Nudgee Methodist Church (former)

In 1888, a number of Methodists met at Nudgee to plan for the erection of a local place of worship. Charles Atthow donated 16 perches of his land near the intersection of Northgate (later renamed Earnshaw) and Tufnell Roads for the purposes of the erection of a Wesleyan Methodist Church. A small (25ft. by 20ft.) timber building, named the Nudgee Methodist Church was erected on the Northgate Road site in that year. At that time the area that encompassed Banyo, Nudgee and parts of Northgate and Virginia was collectively known as the Nudgee District and the Methodist Church was built to service the spiritual and social needs of the surrounding farming community. Some prominent local farmers were appointed as the first trustees of the Nudgee Methodist Church. These were Charles Atthow, John Gray, James Buchanan, Ambrose Peter Rode, and John and William Bulcock Robinson. In 1889, the Reverend W. Pearson was brought down from Bundaberg to join the Reverend W. Dyson as the first circuit ministers for Nudgee.  

Charles Atthow subdivided Portion 214 in 1890, retaining Subdivision B for himself. When a new title deed was issued to Atthow on 3 March 1890, it revealed that he had reduced his land holdings down to 17 acres, 3 roods and 24 perches. Atthow lived in Brisbane Town and he used the land for investment purposes. Thus on 3 April 1890, he obtained a mortgage of ₤200 through the National Mutual Life Association of Australia Limited. He obtained a second mortgage for ₤700, from the same source, on 9 October 1891. On 19 November 1897, Atthow transferred ownership of the land to Carl Frederich and William Albert Gerler. Residents of Hendra, the Gerlers were in partnership and they proceeded to further subdivide the land. A small house block, comprising 16.1 perches were transferred back to the church trustees Charles Atthow, John Gray, James Buchanan, Ambrose Peter Rode, William Friedrich Schulz, John Christain Henry Schulz and local farmers John and William Bulcock Robinson on 6 December 1898. This arrangement formalised the Methodist Church’s ownership, via its trustees, of the small block that was the site of the Nudgee Methodist Church. William Schultz, a Nudgee farmer, was appointed the secretary of the Trust and he still held this position when the Nudgee Methodist Church celebrated its Jubilee in 1938. Reverend W. Brown was appointed as a new circuit minister in 1898.

The partnership between the Gerlers ended in 1900. On 3 October of that year, Carl Frederich Gerler became the sole owner of the remaining 17 acres, 3 roods and 7.9 perches of land. He mortgaged the land for ₤900 through the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney on the day he obtained sole ownership of the land. He continued  to live on his Hendra fruit farm and the land surrounding the church remained undeveloped. Then in 1920, the land returned to the Atthow family when John Francis Atthow gained title on 4 November. Atthow subdivided part of the land and disposed of a 32 perch block to Elizabeth Sergeant on the day he obtained the land. 

On 14 December 1920, Atthow transferred 2 roods and 5 perches of land into the hands of Wiliam Henry Hamlyn Moxon, Ernest Arthur Brighouse, Frederick John Bright, James Atthow, James Buchanan, William Friedrich Schulz, Charles Gottlieb Scultz, Richard George Joseph Henry Harris, Joseph Albert Hastings Krosch, James Henry Robinson and William Bulcock Robinson. Once again they acted as trustees on behalf of the Methodist Church and this land was added to the small block obtained in 1898. By this time the original 1888 church building was becoming too small for the growing number of Methodists in the district. The church had already been enlarged twice, with a 14 foot extension added in 1893 and a vestry added in 1900. 

A large number of timber and brick churches were constructed in the suburbs of the Mid-North District during the 1920’s. This occurred because the “Roaring Twenties” was a period of economic prosperity and a renewal of interest in spiritual matters, both occurring as a result of the First World War. Initially it was proposed that a new site along Tufnell Road be purchased a new Methodist church be erected there. But in 1926, under the leadership of Reverend W. Slater, a decision was made to erect a new church on the existing Northgate Road site. Queensland Government architect William Charles Nichols designed the new 60ft. by 30ft. church for no fee. The tender for the church’s construction was awarded to builder Mr. Hudson. His tender was for a cost of ₤994 but by the time the church was completed in 1927, the cost had blown-out to ₤1,292. The local community had raised ₤1,277, which meant that the church was almost free of debt from its opening day on 27 August 1927. This community effort was later described as “a truly wonderful tribute to the sacrificial love and wholehearted service of the Nudgee Methodists”.1

The old 1888 church building was retained and renovated for community use as a kindergarten, Sunday School and for social functions. A men’s organisation, the Methodist Order of Knights was formed in 1927 and was one of the first of these groups to be established in Queensland. A Girls Comradeship group was inaugurated in 1932 and one of its primary aims was to provide teachers for the Sunday School. A Women’s Church Help Society was formed in 1932. It ran the annual church fete and the Anzac Luncheon each April.

The postwar housing boom that turned Nudgee and Banyo from farmland to modern suburb created further pressure on the Nudgee Methodist Church’s facilities. Thus the old church/hall was moved to the back of the church land and a new hall was erected along Earnshaw Road in 1955. In 1973 a toilet block was also added to the property. In June 1977, the Methodists joined with the Presbyterians and Congregationalists to form the Uniting Church. On 12 June 1979, the trustees, Moxon, Brighouse, Bright, Atthow, Buchanan, both Schulzes, Harris, Krosch and the two Robinsons, were finally divested of their interest in 425 Earnshaw Road and the property was transferred to the ownership of the Uniting Church.

Sadly, on 27 August 1983, to make way for some buildings brought over from Macooma Street in Banyo, the original church building was demolished just five years before it reached its centenary. This leaves the 1927 church as the “landmark in the history of Methodism in Nudgee” , where the Methodist Church has had a presence in the local community for the past 115 years.

1. Nudgee Methodist Church, Jubilee Souvenir 1888-1938, (Brisbane: Nudgee Methodist Church, 1938), p.6

2. Bangee Festival, Banyo Nudgee Heritage Trail, (Brisbane: Bangee, 2000)

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

4. Brisbane City Council, 1946 aerial photographs.

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

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

7. John Oxley Library, suburban clippings file – Banyo