| 1856 |
First Presbyterian
Church service held in Narre Warren under the ministry of Rev. Alexander
Duff of Cranbourne. Rev Duff's ministry of nearly 20 years extended from
Dandenong, Cranbourne to Pakenham and as far south as Lang Lang. |
| 1857 |
Services of
worship was transferred to a hut in the vicinity of "Braeside"
on Clyde Rd. |
| 1858 |
Rev. Duff and Mr
Gardiner secured a land grant of 1.5 acres (approx 0.5 hectare) for Church purposes
on the top of Berwick Hill, the present site. A small wooden
church was erected on this site and was used jointly with the Anglicans. |
| 1876 |
The fledgling
congregation of Berwick issued its first call to Rev W. Lockhart Morton
a student minister who had just completed his theological studies.
The Rev Morton was Berwick's first full time Presbyterian
minister. A committee of management was appointed consisting of
James Buchanan, Robert Buchanan, James Gibb, Walter Stewart, James
Wilson and J.W. Burns. |
| 1877 |
The church
congregation AGM voted unanimously in favour of constructing a
new brick church building. |
| 1881 |
Rev John Martin
was called and it was during his settlement that a new church building
was erected and served the church until 1888. Rev Martin was trained for the ministry
in the Church
of Scotland and was minister of Paisley Church in Scotland with a
membership of 1700. |
| 1883 |
Architects
Reed, Henderson and Smart were authorised to accept a tender of $1,994. The original
plans had a steeple which was removed due to economic reasons.
Bricks at the time cost $3.85 per thousand. |
| 1885 |
The present church
building was completed costing $1,994 with the congregation taking on a
massive loan of $1,228. At the time this was a crippling burden of
debt on the congregation. Minutes at the time refer to the debt as
"the Niagara of debt", however this was reduced to $300 by
1890 which was still a significant amount and was still a burden. |
| 1889 |
The Rev R.W Rock was
called and the congregation of Berwick was united with Cranbourne.
In a report by Rev Rock he is quoted as saying "Down the avenue of
years we think we can see a day when with trembling hand we shall write:
Liability Nil." |
| 1914 |
The Hon. James
Buchanan MLC bequeathed his residence, "Burr Hill" and seven acres
for a Presbyterian Manse. This was the church manse until 1941 when the
property was sold and a manse constructed on the same site as the
church. |
| 1915 |
The Rev W. S.
Whiteside, an Ulster man from Belfast was inducted and first
Presbyterian Session was elected. The congregation elected into
the office of eldership James Richardson, L.D. Beaumont, L.D. Ogilvy and
A.W. Mackie |
| 1937 |
The congregation
celebrated the 80th anniversary of the first service held at
"Braeside" and officially adopted the name St Andrew's. |
| 1941 |
A congregational
meeting approved the sale of the "Burr Hill" property so that
a new manse could be constructed on the church site. |
| 1926 |
A timber Sunday
School hall was constructed next to the church building. This building
consisted of a hall with stage, kitchen and meeting rooms and was the
venue for many church concerts PFA, youth and other activities.
The hall was demolished in 1999 to make way for a new fellowship room
and foyer. |
| 1942 |
A manse on the
church site was constructed. This was a weather board
construction. |
| 1957 |
The congregation
celebrated the first one hundred years of Presbyterian ministry in
Berwick. |
| 1973 |
Building of first
porch and brick classroom block at the rear of the church was completed.
The porch was a gift from Mr W.R Brunt and family in memory of Mrs Gwen
Brunt, granddaughter of Rev John Martin. |
| 1977 |
The congregation
of St Andrews votes to join with the Methodists and Congregationalists to be part of
The Uniting Church in Australia, and adopting the name St Andrews Uniting
Church. The Rev Tom Waters is called. |
| 1983 |
Construction of a
new brick veneer manse was completed next to the church. |
| 1985 |
The congregation
of St Andrews is linked with Officer, Narre Warren North, Hampton Park
and Doveton Hallam in the "Parish of Berwick Doveton-Hallam"
under the ministry of Rev Peter Gaydor-White and Rev Paul Mayfield. |
| 1990 |
St Andrews
Childcare, a 35 place childcare
centre was completed and opened. The building was funded by a State Government
grant of $250,000. This center was the brain child of Mrs Joyce
Begg. Architectural
consultant Michael Zerbst was engaged to design the center and a
building committee of church members formed to manage the construction
phase with Mr Len Evans appointed Project Manager and Ed Oliver and sons
the builder. |
| 1995 |
The ministry team
for the Parish of Berwick Doveton Hallam was increased to three full
time ministers with Rev Dr Tony Floyd responsible for Berwick and
Officer, Rev Katherine Richards responsible for Hampton Park and Doveton
Hallam and Rev Graeme Ness responsible for Narre Warren North. It
was later this year that the Doveton Hallam Uniting church closed and
the property sold with the proceeds being divided between Berwick, Narre
Warren North and Hampton Park. It was these funds that made the
new Fellowship Room and Foyer extensions to St Andrews possible. |
| 1998 |
The Rev Tony Floyd departed
accepting a call to Camberwell. The congregation at this time was struggling
maintain numbers and was in receipt of a Synod support grant to stay
financially viable, going through a period of eighteen months of supply
ministry.
Under
the leadership of Mr Len Evans and his dream to extend the church, integrating all the building on the
site, a congregational
meeting was called to discuss various ideas. The meeting voted to engage the
architect Phillip Harmer to come up with a design that would meet most
of the requirements identified within very strict budget guidelines.
In
October the congregation voted to proceed with the construction of the
new foyer and fellowship room costing $325,000 and committed to take on
a loan of $70,000. However, these plans were nearly crushed by
objections from the National Trust and Casey Council's Heritage Advisor.
After some frantic lobbying of Casey Council and the support of Cr Norma
McCausland an unconditional planning permit was granted enabling the
project to proceed. |
| 1999 |
The
design after some modification was accepted and put out to tender.
Rawlings Construction won the tender and commenced construction
in September 1999. The Rev Ineke Gyles was appointed by
Presbytery for a three year "Intentional Interim Ministry". The St Andrews and Officer
congregations are separated from Hampton Park and Narre Warren North to
form the Parish of Greater Berwick. |
| 2000 |
New Church foyer
and fellowship room was completed costing $325,000. |
| 2003 |
The loan of
$70,000 was completely paid off due to the efforts of the congregation. |
| 2006 |
Rev Ineke Gyles "Intentional Interim Ministry"
concluded. |
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