Windsor Presbyterian Church & Hall

The pattern established in that first year of striving to serve the varied needs of the congregation continued for the next few decades. Over the years as the population in the surrounding district grew, so too, the number of worshippers and children attending the Sunday School. To promote better communication with members of the congregation, in 1947 the first issue of the Church News was published and distributed.  Post-war development at nearby Stafford prompted the establishment of a Sunday School in 1948 to serve the needs of the growing number of children in that area. 

Discussion of the possibility of constructing a church hall to meet the needs of the ever increasing congregation began in the early 1950s but subsequent difficulties with the location of a separate building on the existing site delayed plans considerably. By 1957, a decision had been reached about the erection of a hall as an extension of the existing church and the tender of G.H. Heaven of £9385.10.0 for the work was accepted by the congregation.  This decision was rescinded in 1959 and a quote submitted earlier by R. G. Trevethan of  £9838 was accepted. The Commemoration Stone of the new extension was laid on 19 April 1959 and the hall itself dedicated on Sunday 30 August 1959. In 1960-61 the stage area of the Church was remodelled. The efforts of the parishioners were rewarded when, in 1970, the loan to pay for the extension was liquidated. 

The 1970s was a decade of enormous change within churches generally.  In 1977 members of some Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches amalgamated to form the Uniting Church of Australia. Other congregations opted to remain outside the new body. This congregation was one such congregation. At this time, the dwindling numbers in the congregation brought with it the possibility that the Windsor presbytery would revert to Home Mission Status. This occurred on 1 April 1979. The declining numbers appear to have been in part a reflection of the decline in the population of the area, partly a decline in the adherence to religious observance in the wider community, and possibly the divisions within the church at the time of the formation of the Uniting Church.  From 1981, talks were held proposing amalgamation with the adjoining Wilston-Newmarket Presbyterian Church and a petition seeking this change was submitted on 8 November 1981. From 1 January 1982, the church became part of the new joint charge. This does not appear to have constrained the role to be played by the church in the lives of the members of its congregation.

1. The Windsor Presbyterian Church: the auld kirk: the first fifty years, 1934-1984: a brief History

2. Brisbane City Council Water Supply & Sewerage Detail Plans

3. Queensland Post Office Directories

4. Queensland Certificates of Title

5. Windsor and Districts’ Historical Society, historical material relating to churches in the district