I recently received a very unusual email as follows:-
Church in Gnowangerup 2012
Gnowangerup has a bit of Boulder History in the form of a Church, Presbyterian/Methodist/Uniting. In 1922 this church was dismantled in Boulder, transported and re-erected here in Gnowangerup. About 2 years ago the Church was decommissioned and sold which included a large block of land, it is now on the market again and I thought your town may be interested in having it back again.
The Church is in good order but needs re-stumping, and does have some asbestos. We have relocated by jinker a building within our town with asbestos with very little bother, we did have to remove the roof however for power lines.
If this Church is not saved by an interested body I fear it will be destroyed. Our group can not take on any more projects as we are snowed under as it is.
This building is privately owned but I believe if your town contacted the Gnowangerup Shire in respect to this very historical building it may be saved. The owner is asking $50,000 for the land and building but in lite of the re-stumping and the asbestos I am sure he would be glad for someone to take it off his hands.
The Shire negotiated on behalf of the Church to sell it for them in the 1st place so they will know the story of it.I will attach a photo taken 2012 when it was getting a new coat of paint, it still looks much the same but the bell has been removed.
Unfortunatley the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Council is not in a position to purchase it but it was still nice to be asked. A few years ago I was fortunate to be able to copy the photographs of the Weselyn Church before they went to the archives in Perth and among them was this photo. Do you think it is the same building with a few modifications?
Church in Boulder 1896
I wonder if any locals may be interested in ‘Bringing it Home’.
Moya Sharp
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Hello Moya, I am not sure if it is the same church as the one in the Great Boulder photo but I do wonder if it was the same church that moved around Kalgoorlie.
Originally the Baptist Church was built at the lower end of Egan Street in the early years of 1900. Unfortunately this was also the area where the Russian and Japenese prostetutes were located. In 1908 the church was moved (literally) to oposite the Catholic Church. The congregation did not flurish there and the church was sold to the Methodist’s . The church was again moved this time to a location in South Kalgoorlie. The trip took longer than expected due to getting stuck and blocking one of the streets for a week. My research did conclude that the church was later sold and moved somewhere else but I cannot remember where. I was however one of my favourite stories during my research on Kalgoorlie-Boulder Churches.
My grandmother collected bells and documented where each one came from. I have just come across a very old looking bell while going through some things and looked it up to find it ‘was the old Sunday school bell from the now closed methodist church in Gnowangerup’. It was purchased by my uncle in 1973. So I’ve been looking into the history of the church to determine how old the bell might be and it must be this church but looks like it only closed down more recently. Wondering if you know if closed for a time and then reopened? Or if there was another methodist church that closed prior to 1973.
Hi Renee No Im not sure if it did close for a time I’m afraid. The church never was returned to Kalgoorlie as far as I know.