St Patrick's Anglican Church (fmr) & War Memorial, Rathmines

Child Places

• 18397 War Memorial

Statement of Significance

St Patrick's Anglican church (fmr) and Rathmines War Memorial has cultural heritage significance because:
the Church is aesthetically significant in achieving a pleasing balance between interest and simplicity in form, fabric and construction technique;

the War Memorial (1920) was built to commemorate the service and sacrifice of the residents of Rathmines who served in the AIF, and to provide a lesson and constant reminder to coming generations of the human cost of war;

having stood on its spacious site since the early 1900s, the Church and later War Memorial have historic and aesthetic landmark qualities which contributes to the local community's sense of place;

the Church is highly valued by the local community for religious and social associations and for its ongoing role as a place of worship.

Physical Description

St Patrick's Anglican Church (fmr), 72-74 Austral Parade is a single storey timber and iron ecclesiastical building designed in the Federation Carpenter Gothic style of architecture. The walls are timber framed and clad with timber weatherboards to dad height and to the gable ends and flat fibre cement sheeting above the dado. The roof is hipped and gabled and clad with corrugated iron in short length sheets to some areas and exposed eaves. The plan form is a simple cross form. There is a timber and corrugated iron belfry to the central section of the roof. Windows are generally pairs of timber frames arched shaped windows with timber mullions. The front door is a pair of timber framed, arched shaped timber T&G doors with a simple timber and iron awning above. Leading up to the front door is a later concrete and steel universal access ramp and balustrade.

Previous descriptive notes state : St Patrick's Anglican Church, Wooden Foundation Block is dated January 1908. The character is similar to St John the Divine (Anglican) at Capel by Eales and Cohen.

Rathmines War Memorial at 72-74 Austral Parade is located within the grounds of St Patrick's Anglican Church. The memorial is a triple plinth stone memorial with a stone cross above. The memorial is octagonal in plan form and sits on a square red coloured concrete base. A flag pole is adjacent to the memorial. The base plinth is engraved with the words:
This stone was laid by
General Sir William R Birdwood
CCMCKCBKCSICIEDSCADC BART
2nd January 1920

The second plinth central panel is engraved with the words:

The Great War
1914-1919
To the noble dead
Honour the brave

The panels either side on the second plinth are engraved with the names of those who lost their lives in the War.

the place is included in the Heritage Council of Western Australia's State Register of Heritage Places.
The register documentation can be accessed at www.heritage.wa.gov.au

History

The first Anglican church in the Bunbury district was built in 1842 at Picton by Reverend Ramsden Wollaston. Reverend Wollaston was transferred to Albany in 1848 and the Bunbury district was without a resident Anglican clergyman until the appointment of Reverend Joseph Withers in 1864.

Withers was the Bunbury Chaplain from 1864 to 1880 and again from 1889 to 1893 with the intervening years spent in Williams. In 1886 he had St Paul's Church built.

In 1872 Withers purchase a one quarter share in 16 hectares of land at Leschenault Location 26, known as portion No. 11. By 1883 he owned all of potion No. 11 and in 1895 he subdivided the land. This area was called Rathmines after Withers home town in Ireland. Withers died in 1904 and not long after his death the Bunbury Anglican Diocese was established.

In February 1907 Reverend Canon Darling addressed people attending a church social in the Mission Hall in Rathmines about raising funds for purchasing land to build a church. In 1908 Lot 10 on the corner of Shenton Street and Australind Road, Rathmines (now Austral Parade) was purchased at the cost of £60 for the purpose of building a church. The land became the joint property of Bunbury residents Thomas Hayward MLA, Frederick Johnson a farmer, Allan Christie, a stationer, and Walter Buswell, a contractor.

The mortgage of £200 was raised and Eustance Cohen, a prominent Bunbury architect, was commissioned to design a church building. Contractors Nilsson and Banting built the church for £207.

A foundation ceremony was held on 25 January 1908 and Mrs Robert Forrest (nee Esther Cons), sister in law of John Forrest, laid the foundation stone. The church was officially opened on St Patricks Day 1908 (17 March) by Bishop Goldsmith and was named in memory of the saint. In 1913 the mortgage was dissolved and the ownership of St Patrick's was transferred to the Diocesan Trustees of Bunbury. Bishop Goldsmith consecrated the church on St Patrick's Day 1918. A dedicatory service was held followed by the playing of the Last Post by Trumpeter Wallis.

The war memorial has two plaques listing the 22 names of the men that died, with the five that were killed marked by an asterisk. The main plaque reads 'The Great War 1914 to 1919 to the noble dead. Honour the brave.'

Following World War I, memorials in a variety of forms were a common response to the tremendous loss experienced by communities during the war. They were mostly funded and organised by community committees and institutions such as churches, schools and work places. Monumental memorials were most commonly built by public subscription in public places and over the years became the focus of Anzac Day ceremonies. The main purpose of monumental memorials was to record the service and sacrifice of those from the group (in this case, the Church) who had volunteered to serve Australia and the Empire in the war, and to serve as a lesson and constant reminder to coming generations of the human cost of war.

In later years St Patrick's was used by the local Greek Orthodox community until their own hall was built. Their last service at the church was a wedding on 14 July 1954. In the 1960s a number of churches were demolished in Bunbury, including St David's in South Bunbury, even though it had more services and more members than St Patricks. St Patrick's survived because the land was not considered to be valuable and it was not until the late 1980s that plans for the demolition of the church became public. By then there were only eight residents regularly attending services and the Anglican Church wanted to sell St Patrick's to raise funds for a new rectory in a different parish. After a public outcry over plans to demolish the church, the Anglican Church sold St Patrick's intact to the Church of Christ in late 1992 and they still occupy the premises.

Eustace Cohen (born London, 1881) was articled to Thomas Lockwood and Sons at Chester before working for Guy Dawber. He emigrated to Western Australia due to ill health in 1904 and set up practice in Bunbury and Busselton (1906-1913). He moved to Perth in 1914, where he formed a partnership with Joseph Eales, trading as Eales and Cohen. Cohen was instrumental in bringing the Arts and Crafts movement to Western Australia.

After World War I, the people of Rathmines got together to raise funds to build a war memorial to the men of the district that served in the war. The war memorial was placed on the corner of the Church lot and the foundation stone was laid on the 2 January 1920 by General Sir William R. Birdwood. Birdwood was the Commander-In-Chief of the Australian Forces in World War One. Also present were the Bishop of Bunbury, Canon H. J. Adams and Mr Fred Hamilton Chairman of the Road Board.

This partly history is based on the Documentary Evidence in Heritage Council of Western Australia, 'Register of Heritage Places: St Patrick's Anglican Church (fmr) & War Memorial, Rathmines' prepared by Irene Ham-Sauman, 1999.

Integrity/Authenticity

High degree of integrity (original intent clear, current use compatible, high long term sustainability).
High degree of authenticity with much original fabric remaining.
(These statements based on street survey only).

Condition

Condition assessed as good (assessed from streetscape survey only).

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.