Parish of Church Hill

Two exterior shots of St Philip's

During 2013, something of significance, ecclesiastically speaking, went under the radar here in the centre of Sydney. I have mentioned before how in about 1802 the new colony was divided into two parishes - St John's Parramatta and St Phillip's Sydney - both presided over by The Rev. Samuel Marsden who had arrived in the colony in 1794 as underling to the first cleric, Rev. Richard Johnson. The first church in the colony was St Phillip's and its third incarnation (1856) stands today at the top of Church Hill, on York Street. About a kilometre away, much closer to the harbour bridge, stands the Church of the Holy Trinity, more well-known as The Garrison Church, which was established in 1840.

An interior shot of St Philip's which is far nicer than either of our cathedrals

In 2013 these two parishes combined to form the Parish of Church Hill. This is a wonderful gesture to the history of this part of Sydney. St Philip's is a puzzlement to me. The Australian History Society maintains that it was named in honour of Governor Phillip, and hence the double-L. However, the current building uses only a single-L. Was there a Saint Philip? St Philip's also likes to label itself "York Street Anglican". Now it is part of this new parish. I guess they fit together well, noting the double name of The Garrison church mentioned above. And that is another puzzlement. Why did Holy Trinity come to be known as "Garrison" when at that time the troops were garrisoned at the George Street Barracks (Wynyard) which is alongside St Philip's!

Two exterior shots of The Garrison, the interior of which I find a smidge gloomy

I have posted about St Philip's York Street before.

Parish of Cook;'s River [5/5]

So, how does a parish survive with a dwindling congregation, when the word of The Lord, and the promise of salvation is not enough. Some churches combine together, as was the case with two historic inner city churches, St Philip's and The Garrison. which came together this year as 'The Parish of Church Hill'.

St Peter's of Cooks River is not able to catch the eye of 'the big end of town', and is falling back upon offerring services to the local community, and offering tours and booklets researched by their history group. The list of brickmaker's families who had children baptised at the church is one such tract. The moving force behind this is Laurel Horton, and her website is St Peters Cooks River History Group. Laurel conducts a tour of the church and the graveyard on the first Saturday of each month.

This photograph of St Peters, was taken in the 1890s, when Rev'd Madgwick was the pastor. Even a sponsor to provide a series of informative plaques throughout the graveyard, would be a start. Or a more 'in yer face' way of connecting with a wider community via a sign board that trends on FB and Twitter, would be useful. Like that brilliant chap up in Gosford.