St Augustine's Anglican Church Precinct

The site of the present St Augustine's Anglican Church stands upon land which was once part of an eight acre pineapple plantation established by William John Farmer Cooksley in 1875. Two allotments of this land were purchased in 1895 by the Anglican congregation and a small wooden church was constructed. This church exemplified a wider drive by Bishop Webber to construct more Anglican churches and was dedicated by him in 1896. Prior to the construction of this church, most Hamilton Anglicans travelled to St John's Pro-Cathedral in William Street, or crossed the river to attend St John the Baptist Church at Bulimba. In 1911, following the Church's purchase of an adjoining one acre site between Charlton Street and Racecourse Road, the wooden church was moved to the south-east corner of the new site. The district of Hamilton was separated from St Andrew's parish, Lutwyche and declared a Parochial District in July 1912. A substantial vicarage, which still stands today, was completed in September, 1918.

As a result of the rapid growth of the Hamilton congregation it was decided that a new permanent brick church and parish hall be built as a thanks-offering for victory in the First World War. The present red brick, rectangular church, erected due east and west of the site, was completed in 1920 at a cost of £6,392 including seats.  The first service was held on 17 October of that year. Reverend J.B. Armstrong, who oversaw the building work, "laid the first brick and eventually climbed up on the roof and put on the last tile".

Soon after the arrival in the parish of Canon F.B.C. Birch in November 1934, it was necessary to extend the church to accommodate the ever-increasing congregation. As a result, the Nave was lengthened and a Baptistry, Gallery and a new porch entrance on the south-western side were added at a cost of £2,300. On 11 May, 1941 the present Parish Hall, which fronts onto Racecourse Road, was opened by the Governor of Queensland. The first part of the Columbarium was built under the Sanctuary and Chancel at a cost of £265, though it was originally not furnished as a chapel. This was later completed, however by the early 1960s it became evident that the columbarium required extension, which was completed in 1964. 

While the main church and hall were constructed not only as a thanks offering, but in memory of the men, mainly army, who perished in the First World War, parishioners, after World War Two, wished to commemorate the efforts of those who served in that war. In 1959, Colonel Dan Evans gifted a new organ to the church as a memorial to Naval and Merchant Navy personnel who lost their lives in the war. A tower, reaching a height of 64 feet was constructed in 1961, and dedicated to the men and women who served in the Second World War. As a tribute to the role of the Air Force, an airman is depicted in the first tower window. The first bell was installed in the tower in 1967.

The present church is 120 feet by 32 feet and can seat 350 people with an extra fifty places available in the Gallery. The great 'Te Deum' window is a significant feature, bathing the interior of the church in a kaleidoscopic glow of colour throughout the day. All the stained glass in the Church was the work of William Bustard and it is believed that St. Augustine's is the only church to contain a complete set of Bustard's windows. During the 1970s what was believed to be the oldest bell in Australia, understood to have been first hung in a Romanian Church by the Emperor Constantine in 320 AD, stood in the church grounds. The bell was retrieved from a World War I battleground by Australian sailors and was donated by Captain William Campbell Thomson to St Augustine's to hang as a war memorial. The bell was stolen in 1978. On 10 February 2000, what is believed to be St Augustine’s bell, was recovered in a joint operation between US Customs and Brisbane police. 

 

The floor plan of the church is shaped like a cross with a wide nave and two short transept wings. The chancel and apse face east. At the west end of the nave is a baptistery and gallery, the gallery housing an organ. To the north of the gallery is the tower, entry foyer and stairs. Below the sanctuary and chancel is the columbarium. Entry to the nave is made through the tower at street level or through two entry porches on the southern side of the nave. One of these southern entries was once the main entry point to the building and is reached by a grand flight of stairs.

Exterior

The church has a steeply pitched, tiled, gable roof with parapet ends. There are smaller gables perpendicular to this roof, over the transept and entry porches. The walls of the building are divided into bays by stepped buttresses. The walls rise from a rendered plinth and feature rendered architectural elements such as buttress cappings, horizontal bands incorporating window sills, and arched window heads.

Stained glass windows positioned in the wall bays vary in size and style, with tall, twin lancets in the nave, and smaller lancets in the baptistery and over the gallery. Rectangular windows feature in the columbarium and transept, round arched frosted glass windows in the tower. The more ornate windows of the building include a five bay lancet window crowned with a large trefoil window situated on the main western facade above the gallery. Smaller twin trefoil windows in the apse are crowned with a quarterfoil window and hoodmould. Stained glass fanlights crown the main entry doors to the nave and columbarium. The transept parapet walls have twin lancet windows, with a centrally located circular window above them.

The western facade on Charlton Street consists of a high parapet gable wall in which a semi-octagonal baptistery projects under the five bay lancet window. The facade is symmetrical except for the square tower offset to the north. The open belfry at the top of the tower features a row of triple arches to each face, caped in an open arcaded balustrade. The large entry doors to the front of the tower have a cantilevered awning.

Interior

The foyer and entry porches open onto a spacious nave with high ceiling. The ceiling features diagonally laid timber boards supported by hammer-beam trusses set on corbels. The viewers eye is drawn upwards to an impressive chandelier and beyond to a large chancel arch. The transept is separated from the sanctuary and nave by a series of smaller masonry arches. The walls of the apse are lined with timber panelling including an alter screen with canopy, behind the communion table. The main body of the church has a timber floor which is carpeted to traffic areas.

The church has most of its original fittings and is very intact. Physical evidence of two later extensions, can be seen externally from changes in brick, tile colour and pointing.

1. Church of St Augustine 1920, Hamilton, Brisbane

2. McKeering, B.K. n.d., St Andrew's Anglican Church Lutwyche 1866 - 1991 (The Diary of a Parish), n.p.

3. St Augustine's Church of England, Hamilton. Hamilton History File

4. Sunday Mail, 15 December 1974

5. Courier Mail, 10, 11 & 12 February 2000