Victorian Heritage Database place details - 25/9/2015

UNITING CHURCH

Location:
2A LAUREL STREET GOLDEN SQUARE, GREATER BENDIGO CITY

Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number: H1371

Listing Authority: VHR
Extent of Registration:
NOTICE OF REGISTRATION
As Executive Director for the purpose of the Heritage Act, I give notice under Section 46 that the Victorian
Heritage Register is amended by including the Heritage Register Number 1371 in the category described as a
Heritage Place:
Uniting Church, 19 Panton Street, Golden Square, Greater Bendigo City
EXTENT:
1. All of the building known as the Uniting Church as marked B-1 on Diagram 607787 held by the Executive
Director.
2. All of the land marked L-1 on Diagram 607787 held by the Executive Director being Allotment 11 of Section
15A in the Parish of Sandhurst as described in Memorial Book 814, No. 519.
Dated 6 November 1997
RAY TONKIN
Executive Director
[Victoria Government Gazette No. G46 20 November 1997 p.3202]
Statement of Significance:
The Uniting Church at Golden Square was built between 1870 and 1873 to replace an earlier church. In March
1852 James "Jimmy" Jeffrey, a digger, had preached on a tree stump near the site of the present church in
Golden Square. In the same year, Rev Symons, stationed at Castlemaine, purchased a modest timber building
at Golden Square which was the first Wesleyan Methodist church in Bendigo. This was replaced in 1859 by a
larger stone building. Eventually the congregation outgrew this church and plans were made for a new one.
The architects Crouch and Wilson designed the church, with Messrs Johns and Hinley as the contractors. The
foundation stone was laid by mining entrepreneur Richard Allingham on 5 January 1870. The church was built
in two stages - the first section built at the rear of the existing stone church was opened for worship on 11 May
1870. The additions were advanced enough for services to be held early in 1872 and the building was finally
completed in 1873. The church is a large Gothic style building in bichromatic brick with a slate roof. It is
dominated by a corner tower with bellcast eaves surmounted by a tapering spire and a five-light Decorated
Gothic west window. There are two porches on either side and a vestry at the east end. A chimney rises from
the vestry.
The Uniting Church, Golden Square is of architectural and historical significance to the state of Victoria.
The church is architecturally significant as a representative and intact example of a church by Crouch and
Wilson, one of the most influential ecclesiastical and organisational firm of architects in Victoria in the 1860s
and 1870s. It is dominated by a corner tower with bellcast eaves surmounted by a tapering spire and a fivelight Decorated Gothic west window. The interior demonstrates fine craftsmanship in its carved walnut pulpit
flanked on either side by a flight of steps and adorned by a wrought iron balustrade and the similar wrought
iron sanctuary railing; the gallery with its cast iron balustrading; and the ceiling trusses and the fluted columns.
The church has historical associations with the Wesleyan church in Victoria and its scale and quality
demonstrates the strength of the denomination in the goldfields. Built to accommodate over 1200 people and
known as the "cathedral of Methodism", for many years this church dominated the surrounding landscape.

Heritage Study
Year Construction Started

1870

Architect / Designer

Crouch & Wilson

Architectural Style

Victorian Period (1851-1901) Gothic Revival

Heritage Act Categories

Heritage place

Municipality

["GREATER BENDIGO CITY"]

Other names

WESLEYAN METHODIST CHURCH

History