St David's Church

Statement of Significance

St David’s Church, Gastaldo Road, Worsley, a weatherboard and iron church constructed in the Federation Carpenter Gothic style in c1908, has cultural heritage significance for its aesthetic value as an example of a church constructed in the Federation Carpenter Gothic style; for its social value as a vital part of the social and spiritual needs of the Worsely community where regular services of worship, weddings, baptisms and funerals were held although the church was never formally consecrated and as the only church and one of only a small number of buildings remaining in Worsley.

Physical Description

St David’s Catholic Church, Worsley is ‘timber framed, clad with weatherboards and has a corrugated iron roof. There is a gabled roof over the main church and a skillion roofed addition to the rear. The interior walls and ceiling are lined with asbestos. There is a dais at the rear of the church…There are no toilets or electricity supply to the church.’

History

A timber mill was constructed at Worsley in 1882 but because of the cost of transporting the timber to Bunbury, it closed the following year. Richard Honey & Co of South Australia opened two mills at Worsley in 1890 following the opening of the railway to Bunbury two years earlier. The mills were sold to the Jarrah Timber and Wood Paving Corporation in 1898. By 1902, when the Worsley mills combined under the one banner with a number of other mills as ‘Millars Timber and Trading Company’ , the town supported a population of about 1500. The town is first listed in the Post Office Directories in 1903. Catholic church services were held in the Worsley School prior to the construction of St David’s Catholic Church in about 1907/08. It was one of two churches built in the town. The first wedding held in the church was between Charles Mair and Agnes Teresa Milligan in 1909. There are only four other weddings recorded at the Church, the last being in 1954. The last baptism was held in 1956. In 1945 the Church was lined with asbestos cement sheeting, windows fixed and a fence built. The work was done by H Scoffern. In 2003, the St David’s Catholic Church community celebrated the Church’s centenary. A booklet prepared for the celebrations notes that ‘the Church played a vital part in the spiritual and cultural needs of the community. It did and still does contribute to the community’s sense of place. Restoration started in 1996 with sponsorship from Worsley Alumina amongst others. The building represents an important part of state heritage as it demonstrates a past way of life. Past and present populations return, for a reunion, every November’. There is no record of St David’s Church, Worsley ever having been consecrated. In 2007, the Heritage Council of Western Australia assessed St David’s Church as being below the threshold for inclusion on the State Register of Heritage Places. Services are no longer held at St David’s.

Integrity/Authenticity

High/ High

Condition

Fair / Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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