St Matthews Anglican Church

Few non-locals know of this little slice of early colonial history atop a hill with commanding views towards the north and city. Yet nestled within the original church yard and flanked by an early 20th century hall (circa 1917) is one of Brisbane’s oldest churches, a pretty little cream chapel made from local clay and designed by Colonial architect Charles Tiffin, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1867 by Queensland’s first Governor George Bowen.

The church was the brainchild of local early settlers the Nicholsons who, frustrated at the distance to the nearest Anglican church in the Valley, decided to have one built on their own estate, near to their house Grovely Lodge (which once stood at the end of Grovely Terrace). It was never consecrated although numerous baptisms weddings have been held there and the first burial in the little graveyard was in 1869, with many gravestones dating from that time surviving.

Similarly the red cedar pews inside have also survived over 140 years, being the original ones the first parishioners worshipped from.