Collins Street Baptist Church

The Collins Street Baptist Church, Melbourne. "Melbourne’s first Baptist service was held in 1838. The congregation met in a tent on land where the Regent Theatre now stands and was constituted as the Collins Street Baptist Church in 1843. It had a membership of just 16 people.

The first chapel was built on the present site in 1845. However, by the end of 1850s the congregation had outgrown its space. Joseph Reed, the architect who designed the Melbourne Town Hall, was commissioned to enlarge the church building. Consequently, Reed demolished the original structure and replaced it with the present one opened in 1862" ¹.

More historical information/photographs of the church/congregation are invited. Photographs uploaded 9/2/2018.

 

Note 1: https://www.csbc.org.au/about/our-history/.

Fot more detailsed histories see: (1) Mervyn Himbury's The Theatre of the Word: traditions, ministry, future of the Collins Streert Baptist Church, Melbourne, 1843-1993. - https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10428280?q&versionId=12145341 and (2) Ken Manley's 2 volume From Wooloomooloo to 'Eternity' : A History of Australian Baptists   https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3770541  None sighted.

Note: Photograph attribution/source - By en:User:Adam Carr - Originally uploaded to English Wikipedia at en:File:Collinsstbaptist.JPG, by en:User:Adam Carr., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8924027