Scots Presbyterian Church

The foundation stone of the church was laid by [[../people/forrestjohn.html|John Forrest]] 26 March 1890. When the church was built, it was facing South Terrace, on the corner of what was then a little bit of Norfolk Street going north. That has since become Parry Street. The Scots Church is now at 90 South Terrace. It was designed by Sir Joseph [[../people/hobbs.html|Talbot Hobbs]], and opened 1890, on Town Lot 1360, where previously there was a semi-detached cottage (built shortly after 1850) for [[../organisations/engineers.html|Sappers]] (Instructing Warders) families.

Photograph[[../arts/artists/leek/index.html|../arts/artists/leek/index.html]], courtesy of the artist, of a painting by [[../arts/artists/leek/index.html|Toby Leek]].

Hitchcock:
[In 1885] Scots Church was established in Fremantle. The services were conducted by a lay preacher until the first settled minister, the Rev. [[../people/hanlinrobert.html|Robert Hanlin]], arrived. Mr. Hanlin held his first service in the [[../organisations/oddfellows.html|Oddfellow's Hall]] on October 17, 1887, and faithfully served his church for 35 years, when failing health compelled him to retire.
During his long and fruitful pastorate he won the respect and esteem of all sections of the community and his strenuous work on behalf of his church will long be remembered by those who were associated with him. [[../hitchcock.html|Hitchcock]]: 67.

Rev. [[../people/hanlinrobert.html|Robert Hanlin]]'s family was living in [[../buildings/yeldhamhouse.html|Bardrop Cottage]] in 1890. He was the founder of the Scots Presbyterian Church (in South Terrace).

Hanlin Way, Samson, is named after Robert Hanlin.

A cottage behind the church was removed for the [[../streets/parry.html|Parry Street]] extension.

Wikipedia entry:
Scots Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian church located at 90 South Terrace, on the corner of Parry Street, in Fremantle, Western Australia. It was the first Presbyterian Church built in Fremantle and one of only six to decline amalgamation with the Uniting Church.
The church is constructed from ashlar limestone with red-brick quoins on the buttresses and window edges. The steeply pitched roof is constructed from timber originally with jarrah shingles but most recently with terra cotta tiles. When originally built the church consisted of a nave and an aisle on the north western side; the vestry is at the north-eastern end of the aisle with a connecting tower and porch at the south-western end facing Norfolk Street, which acts as the main entrance. The building style is rustic gothic, composed of stone in irregular coursed work, with red brick moulded windows and door jambs. There are moulded brick dripstones rising from plaster and terra cotta corbels. The window sills, plinths, mouldings and steps of buttresses are rendered in cement stucco. The buildings exterior is rough stone and brickwork with the brick pointed, in black and white mortar. The tower is 23m tall with an octagonal spire.
The main facade comprises the tower and spire, porch and triple lancet windows fitted with stained glass. The church now has a capacity of 80 in the main hall and 25 in the lesser hall.
The church pipe organ was built in 1897 by Alfred Fuller of Kew, Victoria, and is one of the last he built before his business closed in 1900. It was delivered and installed in the church prior to 1901. The longest pipes of the organ are situated on either side of the console and in towers at floor level. There are two manual chests with no internal passage board between them. The console has an attached drawstop with a roll top, there are two composition pedals to great and two to swell. It has a mechanical key and stop action and four couplers. The organ was restored by F.J.Larner and company in 1990 with the pipes restored sometime later by Pipe Organs of Western Australia.
HISTORY
The Free Church of Scotland commenced services in Perth in 1849 at St. Andrew's Church in Pier Street. A congregation of the Scots Church was established in Fremantle in 1885 with services delivered by a lay preacher. Rev. Robert Hamlin arrived in 1886 and held his first service on 16 October 1887 in the Oddfellow's Hall and later in the supper room of the Fremantle Town Hall. Hanlin soon set about seeking donations, locally and in the eastern states, to build a permanent church in Fremantle. A loan of £1,000 was granted by the Colonial Committee in Scotland and a local bank also advanced funds. Hanlin acquired the 0.3 acre South Terrace site (Fremantle Town Lot 1360) for £208 in June 1889 for the Commissioners of the Presbyterian Church in Western Australia from the state government. The Fremantle City Council, approved plans for Scots Presbyterian Church at a special meeting in March 1890, and on 26 March 1890 the foundation stone was laid by John Forrest. The architect for the building was Talbot Hobbs, the building contractor was Messrs. J. Petrie and Company, with internal decorative painting carried out by E. Bockelmann. The building was completed at a cost of £2,000 and officially opened on 26 November 1890.
Gaslight was introduced in 1902 and replaced with electric light in 1905. The church was re-roofed at a cost of £150 in 1911, and in 1975 the Church was awarded a $15,000 National Estate grant for repairs to brickwork and wiring. In 1985 a wall around the church was constructed, with a rear shed added on in 1994.

References and Links

Wikipedia page (there is currently no website for this church).

Scots Church Facebook page.

Heritage Council page, giving the above date of construction.

[[../books/erickson.html|Erickson]], Rica et al. 1987 (etc.), Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, UWAP.

Website of the Presbyterian Church in WA.

See also: [[../organisations/scottish.html|Presbyterian Church]] (as an organisation).

Photo above by Trevor Bunning, 2009.

Freotopia

This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 25 September, 2014 and hosted at freotopia.org/churches/scots.html (it was last updated on 23 November, 2023), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.