Parish Office: 11 Byron Street, BANNOCKBURN, Victoria, 3331, Australia
parish history
At present the Anglican Parish of Inverleigh+Bannockburn+Meredith is a parish of three church worship centres: St Paul’s in Inverleigh, St John’s in Bannockburn, and Epiphany in Meredith. However, the Parish is geographically larger than these three towns and their worship centres. At times in the past the parish has comprised seven churches.
This Parish acknowledges that the boundaries are within the country of the Wadawurrung People and we pay our respects to those traditional owners of the land and rivers, the elders past, present, and emerging. We are part of the Oodthenong Episcopal Area of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne.
Following European settlement of this country, Meredith was the third gazetted town in the new state of Victoria. The town was surveyed in 1851-52. An Anglican school was opened in 1857 which also served as a church known as Christ Church. Along with Morrisons, it was a part of the Lay Reader’s district of Steiglitz. In 1914 in Meredith, a separate church, The Church of the Epiphany, which exists today, was dedicated. The original body of the church was designed by Alexander North and a porch and vestry were added in 1919. The old school building became a Sunday School and was demolished in 1984 after it became beyond repair. In 1938, as a result of the 1929-1936 depression, the Parish of Meredith was amalgamated with the Parish of Inverleigh.
The northern end of the Parish has its earliest history in Steiglitz, a gold mining town of over 1500 people. It was there in 1855 the Presbyterians erected a small wooden church building and permitted the Anglican to use it for worship on alternate Sundays. The first dedicated Anglican building in Steiglitz, St Paul’s, was built in 1865, along with a school and vicarage. In 1909 the vicarage was moved to Meredith eventually to be sold for demolition in 1963. In 1962 the church had its final service and the bell was translocated to the Meredith Church. The church building is now a community building of the historical township of Steiglitz under the direction of Parks Victoria.
Prior to 1861 Anglicans in the Maude area attended worship in the Common School at Glendarriwill. A wooden church was finally dedicated on land proclaimed for the Church of England in 1875. In 1991 the church was closed and sold for use as a residence.
Anglican services of worship were held in Inverleigh as early as 1854. In 1855 the Presbyterians granted permission for the then Church of England to use their small Sunday School on alternate Sundays. In 1858 the Church of England constructed its own combined stone Church and School near the cemetery. Following the formation of the Education Department in 1872, the old church building discontinued as a school and underwent some renovations. The building was demolished in 1889 and the new church of St Paul, in its present location, was built partly from the rubble of the old church and opened in 1890. The old foundation stone of the first building, dated 1858, was relaid, and both dates are clearly visible. From 1870 Inverleigh was a part of a Lay Reader’s district with Murgheboluc and Bannockburn (Wabdulla), effectively run by Curates from Christ Church, Geelong. In 1889 Inverleigh became a Parish in its own right to be merged with Meredith Parish in 1938.
In the 1920s a weatherboard church from Morrison was shifted to Brunel Street, Lethbridge. The first service was held 20th December 1925. This building was demolished in 1954, and in August 1955 a new building, erected by boys from the Geelong Grammar School, dedicated to St John was consecrated. St John’s Lethbridge was closed 29th April 1985 and the church building was relocated at The Church of the Epiphany, Meredith to be used as a Sunday School and Parish Hall. The stained glass windows from the church were installed in St John's Bannockburn and the Altar was placed in the new Chapel at Deakin University, (formerly the Church from Glendarriwill.).
Although Bannockburn is the largest population centre in the Parish today, the size of the church building reflects a different story in its history. Originally called Wabdulla then Leigh Road, it was a small settlement with a bluestone gold storage on the route between Geelong and Ballarat. Consequently the body of a small church of St John the Evangelist was built on its present site in 1878. In 1905 the church was extended to include a chancel, vestry and stained glass windows. In 1959 some strange buttresses were added to the walls when the Vicar noticed the walls all moving during a Sunday service. The bell at Bannockburn came from St John's Albert St Geelong West, when that church closed.
The oldest building in the parish was the church of St. Andrew’s, Murgheboluc. Built in 1856, a branch of the Inverleigh Lay Reader’s District, it is still standing today. It is an original church/school building and sits on the hill above the Murgheboluc Hall. Stables for the church were near the road and the track up to the church is still visible. The church accounts were closed in 1946 and fittings sold by 1952.
St Andrews, Murgheboluc, 1856
ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS
We will be holding our Annual Meeting of Parishioners to report on our financial and ministry activities for the past year, elect our church leaders for the year ahead, and approve our operational budget for the coming year.
Sunday 24th November 2024
11.30 am
Anglican Church of St Paul, Inverleigh
following
Combined Parish Worship
10.00 am
and Morning Tea.
To participate fully in directing the activities of this Parish you need to apply to be on the parishes Electoral (membership) Roll.
This is the only service of worship in the Parish on that day.