The interest in repurposing them reflects an acknowledgment that they were “special places”, says a historian.
On a bustling thoroughfare in inner-city Sydney stands a 19th-century Victorian Gothic church that has not had congregants in decades, but is about to receive a new lease of life.
The firm’s executive general manager of development, Mr Paul Shaw, said the new development will acknowledge the history of the building, which, after it ceased functioning as a church, became known as a venue for notoriously wild parties.“The transformation of The Kirk is a unique opportunity to embrace the site’s eclectic history from house of worship, to place of hedonism, to writing a new chapter in the building’s history that can be celebrated for generations to come,” he said.
As waves of early settlers arrived from Britain and Ireland in the 1800s and 1900s, churches quickly arose in virtually every neighbourhood and township across the country. In older suburbs of major cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, it is hard to walk more than a block or two without passing a church or, increasingly, a former church.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, recent waves of migration from South and Central Asia have resulted in a sharp rise in the size of non-Christian communities. Hinduism and Islam are the two fastest-growing religions, mainly due to migrants from countries such as India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
The Eugowra church was founded by about five local families, who used mud, stone and grasses found on the property. PHOTO: GREG DAVIS “It is sad – that church is beyond help,” he said. “Eventually, it will fall down. It is a shame that it can’t be preserved.”In the inner city of Darlinghurst, a former Baptist church built in the 1880s was leased to a local theatre company for more than 30 years before closing earlier this year when the company ran into financial difficulties.
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