ANGASTON : ZION CHURCH

LUTHERAN

PAUL SCOTT

HISTORY

Year Built: 1855

Address: 85 Murray Street, Angaston, South Australia, 5353

 

The early Lutherans in Angaston held church services in private homes and other places from 1906 before building their first church. For some reason, the official history of the Unted Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia records 1910 as the yearv in which this congregation was founded. But then in 1913 the first church on Hill Street was finished, and the dedication ceremony was attended by 75 members of the congregation. The outbreak of World War I saw the church congregation go through a tumultuous time as people retaliated against the Germans and threatened to burn the church to the ground. Many members left the church during this time.

The present church in Murray Street was originally built as a larger Union Church after the village outgrew the early Union Chapel. The foundation stone of this new church was laid on 3 November 1854 by George Fife Angus, and the dedication service was held on 22 October 1855. The architects were Cocking and Aggett. The new church was built in Romanesque style, with local bluestone walls and soapstone quoins and surrounds. The carving over the main entrance was by Thomas Osborne.

By 1861 there was a division in the congregation. Reverend John Hannay, a Baptist Minister led the Union Church from 1855 to 1865. Hannay, the son-in-law of George Fife Angas, conducted baptisms by full immersion. Immersions upset some parishioners who set up alternative congregations, and only the Baptists kept using the church until 1929. For the next twelve years it was used for storing building supplies by contractor G.N. Dallwitz.

In 1941 the Lutheran Hill Street church was accidentally destroyed by fire, leaving the congregation with nowhere to worship. One week later Dallwitz offered them the Baptist church building, and renovation plans were promptly made. After seven months of hard labour the new church was finished and dedicated as the Zion Lutheran Church on the 28th of September, 1941.

 

https://www.churchhistories.net.au/church-catalog/angaston-sa-zion-lutheran

https://bvhistory.wixsite.com/barossa-history/zion-church---angaston