Quetta Memorial Precinct
The Quetta Memorial Precinct is a heritage-listed Anglican church precinct in Douglas Street, Thursday Island, Shire of Torres, Queensland, Australia. The precinct comprises the All Souls and St Bartholomew's Cathedral Church, the Bishop's House, and the Church Hall. The precinct was built as a memorial to the 134 lives lost in the shipwreck of the on 28 February 1890. The church was designed in 1892–1893 by architect John H. Buckeridge. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 27 July 2001.
History
The Quetta Memorial Precinct on Thursday Island was established in the early 1890s. The principal buildings on the site are:- The Bishop's House, erected in 1891 as the residence for the first rector of the Church of England parish of Thursday Island, and which in 1900 became the residence of the first Bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Carpentaria
- All Souls and St Bartholomew's Cathedral Church and Quetta Memorial, erected in stages between 1893 and 1964/65
- the Church Hall, erected in 1902–03 as the Parish Institute
- the Rectory, erected in 1904.
During the first half of the 19th century, British shipping began to make regular use of Torres Strait, entering into a passing trade with the Islanders. Colonial occupation commenced in the 1860s and 1870s with the arrival of beche-de-mer crews, pearl-shellers, Protestant missionaries from the southwestern Pacific, and government officials.
Queensland had no jurisdiction over the Torres Strait until its annexation in 1872 of the islands of the southern half of the Strait, a measure intended largely to protect Queensland interests in the pearl-shelling and beche-de-mer fisheries in the Strait and along the Barrier Reef, and to regulate the employment of South Sea Islanders in these enterprises. At annexation, Torres Strait Islanders acquired the same official status as mainland Aborigines.
In 1877, the official Queensland Government settlement at Somerset on Cape York Peninsula was moved to the newly surveyed town of Port Kennedy on the southern side of Thursday Island. The new location provided a sheltered, deepwater anchorage, and was more centrally located along the main shipping route through the inner channel of Torres Strait, the principal trade route to Asia and the northern route to England. In 1879, at British Colonial Office direction, Queensland jurisdiction was extended to the islands of the northern half of the Torres Strait.
The first Christian missionaries to establish a presence in the Torres Strait were associated with the London Missionary Society. From 1871, as the first step in bringing Christianity to Papual New Guinea, the society began to land its Pacific Islander teachers in the Torres Strait, at Erub, Tutu and Dauan islands in July 1871, and at Mabuiag ), Moa, Massid and Saibai islands in 1872. These lay teachers brought an indigenised form of Protestantism to the Torres Strait, reinforced the status of the Strait's Pacific Islander maritime workers, and paved the way for European missionaries. From 1871 to the mid-1880s, Congregational missionary the Rev. Dr Samuel MacFarlane headed the western division of the London Missionary Society's New Guinea mission. He was based initially at Erub, then moved to Dauan, where he established a school for island boys.
Torres Strait Islanders now refer to the arrival of the Christian missionaries in the Torres Strait in July 1871 as "the coming of the light", a cause for celebration and memorial:
"For generations of Islanders the arrival of the missionaries has marked the divide between darkness and light. They brought deliverance from a life most preferred to forget, certain aspects of which had become anathema to their religion, and to their idea of themselves as a civilised people.... Just lately the Islanders have begun to look back on bipotaim more favourably, and while they remain devoutly Christian, a growing number now seek in elements of the pre-colonial culture the means to reaffirm their identity as Torres Strait Islanders and so strengthen their sense of community."By the mid-1880s, nearly the whole of the Torres Strait Islander population was nominally Christian. French Catholic missionaries established a presence on Thursday Island in 1884–85, but Protestantism was well-established in the Torres Strait by this date.
In 1878, shortly after the establishment of permanent settlement on Thursday Island in 1877, the Church of England Diocese of North Queensland separated from the Diocese of Sydney, with the Right Rev. George Henry Stanton consecrated as the first bishop. The new diocese constituted a vast area of about 300,000 square miles, bounded on the west by the Queensland–South Australian border, on the south by latitude 22°S, on the east by the ocean, and encompassing the islands of the Torres Strait.
Anglican services on Thursday Island were held initially at the Court House, conducted by lay preachers and occasional visiting clergy. In 1885–1886 a substantial block of land in the main street, bounded by Douglas, Jardine and Chester Streets, and adjacent to the Catholic missionaries, was vested in the Synod of the Diocese of North Queensland for church purposes. In April 1887, the first Anglican church committee on Thursday Island met to arrange for regular visits from a Church of England curate, and in June a church building fund was established. Little more was accomplished, however, until a tragic shipwreck in the Torres Strait in 1890 proved a catalyst for the construction of an Anglican church on Thursday Island.
On the night of 28 February 1890, the British mail and passenger ship RMS Quetta struck an uncharted rock in the Adolphus Channel, off Albany Island, and sank with the loss of 133 lives. It remains one of Queensland's and Australia's worst maritime disasters. The ship was en route to Britain, and carried nearly 300 passengers, many of them from prominent Queensland families. Most of the Europeans on board were drowned, and the loss was felt throughout colonial Queensland.
Shortly after the accident a visiting Anglican priest, the Rev. AA Maclaren, conducted a burial service over the site of the wreck of the Quetta. At a meeting of the Thursday Island Church of England Committee on 10 April 1890, Rev. Maclaren proposed that members of the Anglican Church be invited to subscribe to the erection of a church on Thursday Island, as a memorial to those lost in the Quetta. The idea was put to a general meeting of Thursday Island's Anglican congregation, held at the courthouse on 20 July 1890 and chaired by Bishop Stanton, where it was resolved:
That in the opinion of this meeting, it is desirable that a Church and Parsonage be erected on Thursday Island; the Church to be a fitting memorial of those who were lost in the wreck of the "Quetta" on the night of February the 28th last, and that the Church Committee take the necessary steps for carrying this into effect.
Some discussion ensued as to whether the memorial should be a Union Church, but only an Anglican church could be erected on Church of England property.
The first step was to attract a resident minister. In 1891 a rectory was built from locally raised subscriptions. Situated on the high ground of the Church of England property, at the northeast end of the site, the rectory was highset on timber stumps, of exposed timber stud-framing, lined with deep chamferboards, and surrounded by verandahs. It had a centrally positioned front door, and french doors with fanlights opening onto the front verandah. Once the rectory was completed, Rev. William Maitland Woods was installed as the first incumbent clergyman of the parish of Thursday Island, and canvassing began for funds for construction of a Memorial Church – a durable edifice, of artistic proportions, worthy of its commemorative intentions. Nearly was subscribed at this first appeal, from all over Australia and from Britain, and not restricted to Anglicans. Thursday Island's Presbyterians were particularly supportive of the project.
After considering the cost of brick or stone, the Church Building Committee decided that the memorial church should be constructed in concrete, and commissioned a design from John Hingeston Buckeridge, Brisbane's Anglican diocesan architect from February 1887 until 1902. Buckeridge designed about 60 churches in southern Queensland and later church and mission buildings in British New Guinea. Like many Queensland architects, he was declared bankrupt in 1892, following the collapse of the building industry during the depression of the early 1890s, and moved from Brisbane to Sydney. He prepared the design for the Quetta Memorial Church in 1892–1893, most likely from Sydney. The original design was for a Gothic Revival style building with chancel, nave of 5 bays in length, aisles, bell tower spire, vestries, and side entrances. However, like many Queensland churches, the Quetta Memorial Church was constructed in stages, as funds became available, and was never completed as originally designed.
The Hon. John Douglas, Government Resident at Thursday Island and a staunch supporter of the project, laid the foundation stone on 24 May 1893. Six months later, on 12 November 1893, the completed sanctuary/chancel was consecrated by the Right Rev. Dr Christopher Barlow, the second Bishop of North Queensland, as All Souls Quetta Memorial Church. At this time Douglas made an appeal for the Bishop to permit clergymen of other Protestant denominations to conduct services in the church, but the Bishop made no formal statement on this.
By mid-1895 the chancel and four-fifths of the nave had been completed. The concrete side arches to the nave had been constructed, but were clad externally with temporary timber boarding, until the aisles could be built. A skillion-roofed timber vestry had been erected on the western side of the church, off the chancel. There was no debt on the building, but the Church Building Committee was anxious to complete Buckeridge's design, and a second appeal for funds was launched in 1895. At this time the church was promoted as a focus for missionary work in the Diocese of North Queensland, and already attracted numbers of Japanese and South Sea Islanders – groups prominent in the Torres Strait pearl-shell industry. At the same time the Bishop of North Queensland, Dr Barlow, was working toward the establishment of a new far northern diocese, the centre of which was likely to be at Thursday Island – in which case the Quetta Memorial Church would become a cathedral.
It appears that by 1901 the aisles had been constructed, but in timber, which was a temporary measure. These had lancet windows along the sides, as in Buckeridge's original design. The building seated about 250 persons, in wooden chairs rather than pews, was already a place of pilgrimage, and something of a tourist attraction. A number of relics from the wreck of the Quetta were displayed, and there were various memorials to persons who had died in, or had been saved from, the Quetta, as well as relics or memorials to other Torres Strait shipwrecks. The association of the place with the Torres Strait, and with the sea, was very strong.
In the second half of the 1890s Bishop Barlow travelled to England, where he raised as a minimum endowment for a new diocese, which produced a small annual income of. On 3 August 1900, the Anglican Diocese of Carpentaria was created, encompassing the Torres Strait, Cape York Peninsula, the Southern Gulf of Carpentaria and the whole of the Northern Territory. In Queensland the boundary of the new diocese extended to south of Port Douglas, with Cairns remaining in the Diocese of North Queensland. There was no large population centre in the whole of the new diocese. Access was principally by sea, and so Thursday Island, centrally located on a major shipping route, was chosen as the seat of the Bishop. The Ven. Gilbert White, Archdeacon of North Queensland, was consecrated as the first Bishop of the Missionary Diocese of Carpentaria, at St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, on St Bartholomew's Day, 24 August 1900, and was installed at Thursday Island on 18 November 1900. At this time the All Souls' Quetta Memorial Church became the All Souls' Cathedral Church and Quetta Memorial.
Thursday Island parishioners agreed that the bishop should be appointed dean of the cathedral, with a sub-dean to be appointed to take charge of parochial matters. The cathedral was also to be used for parochial purposes. The existing rectory was to be taken over by the diocese as the See House, or Bishop's House, and a new residence was to be provided for the clergyman of the Thursday Island parish.
The new bishop had a formidable task ahead, and little funding. Fearing that it would be difficult to attract clergy to the diocese, he proposed to establish a diocesan theological training college on Thursday Island. This was made possible following an undertaking by Lord Beauchamp, Governor of New South Wales, to support three students at the Theological Training College for three years, from 1 January 1901. The Primate of Australia and others contributed towards a fourth studentship. The new theological college was known as Bishop's College, and was established in the See House on Thursday Island, which in late 1900-early 1901 was enlarged to 11 rooms, providing accommodation for 4 college students, as well as the Bishop and the Thursday Island rector. It is likely that the side and rear verandahs were first enclosed at this stage, and there was an ecclesiastical arched timber balustrade to the front verandah by this date. Bishop White travelled widely through his diocese, and the See House on Thursday Island was used primarily as the Bishop's College. In 1903, Lord Beauchamp renewed his support, but the college closed in 1907 following the establishment of a parochial theological college at Nundah.
In 1901 Bishop White also attempted to establish a School for Girls in the Japanese Schoolroom at Thursday Island. A number of Japanese were very active in the Church of England on Thursday Island in the late 1890s. By January 1901 some Anglican services were being conducted in Japanese, and the Japanese community had erected a small building known as the Japanese Schoolroom on Church of England property. Little is known about this building, but it seems to have been used mainly for conducting evening English classes. The building also served on occasions as a venue for Church meetings. Whether or not the venue was the deterrent, the Girls' School was not supported, and closed within a few months.
In the early 1900s both the Bishop and the local parish worked to improve the Church of England premises on Thursday Island. In the period 1901–1904 a parish hall and a new rectory were erected, the whole of the church ground was fenced, a belltower was built, renovations were made to the Japanese Schoolroom, and additions were made to the South Sea Home – both the latter established on Church property in the 1890s.
By January 1902, with Bishop White's encouragement, the local parish had decided to erect a Parish Institute, a purpose-designed church hall in which to hold parochial meetings, social gatherings, church society meetings, a Sunday School, etc. The construction of this hall was considered essential to the expansion of the work of the parish. Funds were raised in 1902, tenders were called in October that year, and the foundation stone was laid by Hon. John Douglas, Government Resident and a Church of England warden, on 8 November 1902. The building was of timber construction, and measured, with a deep verandah along front and sides. It was designed by John Hamilton Park, of Cairns, who had trained as an architect under FDG Stanley in the 1880s, and who in 1899 was foreman for the construction of military works on Thursday Island, where he also practised as an architect for a short period. The building was erected by contractors Byres and Young, of Thursday Island, and was officially opened by Bishop White on 21 January 1903.
Other ground improvements during the first half of 1903 included the construction of a belfry tower, and the enclosure of the cathedral grounds with a picket fence of "gothic design" along Douglas Street, and wire netting at the rear of the property. The Japanese also raised funds to improve their school.
In October 1903 a deputation of prominent Thursday Island citizens, including the Hon. John Douglas, petitioned Bishop White to allow visiting clergymen of other denominations to preach at the cathedral. The claim was made on the grounds that other denominations, particularly the Presbyterians, had contributed significantly to the construction of the Quetta Memorial Church in the 1890s. The Bishop deliberated over this, but having studied early minutes, it was clear that the original intention had been to erect an Anglican church, and in December 1903 he refused the petition. In February 1904 the Bishop modified his position by offering visiting ministers the use of the parish institute, but he would not be moved on the issue of use of the cathedral.
In 1904 a new timber rectory was built in the church grounds, completed to accommodate a new minister and his wife who arrived on Thursday Island in September. Also, by October 1904, the South Sea Home, apparently situated on the Church of England property, had been extended.
A description of the Anglican community on Thursday Island in 1905 reveals a multi-cultural community, whose economy and culture were connected closely with the sea:
The congregation of the cathedral is an interesting one, comprising soldiers from the garrison, pearl-shellers, visitors from ships, South Sea Island and Japanese communicants, in addition to the white population, and often a detachment of native Christians from Mobiag or one of the other Torres Straits islands. Special prayer is offered daily for "those engaged in fishing, travelling, or doing their business in the great waters," and few strangers visit Thursday Island without a pilgrimage to the cathedral and its relics of the dangers of the deep.Following the death of the Hon. John Douglas in 1904, it was decided to complete in concrete the northeast aisle of the cathedral as the Douglas Memorial Chapel, to serve for daily services and devotional meetings. Plans were commissioned from JH Buckeridge, but fund raising for this project took many years. The chapel was finally opened on St Peter's Day, 29 June 1913. It contained a memorial stained glass window executed by Kayll and Reed of Leeds, of an elderly St John at Patmos, which was donated by Torres Strait Islanders. Almost immediately, fundraising began for completion of the southwest aisle, which was opened on 20 June 1915. The new aisles deviated from Buckeridge's 1892 design, in that they now had rows of paired, lancet-shaped arched doors along the sides, which when opened, made the cathedral extremely light and cool.
A number of memorials were placed in the cathedral in the early years of the 20th century. These included:
- a marble plaque in memory of over 300 persons lost during the cyclone of 5 March 1899, which decimated the pearl-shell fleet and light-station staff off the east coast of Cape York Peninsula.
- a marble font dedicated on 9 November 1902 to the London Missionary Society missionaries Rev. James Chalmers and Rev. Oliver Tomkins, who were killed in British New Guinea in 1901. Rev. Chalmers had worked for many years in New Guinea, was well known in the Torres Strait and at Thursday Island, and the subscription for the memorial font was raised from amongst all sectors of the Thursday Island community, not just Anglicans. The original marble columns were replaced in 1973.
- a memorial brass tablet in honour of Hugh Milman, unveiled on 7 October 1913: IN MEMORY OF HUGH MILMAN, Government Resident at Thursday Island, who served Queensland faithfully for thirty years. He was kind of heart, true to his friends, and an earnest supporter of this Church, which he served as Parochial Councillor and Churchwarden. He died 23 September 1911.
- two memorial stained glass windows, ordered from England, dedicated in November 1915. One was in memory of Deaconess Buchanan, well known in northern Queensland at the time; the other was in memory of Mr and Mrs Alexander Archer, who were drowned in the Quetta. Mr Archer was an inspector with the Bank of New South Wales in Brisbane, and the memorial was subscribed to by senior members of the bank staff.
During the Second World War most of the civilian population of Thursday Island was evacuated to the mainland, and the Island became a garrison town. During this period services continued to be held at the cathedral, and oral history suggests that the church hall was requisitioned for military purposes.
The 1960s was a period of change within the Diocese of Carpentaria. The front of the cathedral was extended in 1964–1965, but not to Buckeridge's original concept. In 1965 St Bartholomew was declared the patron saint of the cathedral, which became known as The Cathedral Church of All Souls and St Bartholomew. In 1968 the Diocese of the Northern Territory separated from the Diocese of Carpentaria, and around this time the Bishop's House on Thursday Island was renovated, with substantial internal changes.
Memorials placed in the cathedral in the late 20th century include a timber screen of very fine traditional Islander work, carved by Abia Ingui of Boigu Island, which was placed between the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and the low altar in 1989. Vibrant stained glass windows, designed by artist Oliver Cowley, were placed in the clerestory in the 1980s. In 1989 the cathedral was re-roofed.
In 1996, after nearly a century, the Diocese of Carpentaria was re-absorbed by the Diocese of North Queensland. At this time the Bishop's House on Thursday Island was vacated. The cathedral still provides an important focus for the Anglican parishes of the Torres Strait, which today comprise Bamaga, Coconut Island, Darnley & Stephen Islands, Kubin & Moa Islands, Mabuiag, Murray Island, Saibai & Dauan Islands, Thursday Island, and Yorke Island.
All Souls' and St Bartholomew's Cathedral Church remains a focus not only for Christian worship and ceremony in the Torres Strait, but also for Torres Strait Islander identity, and plays a leadership role in the community. The ceremonial signing of the Torres Strait Regional Agreement, along with a special church service, were celebrated here on 1 July 1994, a date co-inciding with the annual celebration of the "Coming of the Light". A strong spirituality and sense of self-determination are considered by many Torres Strait Islanders to be the two pillars of local society: if one is missing, the community is "unbalanced".