St Augustine Uniting Church

The St Augustine Uniting Church, Bunbury is part of the Western Australia Presbytery and the Uniting Church Synod of Western Australia. 'The commemorative bell was gifted to the Anglican Church in Prinsep Street by the Mayor of Bunbury, James Moore, in 1898 to commemorate Bunbury's first Anglican Church. The engraved bell was suspended from a frame in the grounds of the Congregational (Anglican) Church, which was built in 1897 to a design by architect, Henry Trigg. Built by J H Gibbs & Co, the church was opened by Premier of Western Australia, Sir John Forrest. The Church acquired the name of Augustine Congregational Church in 1924, while Reverend Chapman was in charge. The ‘Saint’ was added some time prior to 1950 when a group of Presbyterians joined the congregation. The decision to build a new church in Mangles Street was made in the late 1960s under the leadership of Reverend S Sijbranda. The land had been acquired some years earlier and there was already a manse on the site. The foundation stone from the first St Augustine’s was removed from the existing church and laid at the new St Augustine’s by Mildred May Perkins, the oldest member of the congregation, on 15 August 1970. The only stained window from the original church was also removed and used in the committee room in the new church. The new church designed by Julius W Elischer, an immigrant architect from Hungary. It was built by T D Scott Pty Ltd. Elischer was a leading architect in Western Australia in the 1960s and 1970s, who designed a number of important buildings including some fine churches. St Augustine Congregational Church, Mangles Street, was opened on 12 December 1970 by the Reverend D C Woodroofe, chairman of the Congregational Union. It later became a Uniting Church. It was a brick and concrete building of an unusual octagonal design – basically a square exterior and a circular interior ‘in the round’. The front wall was adorned with three raised stucco crosses to represent the Trinity. Fixed individual red chairs were installed in favour of long pews. The pulpit was concrete. While the building represented late 1920s European architecture, it was also influenced by modern liturgical concepts and was grouped with other facilities - an atrium, hall and offices - around a courtyard. St Augustine's Church was demolished in 2001 and has been replaced with a new building' (Sourced from: https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/public/inventory/printsinglerecord/f00f55f0-ed2d-4bdf-a041-f5f568f458bf).The most recent church building on this site was opened on 9/11/2002, by the Revd Gemmel Sherwood, Moderator of the WA Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia. More historical information/photographs of the church/congregation are invited. Photographs uploaded 11/5/2024.