St John’s Anglican Church: 162 Years, 1862 - 2024
Sadly, after 160 years of service to the Auburn community, the Anglican Church at Auburn is de-consecrated and to be sold, and the cremated remains of 16 former parishioners will be relocated to the Auburn Cemetery.
In 1860, a group of locals met to create a committee to build an Anglican Church in Auburn. Thomas Robinson donated half an acre of land on St Vincent Street and a contract was created with Pike and Daley to commence building, using stone from Mellor’s quarry, just north of Auburn.
Christened The Church of St John the Baptist, the church was open for worship on 21 November 1862 and officially consecrated on 19 April 1863.
The first rector was Rev J.B. Titherington from Riverton, and the wardens W.T. Bleechmore and J. Scutchings.
Rev Titherington was unfortunately drowned in 1867 whilst attempting to cross the River Light near Stockport, and services were then taken by lay readers J.W. Castine and McDermott, with visiting ministers R.B. Webb, Rev Boake from Penwortham, and Archdeacon Twopeny from Riverton.
The next rector to be appointed was Rev C.W. Hawkins in 1870, who soon married one of his parishioners, Miss Georgina Lambert. They resided in Auburn and Rev Hawkins also ministered to nearby towns of Watervale, Hoyleton, and Port Wakefield, travelling by horse and buggy over simple dirt tracks.
In 1871 the church received a shock to receive news that the land on which the church was built had not been properly conveyed to the church trustees, so the church did not actually own the land!
The land was purchased by Mr James Wigley for £211 who then offered it back to the congregation for the same amount.
An appeal was made to the entire town of Auburn to raise funds to purchase the land, completed (and properly conveyed this time) by 14 October 1872.
The fund-raising appeal to re-purchase the church land was so successful that a £200 surplus was used to purchase a cottage on the corner of King William and St Vincent Streets for the rector to live.
The run of bad luck continued for the church, as a year later the cottage burnt down! A new rectory was built in 1874 and still stands on the site, now called “The Old Rectory “and is privately owned.
The next rector was Rev E.K. Yeatman in 1883 until 1902, when he resigned due to his advanced age, and he is now buried at the Auburn Cemetery. During his rectorship the church installed a marble baptismal font in 1897, which has seen the baptism of many local children.
Following the retirement of Rev Yeatman, Rev F. Sewell was appointed.
During his leadership, the next building project for St John’s was to build a hall just to the West of the church at the cost of £200.
The builder was Mr Bede Mellor, with the foundation stone being laid by Mrs Duncan (wife of the Honourable Sir J.J. Duncan MP, buried at Penwortham cemetery) on 15 July 1908, St. Swithin’s Day.
Mrs W.P. Long presented the church with a bell and the hall was completed and opened with great ceremony by Bishop Thomas on 12 December 1908 by the Lord Bishop of Adelaide and Dr Yeatman JP, son of the former Rector.
This was followed by fundraisers for furniture and a piano, essential for the use of the congregation and Girls Friendly Society, who often had concerts and church fund-raisers.
The hall was fortunate to be saved from fire in September 1935, after a fire at the rear of the hall following a kitchen tea for a bride-to-be, Miss Joyce Maddern.
Fortunately, the fire was spotted early, and help was roused by incessant ringing of the church bell, bringing out neighbours with buckets of water to extinguish the flames. The poor bride managed to get her face scratched during the excitement and had a black eye for her wedding a week later!
The next building stage for St John’s was to build a new (the third) Rectory on land just to the west of the church on land donated by Mr E.W. Castine of Watervale in 1925.
The Rectory remained in use until 1986 when the last resident rector, Rev Ron Keynes and his family moved to the Rectory at Riverton. The Auburn Rectory was sold and is now privately owned.
After some 50 years as a lay-preacher at St John’s, the late Reverend Gerald Moore was ordained as a local priest for Auburn and Watervale in 2004.
His ashes are currently interred in the memorial garden at the front of the church, along with 15 other former parishioners. These cremated remains and the slate headstones will be relocated to the Auburn Cemetery prior to the sale of the land and building.
The church contains a number of stained glass windows and wall plaques in memory of Auburn locals who contributed to the church, as well as two wooden wall panels dedicated to George Eddington, William Isaacson, Ernest Millard, Walter Millard, Donald Williams.
The altar has a plaque dedicated to Robert Kench, who was killed when his bomber crashed on the way home from a bombing raid over Germany in WWII.
In 2022 St John’s Anglican Church celebrated 160 years of worship in the town of Auburn, however declining membership has forced the closure of the church and it has fallen into disrepair.
The church will unfortunately be de-consecrated and sold to private hands using a real-estate agent. It is hoped the new owners will restore the building to its former glory and respect it’s heritage to the town of Auburn.
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