Christ Church

Situated at the bottom of Quondola Street, Pambula’s present Christ Church is the third Church of England to stand in the township and the second to occupy this site.

From the earliest days of European settlement, the Anglican population was served by itinerate ministers traveling through the district at irregular intervals. Although Pambula was not bestowed its separate parochial status until 1880, it is nonetheless one of the oldest church centers in the Goulburn diocese, with local ministrations dating from about 1842 when Reverend W. J. Nott, an S. P. G. missionary, exercised an itinerant ministry in the Maneroo district. It is also possible that Pambula and Eden were visited even before that by the Reverend E. Smith of Queanbeyan. Regular services of a sort began in 1843 when Reverend E. G. Pryce was appointed to the parish of Maneroo, and despite his rough and mountainous parish, he nonetheless traveled on horseback to attend to christenings and marriages, although he could not always reach his destination in time to perform burial services.

It did not take long before the local Church of England parishioners moved towards construction of a house of worship to use for their services. In 1856, the community erected a slab building, whitewashed inside, on land given by Captain John Lloyd of the Grange. On August 1 the same year, Church of England Reverend E. Forde was registered to perform marriages in Panbula, while Bishop Barker celebrated the building’s first Holy Communion. That year, an Illawarra Mercury correspondent traveling through the district also noted the presence of “…a Church of England place of worship…” in the original township.

One of the stones laid for Pambula's second Anglican Church.

During 1856 Reverend William Allworth was appointed to a district then known as the Bega – Pambula – Eden charge. He was followed by Reverends E. H. A. Gwynne in 1861 and J. L. Knight in 1864. Reverend Knight and his family lived in Pambula’s first Church of England rectory - a rented house in which his son Arthur Mesac Knight, later the Bishop of Rangton, was born. Another older son likewise followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming the Bishop of Gibraltar. The family continued to live at Pambula until moving in to the Rectory in Bega some years later.

It was under Reverend Knight that construction of the town’s second Anglican Church was commenced. On November 17, 1864, the foundation stone for the new Christ Church was laid by Mrs. James Manning and following the ceremony, three of her children collected a total of £15/2/- for a harmonium, stained glass windows and the church building fund. Designed by Lieutenant Woore of Goulburn, the building was constructed of local sandstone as well as Pyrmont sandstone recovered from Ballast Point in the Pambula River. Originally roofed with shingles, these were eventually replaced by slate. Completed in 1866, this second Christ Church cost about £1100, added to which labour worth about £100 was donated, funds raised from a variety of sources, including local subscriptions, collections, a bazaar and a grant from the Goulburn Church Society, added to which £50 pounds each was donated by the Lord Bishop of Goulburn, and Sir William Montagu Manning.

Pambula's second Anglican Church, completed in 1864.

At a meeting of church members that year, Messrs John Martin and James Furner moved that another bazaar be held to mark the anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone, and this was followed by a motion from Messrs Baddeley junior and Mr. Woollard that the bazaar committee be made up of Mesdames Manning, Gwynne, Thompson, Bennett, Baddeley, Page and Woollard.

Another shot of the town's second Anglican Church.

Pambula operated from Bega from 1866, with a lay reader or catechist taking most of the control. Then from 1877, Pambula was conducted from Kameruka until in 1880 the annual report of the Church Society recorded establishment of the separate Parish of Pambula. The first rector of the newly established entity was the Reverend (afterwards Canon) Richard Leigh, followed by the Reverend James Clarke until 1886 and then the Reverend R. T. Earl (sometimes spelt “Earle”) until 1891. It was under Reverend Earl that considerable parochial expansion took place, including construction of churches at Eden, Towamba and Wyndham as well as the rectory at Pambula.

Construction of a residence for the local Church of England Minister had been raised as early as 1873. Erection of the new weatherboard rectory finally commenced in the mid-1880’s, and it was reported that after an 1885 confirmation ceremony by the Bishop of Goulburn, the local congregation met and resolved to have a parsonage built at a cost of £200. Fund raising efforts the following year included an art union, subscription list and bazaar, described as “…an unqualified success…” with proceeds anticipated to amount to about £10. With sufficient funds now in hand, the building committee was able to accept a contract for the building’s construction. After land dedicated for the Church of England church and parsonage was vested in the Bishop of Goulburn and his successors in November, work continued and by January 1887, the rectory had been completed, the builder paid the £256 in full. The committee declared that they wished “…to convey to the contractor – Mr. John May – their entire satisfaction at the workmanlike manner in which the building was carried on to its completion.”

A Church Society report of 1887 recorded that “At Pambula a parsonage has been very recently constructed on a small scale, capable of enlargement when required.” Following another successful art union and bazaar, the entire debt owing as a result of the rectory construction project was able to be wiped out. In 1900, local builder Mr. A. Wright was contracted to erect stables on the site and in 1913, tenders were called for the addition of a verandah on the rectory.

Pambula's Christ Church, C. 1900.

Fund raising continued to play an important role in church life, and bazaars soon became a staple for Pambula's Church of England community. By at least 1894, flower shows had been added to the annual calendar of events, in 1895 culminating in the establishment of the Pambula Church of England Horticultural and Pomological Society. During 1905, a ladies' sewing guild and a children’s guild were formed to assist Church Wardens in fund raising. For many years local parishioners also subscribed to the stipend fund, which by 1905 enabled the local minister to be paid at a rate £250 per annum.

The interior of Pambula's second Anglican Church.)

In 1896 a picket fence was erected around the church and in 1897 building repairs were funded by a chrysanthemum show in the School of Arts. In 1912 the east wall of the church was strengthened with a concrete buttress, and the Chancel Arch was later tied with an iron bar. Further renovations to the church were carried out in 1916.

Over the years, various local families left tangible reminders of their commitment to Christ Church, many of which remain in the building today - the lectern given by the Bennett family; the Alter Cross a gift of the Reverend (later Canon) Gordon Hirst; the Alter book rest in memory of James and Eliza Furner; and the candlesticks presented by Rachel Nicholson and Adelaide Wood. Mural tablets in the church stand in memory to other citizens, including Stephen Woods, Thomas Henderson and Florence A. Walker, Church organist from 1925 to 1934. The Baddeley family were strong supporters of Christ Church, their involvement stretching back virtually since their arrival in the town in the mid-1860’s. In 1917, Mr. C. A. Baddeley purchased a block of land adjoining the rectory and donated it to the Church of England body.

Christ Church, Pambula, C. 1940's.

Despite maintenance work being carried out periodically, age gradually began to show on the old 1860’s built church - one morning the east wall of the sanctuary crumpled and collapsed, leaving the roof suspended over the ruins. It was subsequently condemned by the Church wardens as being unsafe and in 1952 stonemason David Larcombe of Goulburn inspected the building, informing wardens that it would be necessary to pull the old structure down. In September that year, parishioners decided unanimously to accept his offer to build a new church, and a finance committee was elected to raise the £2,000 necessary to start the project. It was Mr. Larcombe who designed the new building as well as being responsible for its construction.

In the years between the previous church being condemned and completion of the current building, services as well as christenings, weddings and funerals were conducted in what was then the Manchester Unity Hall in Quondola Street (later the Uniting Church). That particular structure has since been relocated from its original site to now stand between Christ Church and the old rectory.

On 27 November 1953, the foundation stone for the new building was laid by His Excellency Sir John Northcote. Pambula's third Anglican Church was completed in 1956, a century after construction of the first Church of England building on the site. It was dedicated in October that year.

Christ Church Pambula, in 2008.

The rectory remained in use as the residence of the local Church of England minister until 1968 when a new parsonage was constructed at Eden. This became a somewhat contentious issue as far as some Pambula parishioners were concerned and as a result, some members of Christ Church withdrew from the congregation. The new brick rectory in Eden was officially dedicated by the Right Reverend C. A. Warren, administrator of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, in September 1968. The original Pambula rectory was sold, and is now in private ownership.

Christ Church continues to occupy a prominent position at the bottom of the main street today, testimony to more than 150 years of Anglican worship in Pambula.