St Mary’s Church, Preston

Reported in The Argus, 06 June 1865

The Argus noted the “the laying of the foundation stone, or more strictly speaking (the building being already partly erected), the laying of the corner stone on an acre of land near the seven mile post on the Upper Plenty Road”.

The land was donated to the Church by Mr. F. W. Howard of Alma House, Oakleigh, whose wife performed the ceremonial laying of the stone with Bishop Perry on hand to bless the Church.  Mrs. Howard was presented with a silver trowel to commemorate the occasion by Mr. J. H. Walker on behalf of the trustees of the Church.

“The new church will be a plain, substantial bluestone building and will be called St. Mary’s Church”.

The contractor was Mr. William Weir, the architect Mr. N. Billing. The building was designed to accommodate 160 to 170 people at a cost of approximately 800 pounds, “fully half of which has yet to be obtained”.  It was noted that on clergyman had been appointed and the church was under the charge of Mr. Sam Weir, most likely a brother of the contractor.

Although one of the earliest churches in Preston, St. Mary’s although commanding a superb location, proved somewhat remote from the early settlements

On March 26, 1886, The Collingwood Mercury (which at the time served as Preston’s “local”) reported “A fancy bazaar was opened on Wednesday at the Forester’s Hall, Preston, the proceeds of which will form the nucleus of a fund for the purchase of land and building a second church in Preston, as it has been found that the site of the present St. Mary’s is too distant from the population … the stalls were amply draped with plain and fancy goods which appeared to find willing customers.   No lotteries were encouraged but a rifle gallery served the same purpose, and gave members of the local mounted corps an opportunity to show their skills in hitting the bulls-eye”.

(To place the Mercury’s comments in context, we should add it was in fact the second Anglican church in Preston).