125th Anniversary Celebrations of the Anglican Parish of Indooroopilly

Thank you Bishop Nolan and Father Chiplin.

Kaye and I were delighted to accept the invitation to attend today’s celebrations. It is especially pleasing to commemorate this occasion with all of you, inside this building that may seem unassuming and small in stature, but one to be celebrated for the enormous role it, and indeed this Parish, has played in both the ecclesiastical and historical development of this State we so fondly call home. 

The Parish of Indooroopilly was dedicated as a separate Parish from Toowong in 1889, the same year this building was constructed and the same year Sir Henry Norman became Queensland’s seventh Governor. 125 years on, I am privileged to be your twenty-sixth.

Norman travelled to Queensland aboard the ship the RMS Quetta, and his first Queensland landfall was at Thursday Island in April 1889. Unfortunately, on its return journey the following year, the Quetta struck an unchartered rock at the very tip of Cape York and sank, taking 133 passengers down with it.

I mention this because John Buckeridge, the famed-Diocesan architect who designed over twenty timber churches in Brisbane during the 1890s and early twentieth-century, including this one, also designed the memorial church precinct on Thursday Island to remember the Quetta victims.

These two churches remain standing today, 125 years on. They represent the important architectural imprint Diocesan architects have left across our State from north to south, and how entwined the spread of the Anglican Church in Queensland is with the State’s broader history. They also reflect the selfless dedication which characterises parishioners, not just at the geographical limits of the State, but throughout the State.

Kaye and I look forward to further investigating this fine hall’s history in further detail in this photographic exhibition. However, before that, I would like to make particular reference to the role the hall plays in the modern outreach work of the Parish, as a meeting place, a dance hall, and as a place of comfort for our fellow Queenslanders, who, from time to time, require additional support. 

We ourselves spent some delightful hours in the hall in recent years watching our grandson Alexander develop his hand-ball skills.

Kaye and I have pledged to seek to support, encourage and inspire all Queenslanders during my time as Governor. We are particularly honoured to be now a small part of the history of the Parish of Indooroopilly, and I thank all Parishioners who have contributed to today’s celebrations, you are all truly wonderful people. It is now our pleasure to unveil this commemorative plaque on this historic occasion.