St Thomas' Anglican Church

Statement of Significance

The Anglican Church of St Thomas is significant to the community because it represents the spiritual life of the people of Nungarin. It is a meeting place for the worship of Jesus Christ, and offers Christian rites of baptism, marriage and burial.

Physical Description

The Anglican Church of St Thomas in Nungarin is a rectangular building constructed with unpainted cement brick, and consisting of a single room. The most outstanding feature of the building is a circular stained glass window in the north-eastern wall. The window is a representation of the infant Jesus being nursed by his mother. The colours are vibrant and stunning, and the overall effect quite beautiful.
Other windows are metal framed obscure glass with tinted glass panels on the top of each.
There is some evidence to suggest that the yellow glass windows either side of the sanctuary, and in the south-western wall, were originally given by Reverend Courtney, and retained from the original building.
The interior of the building has a raised section at the north-eastern end which houses the altar. The altar rail and church furniture are jarrah.
The church building is sited on a double block, which also accommodates a prefabricated meeting room. The meeting room was originally constructed as a Sunday School building for use by the Congregational Church at Lot 26 Railway Avenue. The Congregational Church building deteriorated, and was eventually demolished. The Sunday School building was given to the Anglican Church and jinkered to its present site.
The meeting room is metal framed with fibro walls, corrugated fibro roof, and timber floors. It consists of two large meeting rooms opening from a front verandah which is sectioned off at the western end to form a small storage room.
The church meeting rooms are currently being used as offices for Wheatbelt Agcare, a Christian counselling service.

History

The original church was a small weatherboard structure which was opened by Archbishop Riley on 16th December, 1924. A porch was added in 1932, and at the same time the interior was lined and a ceiling fitted. A church bell was received from the Church of the Good Shepherd in Como.
On 13th September 1929, the Reverend Lionel Guy Courtney was appointed Priest-in-charge of the Mission District of Nungarin, which had previously been part of the Merredin Parish. The church font was donated to the Church by Rev Courtney's parents in England in 1930, and has been retained in the present building.
In 1951 the old weatherboard church was condemned because of structural decay, and the last service was held there on 23rd September of that year. The building was sold for £120, and demolished in 1954.
The present cement brick church was commenced in July 1955, and consecrated by Archbishop Moline on 16th November.
The round stained glass window over the altar was donated by local parishioners, Fred & Alice Williams, in memory of Alice's parents, the Reverend Edward Wolstenholme and his wife, Sarah. The Reverend Wolstenhome was employed by the Congregational Church in 1913, to serve the area between Nungarin and Bencubbin. He was actually an ordained minister in the Church of England, who migrated to Western Australia because of poor health. The Church of England had been unable to offer him a position at the time, and as the Congregational Church were anxious for someone to act as pastor in the newly developing agricultural area, they were pleased to appoint him. He was later offered an Anglican parish in Kalgoorlie.
The jarrah altar was presented to the church by Mr and Mrs W.E.Crane in memory of their late parents; Mr & Mrs W.E.Crane of Woolwich, England, and Mr & Mrs F.W.Mofflin of Fremantle.
In 1958, the name of the Bencubbin-Nungarin Parish was changed to the Trayning Parish.
Parish Priests from 1929:
1929 Lionel Guy Courtney
1931 George John Little
1932 James Paice (Mt Marshall)
1932 James Paice (Mt Marshall)
1940 Peter Vere Hodge
1943 Warwick Shaw Bastian
1946 Edmund Hyde Arblaster
1948 John Francis A.Dobson
1948 Harold Stuart Napper
1949 Frank Walter Pitcher
1953 Charles Dene Gillman
1954 Henry Thomas J. Sumpton
1965 Noel Maxwell Townsend
1969 Kenneth John Drayton
1974 Robert John Greenhalgh
1977 Leonard Peter Firth
1982 Steven Brian Russell
1985 David George Atkinson
1990 David Bambach
1993 Peter Stanley

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: Intact
Authenticity: High

Condition

Very Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.