Auchenflower Methodist Church (former)

From 1904, Munro’s land was heavily subdivided into residential blocks. This subdivision brought a greater population to the locality that, in turn, provided the necessary support base for a new church. Trustees obtained a block of land measuring 1 rood and 18 perches on behalf of the Methodist Church in July 1910.

Methodists first arrived in the Pacific in 1796 as members of a London Missionary Society deputation. The first Methodist gathering was held in Sydney in 1812. Throughout colonial times the Methodist church relied heavily on itinerant ministers and Lay preachers; a successful tactic in frontier environments. One writer has suggested that this made the Methodist Church “the most Australian of churches.”1 In the second half of the nineteenth century, a number of representatives from the various branches of the Methodist Church were active in Moreton Bay. Wesleyan Methodists held their first services here as early as 1847. Primitive Methodists and Bible Christians arrived in the colony in 1856 and 1866 respectively. The first Methodist church service in Brisbane was conducted in the home of Mr T.T. Makepeace at Mogill in 1856.

The decision to create a church in Auchenflower was taken in 1910 by the Toowong branch of the Methodist Church. £452 was allocated, and a two storey Church was duly constructed in Munro Street and opened on 17 August 1910. For a time it was the only non-conformist church in the locale and it was popular with the surrounding community. The church building included a large hall that was of great community benefit, and, in 1922, the lower floor of the building was leased to the Department of Public Instruction for use as an Infants’ School. This arrangement continued until 1961. The same space also accommodated the local Boy Scout Troop and Cub pack until 1933.

Unfortunately, the church was destroyed by fire on 7 October 1939. This was a severe blow to the congregation as the building was only partly insured. Nevertheless, the parishioners raised the extra funds required to replace the building, and an architect, George Murray Colledge, was contracted to design a new church that very closely resembled the old one. There is some evidence to suggest that the new church incorporated some surviving elements of the original. Nevertheless, the current church is almost wholly a new structure. It is thought that the central, large stained glass window in the southern wall may be from the original church. 

George Murray Colledge, a Scot, had a career of note with the Queensland Government. His positions included the posts of Chief Architect Surveyor and Valuator, Assistant Under Secretary for Public Works, and Government Representative and Chairman of the Board of Architects of Queensland. He retired from Government service in 1939.

G. Warendorf of Taringa undertook the construction of the new church at a cost of £1 790. It was opened in June 1940. The new building incorporated leadlight windows in honour of Mrs V.M. Mark, Mr R.W.E. Mark, and Mrs V. Price, all of who had been faithful servants of the Munro Street church. Several leadlight windows were stolen from the building during recent extensions and alterations to the building. These changes were done to suit the current use of the building as a learning centre for hearing impaired children.

It is possible that the leadlight windows are the work of William Bustard, a celebrated Brisbane artist who specialised in leadlight and stained glass windows. The remaining windows feature in the southern wall of the upper storey. A plaque beneath the central window reads: “Presented by Mrs Mark in memory of her late husband, Mr R.W.E. mark. 1 June 1940”.

William Bustard was born on 18 April 1894 in Terrington, Yorkshire, England. He studied art at several art schools in England before commencing at the famous Slade School of Fine Art. His training in stained glass techniques at James Powell & Son’s Whitefriars Glass Works in London was interrupted by his service in World War I which left him with tuberculosis. Whitefriars was instrumental in reviving 19th century stained glass techniques and was influenced by the work of William Morris and Burne-Jones. Bustard immigrated to Australia in 1921, where he worked as a stained glass designer for the Brisbane firm of R.S. Exton & Co. until 1958. He also served in the RAAF during World War II as a camouflage artist from 1943, according to Patricia Prentice who worked with Bustard in 1941. After the closure of Extons in 1958, Bustard collaborated with Leadlights Pty. Ltd of East Brisbane. He died in Labrador in 1973. 

Bustard was a prolific and talented artist and window designer and his works can be found in hundreds of churches, halls and private residences in Australia, including in 5 cathedrals. Known examples of his work in Brisbane include the windows of: St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Hamilton; St. John’s Cathedral; St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Ann Street; Holy Spirit Catholic Church, New Farm; Somerville House, South Brisbane; St. Stephen’s Cathedral; St Matthew’s Anglican Church, Sherwood; Kings College, St. Lucia and many others. 

Further investigation is necessary to determine whether the windows in the former church in Munroe Street, Auchenflower were designed by Bustard. His work included leadlight windows such as those found at the former church in Munro Street which bear some similarity to windows in a Southport church in Wight Street.

When the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches amalgamated to form the Uniting Church in 1977, the Auchenflower Methodist church was closed and the congregation moved to the Uniting Church in Jephson Street. In 1980, the Apostolic Church acquired the building and began its own church services there. The Apostolic Church owned the building until 1998. 

The former Auchenflower Methodist Church is now owned by the Hear and Say Centre for Deaf Children and provides a valuable community service. The building has been providing community services to the Auchenflower residents for more than 60 years. 

The site has been significant on the social landscape of Auchenflower for a considerable period, and was no doubt meaningful in the lives of many people across several generations. The two churches, acting as a Methodist church, a school, a Scout hall, an Apostolic church, and lately as a community centre for deaf children, have served the local community for a combined total of more than 90 years.

The present building was built in 1939 and although similar in plan and general design to the previous building, lacks some of its refinement and decorative detailing. The roofs also do not appear to be as steeply pitched as the previous church, while the windows are wider casement timber windows

The building currently presents a large transverse gable roof to the street front with a large hipped extension at one gable end and a street-facing gable protruding perpendicularly to the main roof on the left side. 

The striking leadlight windows, very likely the work of William Bustard, have a simple and elegant design with bright gold and grey-blue tones, their design taking inspiration from the art nouveau style. Unfortunately some of the smaller windows have disappeared in the course of the recent renovations to the building. 

Although its internal spaces have been substantially altered and the area between the two wings at the front has been enclosed with a two storeys glazed area, the building retains its general external appearance and its landmark quality.

1. J.D. Bollen, cited in The Oxford Companion to Australian History

2. Apperly, Richard, Robert Irving and Peter Reynolds. A Pictorial Guide to Identifying Australian Architecture: Styles and Terms from 1788 to the Present. North Ryde: Angus & Robertson, 1989

3. Brisbane City Gallery. Notes and photocopied material on William Bustard exhibition

4. Brisbane City Council Building Registers

5. Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Detail Plans

6. Brisbane Centenary Official Historical Souvenir 1923

7. Brisbane Post Office Directories

8. Courier Mail, October 1939.

9. Department of Natural Resources, Queensland. Certificates of Title and other records

10. Davison, Graham, (et al). Oxford Companion to Australian History. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998

11. Pearn, John. Auchenflower, the Suburb and the Name (Brisbane: Department of Child Health Publishing Unit , 1997)

12. Prentice, Patricia. “Tradition and transition: Bill Bustard’s stained glass” in Cooke, Glenn R. (ed.). Art Off Centre: Placing Queensland Art. Brisbane: Queensland Studies Centre, Griffith University, date?

13. Watson, Donald and Judith McKay. A Directory of Queensland Architects to 1940. (St. Lucia: U of Q Press, 1984)

14. Information kindly provided by Patricia Prentice, artist and colleague of William Bustard. Phone conversation 22 October 2001