Former St Columba’s Church Homebush West

by Cathy Jones

The former St Columba’s Anglican Church is located at 11 Exeter Street (cnr Hornsey Rd) Homebush West.

St Anne’s – first Anglican Church

In the late 19^th Century, the largest religious group in the Strathfield Council area was the  Church of England.  The first Anglican Church built was St Anne’s Anglican Church, located at corner of Vernon and Brunswick Street Strathfield.  The Rev. Herbert Rose was inducted as the Parish Rector.

As the population grew, so did the demand for a larger church.  In 1892, the site on the corner of Beresford and Homebush Road was acquired and the architectural firm of Sulman and Power were engaged to design the new church, St Anne’s.  The first portion of the Church was completed and dedicated in 1893.  In 1902, the nave was completed and the Chancel was added in 1914.

The architects of St Anne’s were the architectural firm of John Sulman and Joseph Porter Power. John Sulman [1849-1934] was a former resident of Strathfield and designed the Strathfield Council Chambers in 1887.  Some of Sulman and Power’s other designs included The Armidale School [1889], Women’s College University of Sydney [1890-94] and the Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital at Concord.

Building of St Columbia’s Church at Flemington 

The area of Flemington, south of the railway and north of Arthur Street is built on land originally granted to John Fleming in 1806.  This land became under the ownership of James Underwood, which eventually was subdivided and offered for sale in 1882.  A portion of the land was acquired to build Flemington Rail Station in 1884.  Though there was some housing built in the late 19^th century, most of the residential development in Flemington occurred in the early 20^th century, mainly in the form of single storey timber styled cottages.  A small shopping centre developed opposite the rail station on The Crescent (formerly Victoria Crescent) and Henley Road.  The  Homebush West Public  School was built in 1912.

To service the growing population, the Parish of St Anne’s planned to build an Anglican Church in Flemington.   In 1905, the Trustees of the Church of England purchased a site for £120 and a foundation stone was laid by Frederick M. Darley, Lieutenant Governor on 9 December 1905. Sulman & Power were engaged as the architects to design the Church which became named St Columba’s Flemington.  The builder was E W Grant.  The total cost of the building and its contents was £1322 2s 7d. The Church is constructed of brick with a tiled roof.  Elements included an arched top window with contrasting brickwork, a brick tower with a copper spire, brick buttresses and a brick fence.

This church was opened and dedicated for worship on Monday 12th March, 1906.

At the time of St Columba’s foundation the Rector of St Anne’s, the mother Church in the Parish, was Rev H. J. Rose. The first Churchwardens of St Columba’s were H.J. Ferguson, Walter W. Davis and R. Orchard.

Anglicanism was the major religious group until the 1970s in the Strathfield district.  However, with changing demographics, particularly migration from Asia from the late 1970s, local parishioners began to decline, leading to the closure of this church.

This building later operated as the Inner West Baptist Church.

References

’News of the Churches’, 1905 December 20, Australian Town and Country Journal, p57

Sydney Morning Herald, 1906 March 14, p8

Written Cathy Jones 2011.