St Peters Church (former)

Throughout the 1880s and 1890s many of the larger parcels of land in the district were subdivided and offered for sale as 16 perch housing allotments, particularly in the Stamford Estate located between Musgrave Road and Coonan Street, and Belgrave Road and Station Road. Richmond Estate between Riverview Terrace and Musgrave Road, and Riverview Estate between Finney and Witton Creek, were originally sold in larger allotments. A punt ferry complimented the rail service by providing a cross-river service for travellers wishing to use their own means of transport. By this time the local Aboriginal population had all but disappeared. Disease and displacement had severely reduced their numbers, and legislation designed to ‘protect’ them from disease and abuse, facilitated their complete removal from urban areas. 

By the turn of the century Indooroopilly had a well established European community and was rising steadily as an elite suburb with all the facilities and conveniences of a modern urban centre. The 1893 floods which destroyed the railway bridge, while having a devastating effect on the development of the suburbs on the south side, did little to impede the progress of this elevated area. A new rail bridge, the Albert, was opened in 1895. Station Road was becoming established as a retail and community centre. By the early 1920s the post office, a fruiterer, draper, butcher, boot-maker and stables were located there as well as a number of general stores. 

Prior to the establishment of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Indooroopilly area had Methodist representation from as early as 1872 in the form of a Primitive Methodist mission under the direction of Reverend Joseph Buckle. Initially the Primitive Methodist mission had purchased five acres from the Government on which the first meeting place was built. However, with the increased settlement in the area the need for a Wesleyan Methodist church became apparent. 

In 1890 the Reverend Robert Stewart and Charles Highfield purchased a thirty-two perch block of land on the corner of Moggill Road and Rylatt Street. Previously this land had been included in the larger parcel of land owned and subsequently subdivided by George Rylatt. In April 1891 Trustees for the land, under the provisions of “The Wesleyan Methodist Model Deed of Queensland”, were appointed and a mortgage for £1250 was taken out on behalf of the Wesleyan Methodist Church for the construction of the timber church. The Wesleyan 

Methodist Church was first listed in the Post Office Directories in 1891, confirming that the church was built in 1890-91. Originally the building had its frontage to Rylatt Street. Whereas today the building sits in a north-south direction, the church originally was built in an east-west direction. 

Of the population of Queensland in 1881, 73 900 or 34.6% were declared adherents of the Church of England. Catholics reached 25.5%, and other Protestant religions made up 34%. Of the Protestants, the Wesleyan Methodist and Primitive Methodist group made up 8.28%, reducing to 7.0% by 1891.

In 1896 the Indooroopilly Wesleyan Methodist Church amalgamated with the Indooroopilly Primitive Methodist Church (at that time located in Riverview Terrace) as a result of financial hardship. The church then became known as the Indooroopilly Methodist Church. 

As the congregation strengthened in the early twentieth century a new Methodist Church building was proposed for Indooroopilly. Prior to World War I the population of the Indooroopilly district increased markedly and the minister of the time, Reverend W. Little, organised the acquisition of land at the corner of Station and Mulgrave Roads. It was proposed to initially move the old church there and to erect a new church at a later date. The removal did not take place. Ultimately the Toowong Circuit resolved to build a brick church on the sloping site with a school hall underneath. The outbreak of the First World War and the tragedy of the Gallipoli Campaign led to the church being dedicated as an Anzac memorial. 

In 1916 the church and land fronting Moggill Road was sold to the Diamond True Blue Loyal Orange Lodge, a Protestant organisation formed to maintain Protestant control of Irish politics. In the colonies, the True Blue Loyal Orange Lodges remained closely associated with the original principles and distinguished themselves in areas of benevolent and charitable works. 402 Moggill Road remained an Orange Lodge until 1924. 

In 1936 the land was purchased by the Synod of the Diocese of Brisbane and became an Anglican Church in 1937. Several minor changes were made to the original building at this time including the creation of a chancel where the main entrance once was and an entrance created on the western side of the building.  The church in this period was named St Peter’s. 

In 1959 the church building was moved on the site, giving the building its north-south axis and a Moggill Road frontage. In the same year the adjacent hall/church brick building was built. This building was designed by Brisbane architect Stephen Trotter and constructed at a cost of £5, 400. This building, however, does not meet the criteria for inclusion onto the City Plan Heritage Register. Only the original 1891 timber church is included in the listing.

1. History Papers and History Notes 2002-2003, ed. Robin Trotter, Indooroopilly and District Historical Society, Indooroopilly, 2005

2. Donald Watson and Judith McKay, Queensland Architects of the Nineteenth Century, South Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1994

3. Judy Gale Rechner, Brisbane House Styles 1880 to 1940: a guide to the affordable house, Brisbane: Brisbane History Group Studies No. 2, 1998

4. Historic Titles, Department of Natural Resources and Water

5. Queensland Post Office Directories

6. Metropolitan Water and Sewage Survey Maps, 1949

7. Rev R S C Dingle ed Annals of Achievement: A Review of Queensland Methodism 1847- 1947, Queensland Book Depot, Brisbane, 1947