rounded iron roof and sandstone caps on its walls. Sandstone blocks, called quoining, are found on the corners of this section and around its small, narrow windows. This sandstone quoining is also used on the main front of the building, around the three tall, narrow windows above the baptismal section.
The main entrance to the church is on the northern side, at the western end. It has large double doors set back into a pointed archway. This archway is surrounded by sandstone quoining and decorative mouldings. The wooden doors have large, fancy wrought iron hinges. You reach the door by a short concrete staircase with a sandstone balustrade (railing). Tall, narrow windows with sandstone quoining line the main part of the church (the nave). These windows are separated by sandstone buttresses. The area where the southern transept is planned but not yet built is covered with corrugated iron on the outside. The roof line for this future section has already been built.
Inside the Church
Inside, the church has a main aisle in the middle, separating two rows of pews (church benches). The interior is divided by rows of arches, called arcades, that run along the length of the nave. These arcades support the roof where its slope changes. The arcades are made of groups of sandstone columns from which pointed arches spring. These arches are decorated with groups of sandstone mouldings. The aisles outside the columns connect at both the western entrance and the eastern end behind the altar area, forming a small walkway called an ambulatory.
A beautifully carved wooden altar sits at the eastern end of the building. The inside of the church is filled with a bright blue light from the stained glass window of Mary Queen of Angels. This window is a loose copy of one from Chartres Cathedral. A sandstone pulpit (where sermons are given) and a brass lectern (a stand for reading) are next to and in front of the choir stalls.
In the northern transept of the church, there is a special "Warriors Chapel." It has a carved wooden altar and two "colours" (flags from battles) hanging above the seating. The church also has many memorial tablets, windows, stones, and honour boards. These are often donated items that remember a person or event, showing how important the church is to the families and people of St Luke's.
Why St Luke's is Important
St Luke's Anglican Church was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on July 28, 2000. This means it's recognized as a very important historical site for several reasons:
- It shows how Queensland's history developed.
* St Luke's Anglican Church is a well-designed and important building in Toowoomba. It is one of the main works by John Hingeston Buckeridge, a famous church architect from the 1800s.
- It shows rare or unusual parts of Queensland's history.
* The building is special because it's an unusual example of a bluestone church in Queensland.
- It is beautiful.
* The Griffith's memorial window is especially beautiful. It's a great example of the work of William Bustard, a well-known stained glass artist from Brisbane. The trees around the church also add to its beauty.
- It has a strong connection to the community.
* The church has been a place of worship for many years. It has many memorials, including an impressive War Memorial Chapel, and donated items. These show how important the church is to the families and people who are part of the St Luke's community.
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