Pilgrim Uniting Church

Pilgrim Uniting Church
The church in 2026
Pilgrim Uniting Church
34°55′37″S 138°36′03″E / 34.926891°S 138.600926°E / -34.926891; 138.600926
Address2–10 Flinders Street, Adelaide, South Australia
DenominationUniting (since 1977)
Previous denomination
Congregational (1865 – 1977)
Websitepilgrim.org.au
History
Former names
  • Stow Memorial Church
  • Union Church in the City
StatusChurch
Founded7 February 1865 (1865-02-07)
DedicationRev. Thomas Quinton Stow
Dedicated12 April 1867
Architecture
Functional status
Active
ArchitectRobert George Thomas
Architectural type
Church
StyleGothic Revival
Specifications
Capacity1,500
MaterialsGlen Osmond stone
Official name
Pilgrim Uniting (former Stow Memorial Church)
Designated14 February 1985
Reference no.10983

Pilgrim Uniting Church is a Uniting church located on Flinders Street, Adelaide in South Australia.

Social justice, as articulated by the Uniting Church in Australia in the inaugural Statement to the Nation (1977), and the Statement to the Nation (1988) for Australia's Bicentennial celebrations, is at the basis of the church's work. Pilgrim offers music programs to the public, and has the largest organ in Adelaide.

History

Pirie Street Wesleyan Church

The congregation was originally at the Gawler Place Wesleyan Chapel. The first minister at the Pirie Street site was Daniel Draper. The first service was held on 19 October 1852.

William Bowen Chinner was organist and choirmaster at Pirie Street from 1869 to around 1899. His nephew Norman Chinner filled the same positions from 1939.

Stow Memorial Church

The first Congregational chapel in South Australia was a temporary structure on North Terrace. George Strickland Kingston was the architect for a building in Freeman Street (now Gawler Place), with the congregation then moving to the Flinders Street site.

Stow Memorial Church, at 12 Flinders Street, Adelaide, was named in memory of the Reverend Thomas Quinton Stow, who had officiated at the first service in a tent on Adelaide's Park Lands in October 1837. The foundation stone was laid on 7 February 1865 and the inaugural worship service was held on 12 April 1867. The first minister was Cadwallader William Evan. The organist, who served for 45 years, was James Shakespeare.

Union Church in the City

Pirie Street Methodist and Stow Memorial congregations united on 1 June 1969 to form the Union Church in the City. In November 1975 the church changed its name to become Pilgrim Church. The congregation joined the Uniting Church at its inauguration in 1977.

Buildings

Pirie Street

The foundation stone for the Pirie Street Wesleyan Chapel was laid on 15 July 1850. The church was designed by Henry Stuckey. Completion of the building, after Henry Stuckey's death in 1851, was under the supervision of Edmund Wright.

After the merger of the two congregations the building was bought by the Adelaide City Council and demolished in 1976. Wright was also the architect of the Methodist Meeting Hall, located between the Pirie Street and Flinders Street churches. The hall was built in 1862 and is the only remaining part of the Pirie Street property and is now part of the Adelaide Town Hall complex.

Flinders Street

The foundation stone of Stow Memorial Church, at 12 Flinders Street, Adelaide, was laid on 7 February 1865. It was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Robert George Thomas, who was among the first colonists, arriving in South Australia in 1836 aged 16 years.

Stow Hall, built 1872 alongside at 16 Flinders Street, has been a popular venue for amateur theatre productions.

Organs

The organ in May 2026

The organ in the Flinders Street building was initially installed in 1855 in the Pirie Street building with that from Flinders Street being sold to St John's Lutheran Church in Malvern. Improvements over the years have made it the largest organ in the state of South Australia.

Notable people

Pirie Street Methodist Church

Stow Memorial Church

Pilgrim Uniting Church

Laneway renaming

In August 2022, the City of Adelaide renamed the laneway adjacent to the church, formerly Pilgrim Lane, to Paul Kelly Lane, after Paul Kelly, a well-known musician who grew up in Norwood. This was the fourth such renaming by the council, to honour musicians associated with the city.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Odd Aspects Of City Church's Centenary". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 8 July 1950. p. 2. Retrieved 9 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ Hambly, William Frank (Frank) (1966). "Draper, Daniel James (1810–1866)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  3. ↑ "Opening Of The New Wesleyan Chapel, Pirie-Street". Adelaide Times. SA. 20 October 1851. p. 3. Retrieved 10 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ "Farewell Social to Mr. Norman Chinner, LRSM". Australian Christian Commonwealth. Vol. 52, no. 2636. South Australia. 28 April 1939. p. 3. Retrieved 24 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ Freeman Street Congregational Chapel, Adelaide Memories, State Library of South Australia
  6. ↑ "The Stow Memorial Church". The South Australian Advertiser. Vol. VII, no. 2038. 8 February 1865. p. 2. Retrieved 18 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. 1 2 "Stow Memorial Church". South Australian Register. Adelaide. 15 April 1867. p. 3. Retrieved 8 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ "A Veteran Organist". The Register (Adelaide). Vol. LXXI, no. 18, 473. South Australia. 27 January 1906. p. 7. Retrieved 25 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ Libraries Australia Authorities on Union Church in the City
  10. 1 2 "New Wesleyan Chapel, Pirie-Street". South Australian Register. Adelaide. 16 July 1850. p. 3. Retrieved 8 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ↑ Pirie Street Methodist Church at Adelaide City Heritage, National Trust of Australia accessed 8 January 2016
  12. ↑ Stow Memorial Church at Adelaide City Heritage, National Trust of Australia accessed 8 January 2016
  13. ↑ Christine Sullivan, (2008), Architects of South Australia: Robert George Thomas, Architecture Museum, University of South Australia http://www.architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au accessed 8 January 2016
  14. ↑ "Adelaide City Heritage: Stow Hall". National Trust of South Australia. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  15. ↑ "Stow Hall". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 6 September 1937. p. 12. Retrieved 2 October 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. ↑ Pilgrim Uniting (formerly Stow Congregational) Church, Organ Historical Trust of Australia
  17. ↑ Organs in Malvern, South Australia, Organ Historical Trust of Australia
  18. ↑ Pilgrim Uniting (Congregational) Church, Organ Historical Trust of Australia
  19. ↑ Jones, Helen (2005). "Colton, Mary (1822–1898)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  20. ↑ Hambly, William Frank (Frank) (1966). "Draper, Daniel James (1810–1866)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  21. ↑ Hunt, Arnold D. (1996). "Hambly, William Frank (1908–1972)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  22. ↑ Condon, Brian (1986). "Muirden, William (1872–1940)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  23. ↑ Piper, R. W. (1988). "Piper, Arthur William (1865–1936)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  24. ↑ Warburton, Elizabeth (1988). "Sellar, James Zimri (1830–1906)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  25. ↑ Hilliard, David (1990). "Sykes, Alfred Depledge (1871–1940)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  26. ↑ Symes, G. W. (1976). "Todd, Sir Charles (1826–1910)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  27. ↑ Pilgrim Church website
  28. ↑ Peacock, Glenys (2 July 2016). "thea Gaia née Dorothy Ivy Wacker: Feminist Foremother and a Great "Ponderer"". Feminism & Religion. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  29. ↑ Davies, Richard (4 August 2022). "Adelaide City Council renames laneway in honour of musician Paul Kelly". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 5 August 2022.