Bardon Pilgrim Congregational Church

The land on which this church stands is part of a 38 acre block originally purchased from the Crown in 1862 by Francis Lyon. A year later the whole parcel of land was transferred to Joshua Jeays. Jeays was a notable colonial architect, Brisbane councillor, and eventually, Mayor of Brisbane. The block remained largely intact in Jeays family hands until the mid-1880s when the first subdivisions took place. The greatest activity occurred during the years 1912-22, when many subdivisions were made. In 1918, Hugo Evers bought a parcel of land 33 and 8/10 perches in size, which he held until 1928. It does not appear that Evers constructed a building on this land, as his name does not appear in the Post Office Directory in Bardon. Late in 1927, The Queensland Congregational Union acquired the land in order to establish a church.

Early in 1927, Bardon resident, H. M. King canvassed local residents to determine if there was enough local support for the establishment of a Protestant church. Finding considerable community enthusiasm, King and E.S. Thompson, another local resident, approached the Queensland Congregational Union for assistance. The Union suggested that an existing Congregational church at Cannon Hill could be dismantled and re-erected at the Bardon site, if the Bardon group were willing to pay the cost involved. The scheme met with unanimous approval, notwithstanding the fact that the expense of moving the building was reckoned at £136, and the total expense of establishing the church was estimated at £500.

Local firm McKenzie and Sons was contracted to complete the move and add an extra room 24 feet long and 16 feet wide underneath the building at the same time. Preparations were also made to line the inside of the building using donated materials and volunteer labour from the congregation.

On Saturday 1 October 1927, a stump capping ceremony was held at the Bardon site at which the Deputy Mayor of Brisbane, Alderman A. A. Matson made a speech and capped the first stump with a £5 note. The church was officially opened on 1 December 1927.

Throughout the establishment of the church, considerable help was received from the local community and businesses which donated funds and materials, painted the building, fenced the property and transported furniture, crockery and other items.

The church was established in Bardon at a time of rapid population growth in the area. In 1903, the population of Ithaca Shire was only 3000, but this had increased more than 

sevenfold by 1922. This growth undoubtedly facilitated the establishment of community services like churches. In the late 1880s, no local churches were available to Bardon residents. People wishing to attend services were compelled to travel to nearby Paddington, Rosalie or Milton. 

As well as being a product of increased population in the area, the establishment of the Congregational Church at Bardon was part of the wider pattern of development of that church’s activities in south east Queensland. The Congregational Church initially came to the Pacific region in the 1790s, and established their first church in Australia in Sydney in 1810. The Church came to Queensland in the 1840s, and the Queensland Congregational Union was formed in 1861. From the 1880s a number of Congregational churches were established in the Brisbane area. These included churches at Goodna, South Brisbane, Oxley, Redcliffe, Bowen Hills, Milton, Mount Gravatt, Salisbury, and elsewhere. By 1924, the Union comprised fifty churches. It was against this backdrop of rapid church and population growth across the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries that the Pilgrim Congregational Church at Bardon was established.

The church, has been in constant use for the last 73 years, and continues to serve the needs of Bardon parishioners to this day.

Tall and narrow sash timber windows evenly spaced to the sides of the church provide it with light and natural ventilation. 

The building is rectangular in plan with an attached gabled entry vestibule projecting from one of the gable ends and another projecting perpendicularly to the side of the building and towards Simpsons Rd. This vestibule has square timber posts supporting a small gabled entrance canopy and steps to the entry. The main gable has a finial at its apex decorated with vertical slats below.

The church has some aesthetic qualities particularly because of its simple clean design and picturesque setting, which gives it a shady and leafy aspect.

1. BCC Building card: M060-065-040

2. Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Detail Plans

3. Brisbane Centenary Official Historical Souvenir 1923

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

5. Minutes of the Bardon Congregational Church. John Oxley Library Manuscript Collection

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

7. Queensland Post Office Directories