Methodist Memorial Church and Hall (former)

Of the population of Queensland in 1881, 73900 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.

The Methodist church in Indooroopilly dates from 1872, having been formed by the efforts of a Primitive Methodist mission promoted by the Reverend Joseph Buckle. Five acres of land were purchased from the government on which the original Primitive Mission meeting place was built. Land fronting Moggill Road was purchased around 1890 and a church and parsonage erected. Financial problems experienced by the Primitive Methodists hastened an amalgamation with the Wesleyans and in 1896 the Indooroopilly church property was transferred to the newly formed group.

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. 

The foundation stone of the Indooroopilly Methodist Church was laid by the Governor Sir H. Goold-Adams on 29 April 1916, a few days after the first anniversary of the Anzac landing, but the building was not completed until 1917. 

The Memorial Church was built by contractors Curry and Bradley, John Bradley being a member of the congregation. The opening ceremony on 1 September 1917 was performed by Reverend H. Youngman DD. After the ceremony two memorial windows were unveiled by Lt-Colonel G.A. Ferguson, DSO, VD. They were dedicated to the memory of former members of the congregation, William John Bradley, who was killed at Gallipoli in 1915, and Joseph H. Neville who was killed on the Somme in 1916.

The parsonage in Grosvenor Road was built in 1926, and a separate school hall was completed in August 1931. Further additions were made to the church in 1959. In 1977, when the Uniting Church was formed by the amalgamation of Congregational, Presbyterian and Methodist Churches, the church became the Uniting Church, Indooroopilly. It continues to serve the local Uniting Church community.

The church appears to have originally comprised of a nave and entry porch to the upper level, and a hall below. A later extension to the rear of the building includes meeting rooms, stairwell and hall. The original entry door to the porch has been boarded in and access is now gained via a side door. No disabled access is provided.

Exterior

The side walls of the nave are divided into four bays by stepped buttresses. Each bay features a single leadlight lancet window. Underneath these in the last two bays of the lower walls, coupled rectangular windows light the hall.

Comprising a main gable roof over the nave, lower gable to the back and a twin gabled porch; the roofs of the building have terra cotta ridge capping tiles and finials to each end of the main gable. Parapet walls encompassing the back addition, hide lower roof areas from sight.

The symmetrical front facade of the building features an apex vent and a twin lancet with quatrefoil window above. Under this window, the rendered twin gables of the porch project from the nave's front wall between two single lancets. The central front opening to the porch has been replaced with a decorative panel. Stained glass windows feature in the porch side walls and a single lancet to each side of the decorative panel.

Interior

The nave, connected to the porch by two timber doors, has a sloping timber floor. The internal surface of the buildings walls are rendered and grooved to replicate stonework. They rise to a pitched ceiling lined with painted timber boards and supported by hammer beam trusses. Divided into smaller rooms by partition walls, the nave now houses office space and a chapel. A low ceiling has been introduced above the springing line of the trusses. This has hidden the tip of each window from view. The floor has been built up into several level platforms, including a sanctuary area in the chapel.

The chapel, which is orientated towards a side wall, features some of the building's original timber furniture. Timber panelling lines two of its walls whilst the windows are either covered in curtains or venetian blinds. Two timber doors in the back wall of the building access the later extension. Benches have been built into the porch and office area. The new side entry door sits below a roofed walkway which covers the second bay of the nave wall.

 

Although major internal alterations have occurred, the exterior of the building is relatively intact. The newer back extension is easily identified as a later addition, but unobtrusively sits to the lower rear of the older building. A new church, again easily identifiable, has been added to the eastern side.

1. Brisbane City Council Water Supply & Sewerage Detail Plans

2. Crook, D.P. Aspects of Brisbane Society in the 1880s, thesis, University of Queensland, 1958

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

4. Methodist Times, 11 June 1931

5. Methodist Leader, 21 April 1916

6. Methodist Leader, 1 September 1916

7. Methodist Leader, September 1917