South Brisbane Congregational Church (former)

The damaged building was sold for removal, and the congregation used the adjacent hall for worship. The following year the church commissioned prominent Brisbane architect T.B.F. Gargett to design a new brick building for the site. The builder, and church historian, Mr E.W. Hiley, apparently suggested the unusual octagonal design. Work commenced in February 1933 and the foundation stones were laid in April. A time capsule containing newspapers, coins and church histories was placed beneath the central foundation stone. 

The new church was dedicated for service on 9 September 1933. The fact that the new building was constructed while the nation was still in the midst of the crippling 1930s depression is a testament to the importance of the church to its members. This importance is also reflected in the legacy of £100 by Mrs Annie Baynes and the donation of three stained glass windows by one member, Mrs Wriggles, who offered the windows in memory of her son, husband and three daughters. Several other gifts were also made. Some items of furniture were recovered from the fire and restored for the new church.

Remarkably, in the 1930s the church was still attended by foundation members: in 1936 the church celebrated the 60 year anniversary of Mr E.G. Schlencker as the church organist. The 1945 annual report listed six members with more than 50 years' membership.

The church played an active role in the war effort during the Second World War, and a regular news bulletin was sent to church members who had joined the forces. In 1948 a motion was passed approving of supervised dancing as part, but not all, of social evenings on Church property. This reflects the fact that despite having several long-term members, the church also had a high membership of young people.

From 1952 the church operated the Eliza Gillies Memorial Kindergarten, which served the local community as well as church members. The post-war baby boom meant such facilities were in short supply in Brisbane in the 1950s.

In 1952 a member of the church, Dorothy Wacker, was accepted as a candidate for the Ministry and subsequently became the first woman to be ordained to the Christian Ministry in Queensland and to the pastoral oversight of the Congregational Church.

In addition to serving the congregation, the South Brisbane Congregational Church and hall provided a meeting place for non-church members within the district. A community centre was established in the 1950s and a film service commenced in 1952. In 1957 a YMCA boys' group started meeting at the church. From 1962, the hall was used by the Queensland Sub-Normal Children's Association during week days, and a social gathering of British immigrants met fortnightly at the hall. Following construction of a new manse in 1965, the church decided to convert the old manse, behind the church into a community centre to serve young people in particular. The Centre included a coffee lounge, reading and study room, a games room, counselling room and caretaker's flat. The former manse is still extant, but is now in private ownership and is used as a family home. 

The South Brisbane population has undergone sweeping changes since the Second World War. In the post-war era many of the Anglo/Irish residents moved away and were replaced by European and later Asian migrant families. Prompted by declining attendance, in the 1970s the Congregational community decided to discontinue services at South Brisbane and combine with the Mt Gravatt Congregational Church. In December 1975 the last Congregational service was held at the church, and the building was handed over to its new owners, the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The church was renamed Saint Nicholas Free Serbian Orthodox Church, and two cupolas were added, in the Russian Orthodox tradition. The building continues to serve the Saint Nicholas  Free Serbian Orthodox congregation, reflecting the changing nature of South Brisbane's population in the second half of this century.

The entry porch, approached by stairs to each side through sprung arch doorways, has three sprung arch window openings to its front wall and a heavily moulded rendered parapet to three sides. The eight facets of the body of the church have spring arched windows in triplets with the windows of the front face extended higher through the string course as an accentuation of this frontage. This front face is capped with a small gable pediment topped with a cross.

The sides of the building originally had smaller ancillary rooms, the front walls of which stepped up, as parapets, towards the main building. Only one of these remains intact on the left side, the one on the right now forms the base of the shorter of the two towers with a column supported arched entry from the side yard. Apart from the towers added in the 1970s, the replacement of the original front fence, and the painting of the brick parapet, the original external appearance is largely intact.

A large but simple timber and tin highset, Interwar style building exists at the rear of the site, connected to the church. This building's plain form is complex and its function is not clear from the street. A roof lantern exists above the approximate centre of the building which could easily light a hall-type space. Timber windows have been replaced with aluminium windows.

1. The Courier Mail, 5 December 1975

2. Hiley, W. 1965 A Century of Witness, 1865-1965: a history of the South Brisbane Congregational Church, Brisbane: South Brisbane Congregational Church