St Augustine’s Church Conservation Appeal

Precious windows from the acclaimed Morris and Co. studio and an historic pipe organ will be restored with funds raised by a new appeal launched for St Augustine’s Church at Unley, in time for the building’s centenary celebrations.

Dedicated in 1924, St Augustine’s Anglican Church is one of two church buildings on a site that has been serving the Unley community for more than 150 years. By the time it was built, the parish was recording around a thousand communicants per month and the congregation had outgrown its original place of worship. Met with this challenge, members and supporters raised more than £10,800 to build a new Gothic-style church, with a bell tower added in honour of local men and women who served in the First World War.

The building is listed on the State Heritage Register, in great part because of its historically significant collection of stained-glass windows. Fourteen windows were dedicated between 1928 and 1951. The first 12 were made at the famous Morris & Co. studio in London. The company’s founder was William Morris, one of the 19th century’s most celebrated pattern makers. His designs continued to influence the decoration of homes and churches long after his death in 1896, with John Henry Dearle becoming responsible for the company’s artistic direction. The last four windows in the Unley church were produced by Dearle’s son, Duncan William Dearle, who acquired the stained-glass department after his father died in 1932.

All the windows at St Augustine’s were funded by donations and bequests, with considerable sums coming from parishioners and descendants of founding colonists. Collectively, the windows depict well known biblical stories as well as scenes reflecting the endurance, faith and commitment of the State’s early settlers. Costing £828, the magnificent sanctuary windows were the first to be installed. They were dedicated in May 1928, in memory of farmer and miner James Barton, philanthropist Priscilla Bickford and Ada Ethel Kanaley, a devout member of the congregation. Among the last to be installed were windows in the south-west porch depicting a scene from the proclamation of the colony on 28 December 1836, with a chaplain reading prayers at the first Christian service. Over time, heat and direct sunlight have damaged the putty in the windows, allowing rain to seep in, and the windows have begun to buckle in their casements. The appeal will raise much-needed funds to restore them.

The church’s magnificent pipe organ also needs comprehensive restoration work. Recent inspections have identified that there are many broken parts, with pipes, keys and stops that are inoperable, torn and perished bellows, and areas of significant water damage.

The pipe organ was built in 1877 by J.C. Bishop and Sons, a London firm of master organ builders known for its attention to detail and expert knowledge, combined with ingenuity and craftsmanship, which produced some of the finest English organs of the nineteenth century. It has 1,920 pipes – the largest pipe is 16 feet long (488 centimetres) and the smallest a few inches (6-8 centimetres).

The instrument was originally installed in St Peter’s Cathedral. It was purchased for St Augustine’s in 1930 at a cost of £1,618. Before installation, the organ was modernised by Hill, Norman and Beard, with the original mechanical action being replaced by an electro-pneumatic mechanism. In 2001, storm damage made the organ unplayable, requiring extensive repairs to be made by Leith Jacobs of Adelaide.

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The National Trust St Augustine’s Conservation Fund Appeal was launched on 14 May, at an event attended by the Governor of South Australia and Patron in Chief of the National Trust, Frances Adamson AC, and former governor Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce AC CSC, who is a parishioner and chair of the appeal committee. A target of $400,000 has been set to complete all the essential work. A series of musical and historical events are planned throughout the coming year to help raise money, with details to be made available via the church website –unleychurch.com

People are encouraged to make a donation to the appeal by visiting the National Trust website at nationaltrust.org.au/donate-sa/ or by post to The National Trust St Augustine’s Conservation Fund Appeal, c/o PO Box 290, North Adelaide SA 5006.

Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible.