{"id":2178,"date":"2020-07-21T19:50:13","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T09:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au\/?page_id=2178"},"modified":"2020-07-23T20:40:27","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T10:10:27","slug":"the-church-of-our-lady-of-the-rosary-stirling-east","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au\/?page_id=2178","title":{"rendered":"The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Stirling East"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Text & Images: Elisabeth Anderson<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Church\nof Our Lady of the Rosary, at 135 Old Mount Barker Road in Stirling East, was\nbuilt in 1881-1882, one of several places of worship established by the\nCatholic Parish of Mount Barker in the 19th<\/sup> Century. It has Local\nHeritage status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\narchitect was Michael McMullen, an Irishman from Cork who had been practising\nhis profession in South Australia for at least two decades, and the name of the\nbuilder was Maloney. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\nAdelaide Observer\u201d reported that when Bishop Christopher Reynolds had travelled\nto the Hills from Adelaide to bless and lay the foundation stone on 23rd\nOctober 1881 he was met and welcomed in Crafers by a number of horsemen and\npeople in traps, who accompanied him to Stirling East. Seven months later the\nchurch was ready for use. It was officially opened on 21st<\/sup> May 1882,\nwith two celebrants from Mt Barker presiding and splendid music from the Choir\nof St Patrick\u2019s Chapel in Adelaide. The press of the time described the church\nupon its completion as one of the\nhandsomest <\/em>in South Australia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It now made\nregular Sunday worship accessible for local Catholics. Some families walked\nconsiderable distances to attend whilst a reminder that horses were the\nalternative mode of transport is a mounting stone which still sits by the\nentrance gate today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Thirteen stained glass windows with pointed arches were the work of Adelaide glazier William Brooks, son of the owner of the first regular studio of coloured glass windows in the colony of South Australia, Edward Brooks. Motifs and symbols in their design represent a richness of Catholic devotion, history and tradition and the inscriptions echo the time when Stirling East belonged to an expansive parish area, with the people of Mt Barker, Macclesfield and Blumberg (now known as Birdwood) named among the donors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One window\nin colours of royal blue, amber and red was a gift from farmer and gardener\nJohn O\u2019Reilly, an early Irish settler who lived next door and had provided the\nland on which the church was built. South Australia\u2019s early clergy  commemorated in the windows includes the\nhighly regarded first Bishop of Adelaide Francis Murphy (1844 to 1856), whose\nresting place is St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Wakefield Street, and the Rev John\nSmyth D.D. (Doctorate in Divinity) V.G. (Vicar General), who is commemorated in\nthe historic Smyth Chapel at the West Terrace Cemetery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Names\nof local families are also recorded on some windows and on plaques suspended\nfrom Stations of the Cross on the church\u2019s interior walls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bishop\nReynolds returned one year and eight months after the opening to preside over a\nsolemn dedication of the church on 20th<\/sup> January 1884. By this time a\nrailway service had been operating from Adelaide to Aldgate for about nine\nmonths and in an advance notice of the ceremony the January issue of the\n\u201cCatholic Monthly\u201d listed train times for those wishing to travel up for the\noccasion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastoral\narrangements have changed over time and earthquake damage also forced the\nclosure of the church for some years in the 1950s but the chapel-like building\nremains in use today, with periodic restoration work always in keeping with its\noriginal character.   \n\nThe church came under\nthe administration of the Stirling Catholic Parish in 1957 and became part of a\nnew and larger Adelaide Hills Parish in November 1996.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References: Sourced mainly from the book \u201cOn Fertile Soil, 1987\u201d and with special mention of the late Barbara Hanafin of the MLDHS who put a great deal of effort into her research about this church at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have memories of this church and the community it served? Contact us at mldhsgateways@mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au<\/a> or drop into the History Centre at the Coventry Library, 63 Mount Barker Road, Stirling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Text & Images: Elisabeth Anderson The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, at 135 Old Mount Barker Road in Stirling East, was built in 1881-1882, one of several places of worship established by the Catholic Parish of Mount Barker in the 19th Century. It has Local Heritage status. The architect was Michael McMullen, an … Continue reading “The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Stirling East”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"spay_email":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PaNLq6-z8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2347,"url":"https:\/\/mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au\/?page_id=2347","url_meta":{"origin":2178,"position":0},"title":"Mount Lofty (Crafers Summit) Railway Station","date":"October 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Text : Chris Chardon Images: MLDHS and as described THE MOUNT LOFTY RAILWAY STATION The Mount Lofty Railway Station was originally named the Crafers Summit Railway Station. The Act of Parliament, to provide a line of railway from Adelaide to Nairne, was assented to on 30th November 1878. 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