A little while ago I wrote a post about a visit to a very quaint coffee shop in the Brisbane suburb of Newmarket. I had parked in a side street and my old Sunday School just happened to be in that street and I walked down the hill to have a closer look at it. The building was no longer a church and had been sold earlier in the year. So that meant that I couldn't go on to the property and have a good look around the grounds...
The church had been built in 1958 and my mother had decided that I needed some religious education/guidance and because I didn't have to cross any main roads to get there from our house, this was the place she chose. It was only one street away from our home. So that's how a child of an Italian immigrant and a second generation Irish Australian's child went to a Presbyterian Sunday School!
The building was quite avant garde in its shape and didn't look like any other churches in the suburb. For the first few years, it was unlined inside until funds could be raised to finish inside and build in underneath at the back. It featured a 'stage area' where the piano (and later the organ) was situated and the pulpit. To the side of the stage area was a small room where the minister robed and where there was some storage cupboards. There was more storage area hidden under the stage.
I found some photos online which show what the interior of the building was like when it was offered for sale earlier this year...they are tiny but give you an idea of the inside...
I loved the hour or so per week that I spent there as a child and young teen, making many friends. A few times per year the Sunday School would have a special service and we would each be given a role. It was discovered that I had a talent for reading aloud...so I would be chosen to do Readings. We would also be involved with the annual Fete and I loved that afternoon each year, clutching money that my parents had given me to spend at the stalls. There would also be Concerts, Talent Quests, the annual Sunday school picnic, the Christmas party with a visit from Santa and youth group nights; all of which the children were involved in.
But as well as the activities going on within the Sunday School, there were some fascinating things to a city kid going on outside. Two doors up from the church was a rambling old house...we called it a farmhouse. The people who owned that house had once owned the land that the church stood on plus the land on which the house next door stood.
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| These 2 pillars were the original entrance to the old 'farmhouse' . |
They sold these blocks that fronted the street, but they kept the land that ran behind. On this land they had stable buildings and on some Sundays, we watched while they brushed and plaited the horses' manes threading in ribbons, and polished up the horses' hooves. I was always fascinated! We called it a farm but I think it was more like just a large suburban block.
I could see by looking down the side of the building that the old stables building is gone...the church still stood on a large block though...some more Real estate pics...
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| Just lots of trees and shrubs where the old post and rail fence and stables were... |
So I wonder what the fate of this building and block is? It's Zoned Res A, so no behemoth buildings like the suburb I presently live in.
