Hill End Child Care Centre (former church)

David Forest Mitchell first purchased the subdivisions on which the Mission Rooms were constructed in December 1878. He held the land for ten years, eventually transferring it to Alexander James Lamont, Thomas William Wilson, and James Allan in September 1888. These men were probably involved with the Presbyterian Church, and the Mission Rooms were constructed before the property was ultimately transferred to the church proper in 1898.

The Presbyterian Church has a long history in Queensland, beginning with the first services held by John Dunmore Lang in 1845. The Park Presbyterian Church was constructed at the junction of Cordelia and Glenelg Streets, South Brisbane, opposite Musgrave Park, and was completed in 1885. This church had been built to relieve pressure on the Presbyterian churches already in existence on Ann and Grey streets. The new church was soon swamped by attendances, however, and this could have led to the construction of the Mission Rooms in 1891 or 1892.  

Sources suggest that the Mission Rooms may have struggled initially, and that closure had been seriously considered. The situation seems to have turned around in the early part of the twentieth century, however, and extensions to the building were undertaken in 1914, the Mission having been able to raise the £250 required for the alterations.  By 1919 Post Office Directories confusingly refer to the Mission Rooms as the “Park Presbyterian Church,” and later, from 1926, as the Hill End Presbyterian Church. It seems that the building served as a church proper from about 1919.

The property stayed in Presbyterian hands until 1980 when, as a result of the amalgamation of the Presbyterian, Congregational, and Methodist Churches, the Rooms and land was vested in the Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust. In 1988, it was converted to a child care centre. The decision to do this may have been prompted by the impending Expo 88. Hill End Child Care Centre still occupies the building.

Recently a covered deck has been added to the right side of the church with a slat balustrade and skillion corrugated roof. A number of large trees grace the yard of the property.

1. Brisbane City Council Water Supply & Sewerage Detail Plans

2. Department of Natural Resources, Queensland Certificates of title and other records.

3. Environmental Protection Agency

4. JOL Estate Map Collection and photographic collection

5. McKellar's Map of Brisbane and Suburbs. Brisbane: Surveyor-General’s Office, 1895

6. Park Presbyterian Church 1849-1899 Jubilee Services, 1899