St James' Old Anglican Cathedral
West Melbourne, VIC 3003
Church Information
| Church Name: | St James' Old Anglican Cathedral |
| Church Previous Name: | - |
| Denomination: | Anglican Church of Australia |
| Street Address: | Batman St & King St, West Melbourne VIC 3003, Australia |
| Suburb: | West Melbourne |
| State: | VIC |
| Postcode: | 3003 |
| Foundation Stone Laid: | 19-11-1839 |
| Foundation Stone Notes: | A plaque records: Foundation stone of the original St James' Old Cathedral was laid on the 9th November 1839, by Superintendent La Trobe. The first service was held on the 2nd October 1842...it was the first stone church in the city of Melbourne and John Batman was one of its subscribers. Melbourne's first church of England Bishop Charles Perry, was enthroned in St James' in 1848. St James' formerly stood on a site off Collins Street, but after St Paul's Cathedral was established it was removed to the present King St site 1913-14 and rebuilt stone by stone. The National Trust of Australia - Victoria plaque records: St James' Old Cathedral. Blue historic plaque records St James' Old Cathedral...was Melbourne's Cathedral from 1848 until 1891...". |
| Date Opened: | 02-10-1842 |
| Date Closed: | unknown |
| Email: | admin@churchesaustralia.org |
Comments
The St James' Old Anglican Cathedral, West Melbourne is part of the Diocese of Melbourne. The church building was opened for worship, although unfinished, on 2/10/1842, and was consecrated in 1853. When the first bishop of Melbourne, Charles Perry was enthroned on 28/1/1848, St James, became the Cathedral church of the new diocese. However it was soon too small and lacked the prestige of the city of Melbourne. It was replaced by St Paul's Cathedral, which was opened on 22/1/1891, at which time St James' reverted to the status of a parish church. To free up its site, it was moved stone by stone, to its current location, and reopened on 19/4/19141. More historical information/photographs of the church/congregation are invited. Photographs uploaded 30/1/2015 & 10/8/2021.
Note 1: See - https://www.sjoc.org.au/history
Note: Photograph attribution/source - By No machine-readable author provided. CommonsHelper2 Bot assumed (based on copyright claims). - No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8791648
