Our Heritage
The Anglican Church of St John the Baptist has been here for over 160 years, providing a focal point in the region for the Christian faith. Welcoming to neighbours and visitors from all backgrounds, St John’s offers pastoral ministry, help to people in need and fellowship or solace in the beautiful surrounds of the church and Meditation Garden.
A delightful rural scene opens as you walk through the lych-gate. This classic village church, built in local bluestone, was planted far from England by a landed gentry on the Limestone Plains. The Campbell family donated the site and half of the building costs in 1841. You can easily trace later stages of construction in sandstone, as the congregation grew, including the impressive tower and spire added in 1878.
The spire of St. John's Anglican Church became a landmark on the Limestone Plains. It is seen in many early photographs and paintings of the area. The Schoolhouse, lych-gates and graveyard can be also identified in this image.
(Photographed about 1939)
The church, over its many decades has many stories to tell. Reverend George Gregory, the first minister, drowned crossing the flooded Molonglo. Reverend Pierce Galliard Smith, rector for 50 years, was a keen tree planter, and his churchyard and Glebe Park trees became a landmark on the treeless plain. Smith’s legacy extended further than his churchyard trees—indeed it was he that gave us the spelling of the name Canberra for the parish, the district and ultimately, the national capital. Pioneering families lie buried in the graveyard. More can be learned of the graveyard as you stroll through to the eastern entry to the church.
The Campbells also built St John’s Schoolhouse, the first school on the Limestone Plains, which operated from the 1840s until 1907. There was one schoolroom with an attached dwelling for the teacher. Pupils came from the Duntroon estate, and other farming and working families. The Schoolhouse was gutted by fire in 1864. During the rebuilding children attended school in the Duntroon Dairy.
James Abernethy and daughters (left) who helped teach at St John's School. Abernethy taught there from 1863 – 1880.
(Photographed 1872)
‘Ada [my sister] was growing up and when she was seven mother had to have her enrolled at school. She used to walk on her own from Duntroon to St John the Baptist Church daily. One hot morning during summer she was dancing along the road with her shilling school money tied in the corner of her handkerchief…[when] she saw a large black snake on the path. The hankie and shilling went flying and she detoured…’ Sylvia Curley, Nurse, Advocate, Farmer and Local Historian (1898 – 1999)
- Linda RobertsAustralian Capital Tourism