West Nundah Methodist Church (former)

1935 was an important year for establishing a Methodist presence in the area when the church trustees purchased four parcels of land fronting Rode Road and a decision was made to build a church hall. 

On 18 December 1935 the transfer to the Methodist Church trustees of resubdivisions 15,16, 17 and 18 were lodged with the Titles Office. This comprised two transactions on the same day. The first was the transfer from Catherine Maud O’Reilly to the Methodist Church of resubdivisions 15 and 16 of subdivision 7 of portion 589 of over 32 perches. The second was the transfer from a group of owners to the church trustees of resubdivisions 17 and 18 of subdivision 7 of portion 589 of over 37 perches. All four resubdivisions were registered with the Titles Office in January 1936.

The next step was the construction of the church hall on Rode Road which opened on 28 May 1938. This building appeared to function as a multi-use building providing a Sunday school, church services and social activities for the local church community. The Rode Road premises were listed in the Post Office Directories during the war years as the West Nundah Methodist Church.

As quoted in Annals Of Achievement: A Review of Methodism 1847-1947: ‘Wavell Heights, a new and thriving suburb, is the most recent area to be provided with the ordinances of the church. A fine hall has been erected and all branches of Christian work have been established and are in a flourishing condition’. 

Extensions were made to the church hall in 1947 to cater for the growing church community in the area following subdivisions of large estates. Land was also purchased for the Geebung church hall in 1946, and the following year land was purchased for a church hall at North Wavell Heights in keeping with expanding suburban settlement of the area. 

In 1955 Wavell Heights separated from the Nundah Circuit and became a separate Circuit, also embracing Geebung and North Wavell Heights.

It has been suggested that Wavell Heights, originally known as West Nundah, changed its name in 1941 because of confusion with postal deliveries. It was named after Field Marsh Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces in the Middle East during 1940-41. 

The opening of the large brick Wavell Heights Methodist Church in 1957, next to what we now know as the Uniting Church Hall, was an important milestone for the church community. It reflected the optimism of the church to cater for the growing residential population in the post war years. This included the building of Housing Commission dwellings and the opening of schools such as the Wavell Heights State Primary School in 1948 and the high school in 1959.

 

The old church hall, which had been operating as the Wavell Heights Methodist Church for some years, reverted to being a church hall once more. A 1956 photograph of the Uniting Church Hall has a sign over the entrance with the words ‘Wavell Heights Methodist Church’ as well as details about church services. 

A new title combining both parcels of land, amounting to nearly half an acre, was issued to the Trustees for the Methodist Church on 27 May 1958. The land was subsequently registered with the Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust of Queensland in June 1988. 

There was further consolidation of church property on Rode Road when the property next to the Uniting Church Hall was purchased. No 147 Rode Road, a former worker’s dwelling, was transferred from Mary Crowe to the Methodist Church in August 1964. The property sale was presumably precipitated by the death of her husband in November 1963. This property was later registered with the Uniting Church Property Trust in June 1988.

The Uniting Church Hall has been an integral part of the Methodist and later Uniting Church community for 64 years, operating both as a church and church hall.

1. Brisbane City Council, Properties on the Web, website, post-1946 building cards

2. Brisbane City Council, 1946 aerial photographs.

3. Brisbane City Council’s Central Library, local history sheets

4. Department of Natural Resources. Queensland Certificates of Title

5. Queensland Post Office Directories, 1940-1949

6. Nundah District Historical Society material

7. Uniting Church records, JOL

8. Notes on Wavell Heights, JOL

9. Rev R.S.C. Dingle ed. Annals of Achievement: A review of Queensland Methodism 1847-1947, JOL