Early Days
On 30th May 1838 the NSW Government gazetted Queanbeyan as a parish with its centre in the township but to cover the whole Monaro area, south from Gundaroo and as far as twofold Bay in Gippsland.
The Revd Edward Smith arrived in Queanbeyan on 4th July 1838. There was no parsonage and the population of Queanbeyan was 72 in 1840. He lived in bachelors' quarters at Gerrabomberrra. The parsonage was built in 1844 and Edward Smith moved there with his new wife, Elizabeth. The church was also completed in 1844 and the first service held on Christmas Day. This is the reason it was called "Christ Church". By that time the parish had been halved in size with a new centre in Cooma.
The first Church and School
The first church was dedicated by Bishop Broughton [Bishop of Australia at that time] on 8th March 1845. On 12th March the Bishop travelled to Canberry to consecrate the Church of St John the Baptist [the present stone church at Reid]. At that time Christ Church was a roughly built wooden church.
In 1847 with the establishment of the Dioceses of Newcastle and Melbourne, Queanbeyan became part of the Diocese of Sydney.
In 1843 the small school hall had been built [25feet by 14 feet] behind the church and the first teacher was Dr Andrew Morton. By 1856 the school had grown to 60 or 70 pupils. However after that numbers declined and it was closed in 1870 [Public Schools Act 1866] but the Parish allowed the building to be used as a public school.
In the 1850s gold was discovered in the area and this brought wealth and skilled people to the town of Queanbeyan. By this time the Parish of Canberra had also been divided off from Queanbeyan and the population, by 1857 had grown to over 500.
Building the present Church
The Revd Alberto Soares arrived in Queanbeyan on Maundy Thursday 1857, and by the end of October that year meetings were held and preparations starting to build a new church. It is likely that the present building was designed by both Alberto Soares and the builder Daniel Jordan.
The foundation stone was laid on 25th August 1859 and the first service held in the new church on 7th October 1860. However the stained glass windows had not yet been installed, nor had the spire been built, but the spire was completed a short time later. The text traced in relief around the chancel arch, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved", was there from the beginning as a statement to inspire the worshipper with confidence in God.
The Present Day
As from 31st March 2006 the Parish of Queanbeyan and District includes the new suburbs of Karabar and Jerrabomberra. It also includes the Burra and Googong areas centred on the 1860s Church of St Paul's in Burra [Mt Campbell] and stretching half way to Cooma includes the Church of St Thomas Michelago.
Notes by The Revd Ian Palmer based on information from a
talk given by Wendy Smith
and the book "Queanbeyan: District and People" by Errol Lea-Scarlett.
