Wilston Methodist Memorial Church is a heritage-listed former church at 181 Kedron Brook Road, Wilston, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Ford, Hutton & Newell and built in 1956. It is also known as Trinity Grove Uniting Church, Trinity-Wilston Memorial Uniting Church, Wilston Uniting Church, and Wilston Methodist Church. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 12 November 2021. It was removed from the heritage register in 2024 following a court case initiated by the Uniting Church of Australia.
History The former Wilston Methodist Memorial Church is located in the Brisbane suburb of Wilston, 4.5 km north of the Brisbane CBD, is designed in a Modernist style and was constructed of concrete-encased steel portal frames and face brick in 1956. It stands on a small suburban site that includes an earlier timber church (1913) remodelled with brick in 1966 to harmonise with its 1950s replacement, and a columbarium (). The Wilston Methodist Memorial Church was designed by prominent Brisbane architecture firm, Ford Hutton and Newell. The Modernist-style building resulted from the Methodist Church's progressive building program in accordance with its post-war mission to grow and remain relevant to modern society.
European occupation of the area now known as Wilston, part of the traditional lands of the Turrbal people, began in the 1850s when the land was sold for agricultural settlement.Beres McCallum, Pamela Masel, and Windsor & Districts Historical Society, Walking a Changing Wilston: Trace the Development of a Vibrant Area on Foot, Lutwyche, Windsor & Districts Historical Society Inc, Brisbane, 2012, pp.3-5 cited by "Nomination to the Queensland Heritage Register - Wilston Methodist Church", p.1Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships (DATSIP), Cultural Heritage Database and Register, <https://culturalheritage.datsip.qld.gov.au/achris/public/public-registry/home >, accessed Aug 2021. During the 19th century, Wilston remained a predominantly rural area, although subdivision of some estates took place in the 1880s.Project Services, "Wilston State School Report" cited by McKellar's Map of Brisbane and Suburbs, sheet 2, Surveyor General's Office, Brisbane, 1895. The opening of a railway line from Bowen Hills to Enoggera in 1899, which included a station at Wilston, provided transport to the city centre and stimulated the transformation of the farming district to suburban residential use.'Trinity Grove Uniting Church Former Wilston Methodist Memorial Church Nomination for Entry to the Queensland Heritage Register' (HRN 650239), p.1SLQ Estate MapsMcKellar's Map of Brisbane and its suburbs, Surveyor-General's Office, Brisbane, 1895, sheet 2Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board, Map of Brisbane and Suburbs, Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board, 1917, Sheet 2. The suburb took its name from "Wilston" - 300 acres (121 ha) of land on which William Wilson, a city merchant and politician, built a stone house . The suburb of Wilston was incorporated in the Town of Windsor, which was proclaimed in 1904. The rapid development of the suburb was reflected in the construction of four churches between 1913 and 1915, to serve the growing population.Brisbane Courier: "Wilston Methodist Church Stump Capping Ceremony", 11 Aug 1913, p.8Brisbane Courier, 'Wilston Presbyterian Church. Opening Ceremony', 11 May 1914, p.7 (Presbyterian),Brisbane Courier, "New Church at Wilston. Stump-capping Ceremony", 15 Jul 1914, p.9 (Church of England)'St Colomb's Church, Wilston Just Completed', 2 Jan 1915, p.12 (Roman Catholic).
Methodism arose as a movement within the Church of England in the early 18th century.Helen Gregory and Gail Pini, "Religious Places in Queensland: An Historical Context Study - a report for the Queensland Heritage Council", Cultural Heritage Strategies, Brisbane, Dec 2003, p.79 It spread rapidly throughout the United States of America in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, via itinerant preachers; and later throughout the world via Methodist missionaries. The term "Methodism" arose from the methodical way the Christian faith was approached and included an emphasis on preaching, evangelism, a love for singing, and social activism.Gregory and Pini, "Religious Places in Queensland", pp.79-80.
The first Methodist church in Brisbane was a modest brick chapel constructed in 1849 on the corner of Albert Street and Burnett Lane. A larger building replaced it in 1856, and was superseded in 1889 by the Albert Street Methodist Church (now the Albert Street Uniting Church). The Albert Street church became the central Methodist church for Brisbane, with other Methodist churches established in burgeoning Brisbane suburbs, such as Wilston.F R Smith, The Church on the Square: A History of the Albert Street Church, Uniting Church, 1990, p.31.
Wilston Methodist Church, a gothic-inspired timber building, was erected in 1913 on three small suburban allotments bounded by Kedron Brook Road, Hawdon Street and Dibley Avenue. The allotments were: Subdivisions 55–57 of Portion 260, Parish of Enoggera. Portion 260 had been granted to Patrick Byrne in 1850 sold in 1862 to Shepherd Smith, manager of the Brisbane branch of the Bank of New South Wales and resold to William Henry Paling, musician and merchant, of Sydney in 1888. Paling subdivided the land into residential allotments at the height of Brisbane's 1880s building boom, but due to the 1890s economic depression that followed, it was not sold. After Paling's death in 1895 the land was vested in Queensland Trustees Limited. A new survey plan for residential subdivision of the Paling Estate was created in 1909. The 16- to 24-perch residential allotments were advertised for sale in 1909 and the majority sold prior to World War I (WWI).Resources, CoT 10004049Survey Plan 19870, 1909'Advertising', The Brisbane Courier, 6 Oct 1909, p.8Paling & Eildon Hill Estates, SLQ Real Estate Maps of QueenslandNew South Wales Death Register, ref: 9894/1895, <https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search/result?3 >, accessed 17 Aug 2021 These 16-perch (405m2) allotments were part of the Paling Estate, a residential subdivision created in 1909; most of which sold prior to the commencement of World War I (WWI) in 1914. The allotments forming the site were purchased by individuals, but in June 1913 they were transferred to the Methodist Church, with David Henry Rhoades, Ebenezer Chapman, William Shields, Reuben Chapman and Joseph Massey appointed as the trustees.Resources, CoT: 10004049, 11204198, 11240141. The allotments were purchased by George and Mary Kathrina Durston in April 1912 (Subdivisions 56 and 57) and by Ernest Phares Robinson in May 1913 (subdivision 55).
Following successful fundraising, the Wilston Methodist Church was officially opened by the President of the Methodist Conference, Reverend Richard Dunstan, on 26 October 1913. The timber-framed, chamferboard-clad building with a front porch, vestries and corrugated-iron roof was sited close to Dibley Avenue and faced Hawdon Street. Designed by builder and church trustee, Reuben Chapman, the church was constructed by Messrs J Scobie and Son.'Wilston Methodist Church Stump Capping Ceremony', Telegraph, 11 Aug 1913, p.8'Social and Personal, Telegraph, 10 Sep 1913, p.8'Woman's World, Garden Fete, Wilston', Brisbane Courier, 15 Sep 1913, p.9Resources: CoT: 11204198, 11240141'Wilston Methodist Church', Daily Standard, 27 Oct 1913, p.5'Wilston Methodist Church, Telegraph, 2 Oct 1915, p.18Helen Bennett, Don, Greg and Peter Chapman, A History of E Chapman & Son Pty Ltd, Builders and Contractors since 1869, E Chapman & Son Pty Ltd, Brisbane, 2013, pp.ii, 80. At this time Reuben Chapman, a carpenter and builder who had studied architectural drafting, worked with his father Ebenezer Chapman, General Contractor. The church cost £700, including a mortgage of £250, which was released in September 1917 after continued fund-raising by the congregation.
The church was administered as part of the Valley Circuit until 1922 when the Wilston, Windsor and Grange churches formed the Windsor Circuit. By 1925, the Windsor Circuit had grown to such an extent that it was upgraded to a married minister's circuit and a spacious house on Montpelier Street in Wilston was purchased as its parsonage.Reginald Sholto Cecil Dingle (ed), Annals of Achievement: a review of Queensland Methodism 1847-1947, Queensland Book Depot, Brisbane, 1947, pp.211, 213.
The establishment of the Grange electric tramway along Days Road in 1928 stimulated further residential and commercial development in Wilston. By the early 1930s, Wilston comprised a substantial part of the Windsor census district, which had grown from 1,876 residents in 1911 to 6,655 in 1933.Bureau of Census and Statistics, Development within the Brisbane Statistical Division 1856-1966, SR 83/69 cited by Trinity Grove Uniting Church application, p.3.
Expansion of the Wilston Methodist Church's membership and activities reflected the growth of the suburb. As well as Sunday services, the building was used for Sunday School, Ladies Guild, a range of youth activities, and fundraising events such as entertainments;'W.C.T.U.', Brisbane Courier, 13 Dec 1929, p.22.'Scottish Choir Concert', Brisbane Courier, 31 Jul 1931, p.15'Concert at Wilston', The Courier-Mail, 16 Sep 1933, p.21'Round the Suburbs', The Courier-Mail, 23 Jun 1939, p.3. while the grounds accommodated fetes.'Social', Brisbane Courier, 2 Oct 1917, p.9'Church News', Brisbane Courier, 27 Nov 1926, p.9'Methodist', Brisbane Courier, 14 Dec 1929, p.7'Religious Notes', The Courier-Mail, 26 Oct 1935, p.5. By the late 1930s, a larger building was required, but the outbreak of World War II (WWII) in September 1939 delayed this development.'Nomination to the Queensland Heritage Register', p.3.
In anticipation of the conclusion of WWII, planning for the post-war future of Wilston Methodist Church began. In 1944, the congregation decided that the much-needed new church would be a memorial church.Dingle, Annals of Achievement, p.211. In the following year, the Telegraph newspaper reported that the church would be built in honour of those men and women of the Windsor Circuit serving in the armed forces.'Hopes to Visit Many Circuits', Telegraph, 28 Feb 1945, p.2. As utilitarian memorials were more popular after WWII than after WWI, and were supported by the Returned Sailors', Soldiers' and Airmen's Imperial League of Australia (RSSAILA), memorial halls, libraries, swimming pools, meeting rooms, council chambers, lawn bowls clubs, playgrounds, hospitals, and kindergartens resulted; as well as many war memorial churches built throughout Queensland in the post-WWII era.Shirley and Trevor McIvor, Salute the Brave: a Pictorial Record of Queensland War Memorials, USQ Press, Toowoomba, 1994, pp.308-21Trove Newspaper searchApplication, p.13. Utilitarian memorials were useful rather than purely monumental.
Although about £1,500 had been raised in 1945, more funds were required before a substantial building could be erected. Donations towards the new church were facilitated by the Australian Government's tax deduction scheme for donations to war memorial funds, which operated from 1927 to 1973.K S Inglis, Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape, Miegunyah Press, Victoria, 1998, pp.353-5Income Tax Assessment Act 1942 cited by Janina Gosseye and Alice Hampson, "Queensland making a splash: Memorial pools and the body politics of reconstruction", Queensland Review, vol.23, no.2, 2016, pp.184-5 cited by
By 1952, the Wilston Methodist Church trustees were ready to proceed with the new building. The congregation appointed the Brisbane-based architecture firm Ford Hutton and Newell to design a modern church rather than a traditional building.'Nomination to the Queensland Heritage Register - Wilston Methodist Church', p.3.