Historic Anglican Churches of SunraysiaPost Office Box 692, Mildura 3502, Victoria, Australia |
|
| 
|
|
) |
)
|
Click an image, some have larger copies available.
Our History | |
| St. Margaret's is a member of the world-wide Anglican/Episcopal Communion. | We
were one of about 60 parishes in the Anglican Diocese
of Bendigo, under the leadership of Bishop David Bowden. On 1 Jan 1998
we were incorporated into the Anglican Parish of Northern Mallee and
our new Rector was Archdeacon Russell Smith, who died in May, 2000. Archdeacon Colin Tett came in January 2001. |
The first Anglican Church is established) |
The Chaffey Brothers gave a site next to the corner of Seventh St and
Lime Ave and Messrs Dundas and Lock followed plans and specifications
displayed at the offices of Clark and Sharland, Architects, Mildura. In
a month the weatherboard building 20 feet by 30 feet, roofed with
corrugated iron, lined with canvas and paper, and warmed by a fireplace
with chimney was used - first on 14 Oct 1888 at 11am by Reb I J
Sparling of Wentworth. The building housed the first State School, with a church service held once a month until Rev Sparling left Wentworth for Wittlesea on 7 Jul 1889. The Bishop of Ballarat agreed to support Mildura, and on 14 Sep 1890 Revd William Thomas Hancock arrived from Nhill and became the first Incumbant. |
| On 7th June 1896 the new Roman Catholic Church was opened. | News of Mildura's churches is hard to find in the Centenary History of the Shire of Mildura. In 1897 the first edition of 'The Mildura Methodist', a quarterly publication, appeared in June. In October the Residents of Nichols Point arranged a working bee and painted the local church, that doubled as the State School and public hall (Mildura Cultivator, Oct 30,1897) |
 |
St Margaret's second building begins to grow.
On 8 June, MDCCCCI (1901 to you and me), the foundation stone was laid for
the permanent building by Right Reverend A V Green, Bishop of Ballarat, and the Architect was E C Sharland. He placed the church with its
)
Entrance facing Deakin Avenue, and the long axis is parallel to Eleventh St. More details on Freda's Page
|
Mildura Grammar School on another page | Mildura Grammar School - Higher schooling for Mildura
resident's children was expanded when the St Margaret's Grammar School
was opened in the old Anglican Church in Seventh St, on the 7th of
July, 1902. The Head was Miss Roser, but the affairs of the school were
handled by a committee headed by the Church of England Minister,
although it was made very clear that the classes were open to all. Unfortunately, the church was destroyed by fire in September and classes were held, temporarily, in another church building nearby. At the time of the disaster it had been decided to demolish the wooden part of the structure and make addititions for use of the school. In April 1903 the school moved to remodelled premises in Eleventh St, with some ceremony. |
 Original design | We become part of St Arnaud Diocese. In 1926 Ballarat Diocese divided into two, and our area was given the name Diocese of St Arnaud. Bishop Melville Charles James 1926 - 1950 was our first Bishop, followed by 21 years with Bishop Allen Winter. He retired on 31 Aug 1973 (the last day of Winter in two senses). His successor was David Hubert Warner Shand, enthroned as Bishop of St Arnaud in 2 Dec 1973, who had the task of passing our parishes to the Diocese of Bendigo. |
) Canon Horner exchanged his bicycle for this beauty, is it a baby Austin? | Expansion - new buildings to serve established communities Canon Albert George Horner served from 1926 to 1946, and built churches for our outlaying Christian communities who were meeting in private homes at Billabong and Irymple in 1929 St Margaret's parish hall Bishop James laid the foundation stone of St Margaret's parish hall on 12 January, 1930. In his review of his first ten years of the Diocese, the Bishop notes that All Saints' Billabong and St Luke's Irymple churches had been built, both as centres under the care of the Mildura clergy. Warrior's Chapel - Revd James Hardingham who died on 20 Feb 1962, and is buried in the Chapel at St Margaret's, known as the Warriors' Chapel, or more formally the Chapel of St Michael and St George (hence the stained glass windows). |
 A later view of our church. | Change in 1969 - the Anglican Church of Australia was established The Modern Liturgy was authorised by the General Synod of the Church in Australia. The 1662 service is to be replaced - after 305 years of use. Synod in 1969 also passed the motion by Rev Gorrie of Red Cliffs that the Bishop give permission to specified laymen to administer the chalice at Holy Communion at the discretion of the Clerk-in-Charge. This was an extension of the long tradition of Licensed Lay Readers who led services at outlying communities or when clergy were not available. |
| Archdeacon of the Mallee Bishop Winter chose the name 'Archdeacon of the Mallee' when he restructured his Diocese. South Australia was about to form the Diocese of the Murray, and the Dioceses of St Arnaud and Riverina already had Archdeacons of the Murray. Thus our area obtained a distinctive name based on it's unique flora. In 1968 Ven John Burnett, Rector of Swan Hill and Archdeacon of the Murray, became our first Archdeacon of the Mallee.
We become part of Bendigo Diocese. |
| In March 1987 work was commenced by Leonard's Plumbers to
reroof the Church, including guttering, downpipes, new facia boards,
and storm water drainage, at a cost of over $30,000. Other plans included replacing the floor, and repainting. The big pine trees became affected by old age, and had to be cut down on 14 Aug 1993. |
 Revd Alan Collett |
Amalgamation with Merbein - in 1988 we welcomed St John's
Merbein when the two parishes were linked under Rev Jack Thomson. All
Saints church at Billabong had moved to Meringur and became part of
Merbein
|
Parish of Northern Mallee establishedReturn to our Contents list.
The beautiful carved statue to St Margaret of Scotland, was given by
his family in memory of Alexander Sharp William Bissland, 1907 - 1986.
It was dedicated on 29 March 1987, gift of Mrs Con Bissland, daughter
of Archdeacon Hardingham.
Margaret undertook to impose on the Scottish the ecclesiastical customs
she had been accustomed to in England, customs that were also prevalent
in France and Italy.
But Margaret was not concerned only with ceremonial considerations. She
encouraged the founding of schools, hospitals, and orphanages. She
argued in favor of the practice of receiving the Holy Communion
frequently. She was less successful in preventing feuding among
Highland Clans, and Malcolm's raids into England. In 1093 he first
visited William II at Gloucester, and later invaded again, reaching
Alnwick where both Malcolm and his eldest son by Margaret, Edward, were
killed. Margaret herself died in Edinburgh a few days later, on 16 Nov
1093 (of grief, it is said) aged about 48. She was canonised by Pope
Innocent IV in 1249. 
Canon Robert Chittick, who died 24 April 2005, wearing the St
Margaret's chasible, concludes the service by inviting us to 'Go in
peace, to love and serve the Lord'.
The people of Edinburgh Castle are maintaining the original St Margaret's Chapel, and it is visited daily.
Our Clergy
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our Rector is elected Bishop. | Our shortest tenure belongs to Revd Donald Norman Shearman who served at Mildura 1962-63. After less than a year as Rector of St Margaret's and Archdeacon of Mildura, Donald Norman Shearman was elected Bishop of Rockhampton and consecrated on 24 Feb 1964. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On 1 Jan 1998 Archdeacon Russell Howard Smith took on the task
of blending five centres which had previously been parishes into the
new Parish of Northern Mallee.
On 12 Jan 2001 Archdeacon Colin Tett was Commissioned to continue this ministry, and he announced the end of his tenure on April 23, 2006. He is going to the Parish of All Saint's, Murwillumbah in Grafton DioceseReturn to our Contents list.
|