Churches

UNITING CHURCH

The Uniting Church at Lugarno was started before the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches joined to form the Uniting Church. It was thought that Lugarno was too small to support several separate churches, and so an important experiment in church co-operation was tried at Lugarno.

Early meetings were held in the Lugarno Progress Hall.

The new church was operated by the Methodist Church in fellowship with the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches. A property was acquired almost opposite the shopping centre, and the foundation stone was laid on Saturday the 23rd March, 1963 at 2.30 p.m. The ceremony was conducted by the Rev. C.F. Gribble, President of the N.S.W. Methodist Conference, who was decorated by the Queen for services rendered in establishing the United Church of North Australia. The property and the building were estimated to cost £10,000.

The Lugarno Memorial Church Hall was opened on Sunday 7th July, 1963 at 2.30 p.m. by the Rev. B.R. Wyllie, President of the Australian Council of Churches and Master of Wesley College.

The hall was built with the assistance of voluntary labour, and was 62 foot by 32 foot in size, including a raised stage 20 foot by 10 foot, and included a kitchen. A basement area used to accommodate a kindergarten was completed soon after the opening.

In June 1977 the Uniting Church in Australia was formed. The Peakhurst Methodist Church was closed, and the congregation joined the Lugarno Memorial Church. A combined service was held on the 7th November, 1976 as a step towards this union.

BAPTIST CHURCH

A Sunday School began in 1929 on Clevelands' verandah, and soon after Mr. Cleveland built a shed, known as Cleveland’s Hall, and Sunday School and evening church services were held there.

Mr. H.C. Uden, who pioneered this work at Lugarno and Menai, called on the Mortdale Baptist Church for assistance in May 1936.

The Mortdale Baptist Church history records that "This was an opportunity readily grasped, and Sunday by Sunday the young men of the Church conducted the evening services, hampered by rural conditions, mosquitoes, and an unreliable punt...In 1940, the pioneering efforts at Lugarno were advanced by the erection of a church building, largely by voluntary labour, with substantial aid, financial and otherwise, from the Mother Church at Mortdale. Pastor F.W. Evans, an honoured elder and past treasurer and Sunday School Superintendant at Mortdale, upon retirement from the Home Mission staff, built his home at Lugarno and undertook the oversight thereof in association with the Baptist Home Mission Society." This building was built on land next to Cleveland’s home.

A new building was opened on Saturday 13th June, 1964, which cost about £9,000 to construct and furnish.

ST. STEPHENS ANGLICAN CHURCH

The first church building for St Stephens was originally the first church hall for St. Andrews Church of England at Herne Bay (now Riverwood). It was purchased from Mr. Taylor in Clarendon Road, and moved to the church property in Shenstone Road, Riverwood in August, 1947. When the church exchanged this property for the present site in Littleton Street, the 20 foot by 20 foot hall was moved there in 1950. The hall was moved to Lugarno in September 1954, as a new church was built in Riverwood and opened on 26th September, 1954.

The Rev. Mapson Williams was appointed the Chaplain to the Herne Bay Housing Estate in August 1949, and in February 1952 he became the Curate in Charge of the Provisional District of Riverwood, Peakhurst, Narwee and Lugarno, an appointment he held until February 1959.

Rev. Williams preached in the small hall filled by about 15 or 16 parishioners usually including Fred Lewis, the Tomlinson and Webb familes and Mrs. Williams of Lugarno Parade pedaled a treadle organ.

The old hall was moved twice on the Lugarno property before being demolished on Saturday 2nd June, 1973.

A new church was built in 1957 at a cost of £1,600. It was later given to the church at Illawong in 1978, and transported there by road.

The Peakhurst-Lugarno Parish was replaced by the Provisional District of Lugarno-Illawong in December 1977, and the Rev. Richard Harvey became Curate in Charge.

Bibliography:

St. Andrew's Riverwood; the dedication and opening of the new rectory and the twenty-fifth anniversary history of the Church. Riverwood, St. Andrew's Church, 1972.