The Diamond Valley Parish of the Uniting Church began as an outpost of the Heidelberg Primitive Methodist Mission over 150 years ago. Worship services commenced in a barn near the site of the present Diamond Creek East Primary School in the spring of 1861. The Primitive Methodist Church originated in nineteenth century England and followed the teachings of John Wesley. It flourished amongst the farm labourers and miners of the English midlands, spreading through the mining districts of England and eventually to the colonies, particularly the mining communities of South Australia and Victoria.
The earliest record of the church in Diamond Creek is of the baptism of seven little girls, five of them from the gold mining community at Watery Gully (now Wattle Glen), in November 1861.
A small chapel was built on a site 500 metres east of the present church in 1862, four years before the proclamation of the township of Nillumbik. The town was then a centre of gold mining; it is now suburban Diamond Creek. That chapel was the first church, and possibly the first public building, in the Diamond Creek district. It also housed the district’s first school. Many early church members were involved in establishing the local orchard industry and community organisations such as schools, sporting clubs, the horticultural society and local government.
The church branched out from Diamond Creek to outlying parts of the Diamond Valley, in some places as the only church in the community. Congregations were very small, some less than 10 people, but this was enough to bring out a faithful local (lay) preacher, often walking many miles to his appointment, rain hail or shine. In the 1920s seven churches made up the Diamond Creek Methodist Home Mission Station, as it was called after 1902. Those churches were at Arthurs Creek, Cottles Bridge, Panton Hill, Hurstbridge, Plenty, Wattle Glen and Diamond Creek.
Over the years the number of churches was reduced as the church rationalised resources. When the Uniting Church in Australia was formed in 1977 four of the churches remained to become the Diamond Valley Parish of the Uniting Church. The parish now consists of congregations at Hurstbridge and Diamond Creek.
In 155 years of its history this parish has built no less than ten churches and three manses, with much of the construction done by the voluntary labour of the members. The mud brick church presently used for worship at Diamond Creek was built by members in 1984. The church hall at Plenty was moved to Hurstbridge to expand the facilities for that congregation. Both church complexes are regularly used by local community groups, and members of both congregations have continued the tradition of active community involvement.
Lesley Alves
15 March 2016
