Anglican Church of the Ascension

Child Places

• 11566 Church Hall

Statement of Significance

The place is the oldest church extant in Midland and is one of the few remaining that can be connected to Midland's growth at the turn of the 20th century.

Physical Description

Anglican Church of the Ascension is a single storey face brick church with a tiled gable roof displaying characteristics of the Federation Gothic style of architecture.
The place is located on the corner of Spring Park Road and Old Great Northern Highway. The place has a symmetrical rectilinear form with a high-pitched gable roof. The roof features five dormer ventilators on either side of the central gable ridge. Gable ends address both street elevations and are clad with horizontal timber boards. A gable entry portico is attached to the Spring Park Road elevation supported by timber posts that are painted blue.
The external walls are face brick with brick buttresses extending along the northern and southern elevations. The buttresses have rendered capping and moulded string coursing. A rendered string course extends along the eave line and features moulded dentils. The northern and southern elevations feature detailed gothic windows with rendered surrounds. The main entry is situated on the western elevation addressing Spring Park Road. The entry features a central timber door with glazed surrounds. The current entry is not original.
A car park is located to the south of the building. A series of mature trees extend along the southern elevation, between the building and the car park, and partially obscures the building from the street.

History

In 1886, the Midland Railway Company took up significant landholdings in this area and established its operations to build its planned railway north of Geraldton. The townsite of Midland Junction was gazetted in 1890 and a private investor, James Morrison, subdivided and sold large parcels of land to new settlers. With gold discoveries in the 1890s, Midland Junction became a hub of the state road and rail system and was the chosen site for the government railway workshops, which relocated there in 1904.
The name Spring Park comes from the original land grant, Swan Location 15, that was assigned to Sir James Hume in 1829. More than 2,000 acres, adjacent to Stirling’s ‘Woodbridge’ property, was assigned to Hume from the Swan River eastwards, including what was later known as Midland Junction. Spring Park Road was in existence by 1900, when the area was known as Helena Vale,1 and was macadamised in 1902.2
The Anglican Church of the Ascension is one of the first churches constructed in Midland Junction. The foundation stone of the church was laid on 12 November 1898 and the church consecrated on 2 February 1899 by Anglican Bishop of Perth, Charles Riley.
Historical photographs indicate that the church originally had a corrugated steel roof, with dormer ventilators, and gable windows. Aerial imagery suggests that the roof was replaced with the extant tiles in the c1960s.

The replacement retained the dormer vents however, the roof pitch was altered, and the gable windows were removed.3
Until the late 1950s, the narrow corner lot to the south of the church was known as Ascension Park and served as a public park that connected through to the church.4 From the c.1950s until c.2003 the park functioned as a service station. In 2003, the service station building was demolished, and the extant parking lot was built.5

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity - Building fabric Moderate: The place has undergone changes including roof replacement and alterations to the front elevation.
Authenticity - Use High

Condition

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.