1947
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BROKEN BAY
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PARISH OF THE HOLY CROSS KINCUMBER |
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FOUNDED 1947 |
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DIOCESE BROKEN BAY |
| PARISH CHURCH | STATION CHURCHES | HISTORIC CHURCHES |
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PARISH CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS |
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| PARISH | CHURCH |
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 | PARISH |
| SETTLEMENT OF THE CENTRAL COAST BEGAN WITHIN 20 YEARS OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST FLEET BUT LACK OF LAND TRANSPORT MEANT THAT MOST VILLAGES RELIED ON WATER TRANSPORT AND WERE CLOSE TO THE COAST OR ALONG THE MAJOR RIVERS AND LARGELY ISOLATED FROM EACH OTHER. KINCUMBER WAS A LARGE SETTLEMENT FOR THE TIME WITH AN ACTIVE TIMBER AND SHIP-BUILDING INDUSTRY. LATER IT DECLINED AS THE ROAD AND DEVELOPMENT MOVED INLAND TO GOSFORD. WITH IMPROVEMENTS IN TRANSPORT THE AREA BOOMED AND TODAY THE AREA OF BRISBANE WATER IS A VIBRANT COMMUNITY OF RETIREES AND COMMUTERS BASED AROUND KINCUMBER AND COPACOBANA. THE FIRST CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE AREA WAS AT KINCUMBER AND THE FIRST RESIDENT PRIEST WAS LOCATED HERE FROM 1842. THE DISTRICT OF BRISBANE WATER CAN THUS LAY CLAIM TO BEING THE OLDEST "PARISH" IN THE DIOCESE. THE PARISH CENTRE HOWEVER PASSED TO GOSFORD IN 1888 AND KINCUMBER BECAME A STATION CHURCH. WITH THE GROWTH OF THE CENTRAL COAST FOLLOWING WORLD WAR II KINCUMBER AGAIN BECAME A PARISH IN ITS OWN RIGHT IN 1947 WITH SARATOGA AND LATER PRETTY BEACH AS STATIONS. NEXT |
| CHURCH |  |
| BUILT IN 1842 THE CHURCH IS THE OLDEST STILL IN USE IN THE DIOCESE AND ONE OF THE FEW IN AUSTRALIA WHICH HAVE REMAINED STRUCTURALLY UNALTERED. CONSTRUCTED OF LOCAL SANDSTONE TO A DESIGN BY A MEMBER OF THE COLONIAL ARCHITECT'S OFFICE IT CONSISTS OF A NAVE, A SHALLOW PORCH, AND A SMALL SACRISTY. A STONE CROSS SURMOUNTS THE LITURGICAL WEST GABLE AND A BELLCOTE THE EAST. THE CHURCH IS IDENTICAL IN ESSENTIALS TO THE CONTEMPORANEOUS CHURCH AT HARTLEY INDICATING A NOT UNUSUAL DESIGN AT THE TIME. THE CHURCH WAS ADDED TO THE REGISTER OF THE NATIONAL ESTATE IN 1986. NEXT |
 | THE INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH SHOWS THE BASIC NATURE OF THE STRUCTURE. A NARROW SINGLE-AISLED NAVE LEADING UP TO THE SANCTUARY AT THE FRONT OF THE CHURCH, A DOORWAY ON THE RIGHT LEADING TO THE REAR SACRISTY WITH A MATCHING NICHE TO THE LEFT CONTAINING THE TABERNACLE. THERE IS NO EAST WINDOW BUT A LARGE WEST WINDOW AND POINTED SIDE WINDOWS TO GIVE LIGHT TO THE CHURCH. OVERALL THERE IS A CHAPEL AIR ABOUT THE BUILDING WHICH MAY REFLECT THE EXPERIENCES OF THE ENGLISH BENEDICTINES WHO ACCOMPANIED ARCHBISHOP POLDING TO AUSTRALIA. POST VATICAN II A RE-ORGANISATION TOOK PLACE AND THE ALTAR, DATING FROM AN 1880 RE-BUILDING AFTER THE ORIGINAL HAD BEEN DESTROYED BY FIRE. WAS MOVED AWAY FROM THE REAR WALL. A LARGE CRUCIFIX WHICH DATED FROM THE 1920's AND WHICH HAD BEEN REMOVED AT SOME POINT WAS ALSO "RETURNED" TO ITS PRESENT LOCATION ON THE SANCTUARY WALL BACKED BY A CURTAIN REREDOS AT THIS TIME. TO THE LEFT IS THE ORIGINAL TABERNACLE NOW MOVED FROM ITS ORIGINAL POSITION IN THE OLD REREDOS. THE NICHE FOR THIS WAS PREVIOUSLY USED FOR THE STATUE OF THE SACRED HEART. ARCHITECTURAL EVIDENCE INDICATES THIS WAS ALWAYS USED AS A NICHE AND WAS DELIBERATELY CONSTRUCTED AS A BALANCE TO THE DOORWAY ON THE RIGHT. THIS PHOTO, COURTESY OF "TOWARDS THE FUTURE:A HISTORY OF KINCUMBER PARISH AND HOLY CROSS CHURCH" BY JOHN DAWES SHOWS A SERVICE TAKING PLACE AT SOME TIME DURING THE EARLY 1990's. NEXT |
| THE CHURCH IS SET IN AN ATTRACTIVE CHURCHYARD WITH THE HISTORIC CEMETERY ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE. THERE ARE INTERESTING FEATURES AS A RESULT OF THE CHURCH BEING BUILT BY LOCAL CRAFTSMAN. FOR EXAMPLE THE TWO TURRETS WHICH ARE CLEARLY WIDER THAN THE ROUNDED MINI-TOWERS ON WHICH THEY STAND. THE CRENELLATED PORCH PROVIDES AN ATTRACTIVE ENTRANCE. THE CHURCH FORMS PART OF A COMPLEX THAT INCLUDES A JOSEPHITE CONVENT AND THE FORMER ORPHANAGE, NOW THE JOSEPHITE SPIRITUALITY CENTRE. NEXT |  |
 | INTERIM CHURCH |
| WITH THE GROWTH IN POPULATION THE CHURCH HAS PROVED TOO SMALL TO ACCOMODATE THE PARISHIONERS. THE PARISH HAS THEREFORE TAKEN THE DECISION TO BUILD A NEW PARISH CHURCH ON A SITE CLOSE TO THE NEW PARISH SCHOOL. IN THE INTERIM A DEDICATED SPACE HAS BEEN SET ASIDE IN THE SCHOOL FOR A TEMPORARY CHURCH. THE SPACE IS PLAIN WITH A SIMPLE PORTABLE ALTAR AND AMBO. THE TABERNACLE HAS HOWEVER BEEN INSTALLED IN THE SACRED SPACE AND STATUES OF ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI AND ST JOSEPH ADDED TO GIVE A MORE CHURCH-LIKE FEEL TO IT. TOP STATION CHURCHES |
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| STATION CHURCHES | |
| PRETTY BEACH | |
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| CHURCH OF THE HOLY FAMILY, PRETTY BEACH | |
| THE ATTRACTIVE LITTLE BEACHSIDE VILLAGE OF PRETTY BEACH LIES ON BRISBANE WATER. IT IS A SMALL SETTLEMENT POPULAR WITH TOURISTS WHO SWELL THE POPULATION EACH SUMMER HOLIDAYS. PRETTY BEACH WAS ONE OF THE POCKETS OF CATHOLICISM LOCATED AROUND THE INLETS OF BRISBANE WATER. ITS HISTORY AS A STATION STRETCHES BACK TO THE 1800's AND PRIESTS FROM KINCUMBR AND LATER GOSFORD MADE REGULAR VISITS TO THE AREA SAYING MASS IN LOCAL HOMES AND LATER THE WAGSTAFF HALL. BY THE 1960's PRETTY BEACH WAS HAVING A WEEKLY MASS AND HAD ESTABLISHED ITSELF DESPITE THE "JEREMIAHS" AS A PERMANENT STATION OF KINCUMBER AND IT WAS FELT THE TIME HAD COME FOR A DEDICATED MASS CENTRE TO SERVE THE LOCAL CATHOLICS AND THE SUMMER VISITORS. | |
 | IN THE LATE 60's A SMALL WEATHERBOARD COTTAGE WAS PURCHASED AND BECAME THE FIRST HOLY FAMILY CHURCH. BY THE 1980's HOWEVER THE DISADVANTAGES OF THE BUILDING WERE OBVIOUS, EXPECIALLY WITH THE HEAT IN SUMMER AND THE COTTAGE WAS DEMOLISHED TO MAKE WAY FOR A PROPER CHURCH. THE LITTLE HOUSE LIKE CHURCH OF THE HOLY FAMILY WAS BUILT IN 1983 AND IS ALMOST AN EXACT REPLICA OF THE CHURCH AT SARATOGA OF BRICK WITH LARGE GLAZED ORANGE WINDOWS AND A POWERFUL CROSS PROCLAIMNG ITS PURPOSE.THE REAR HALF FORMS THE WALSINGHAM PRE-SCHOOL TOP STATION CHURCHES HISTORIC CHURCHES |
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| HISTORIC CHURCHES | ||
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| SARATOGA | ||
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| CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, SARATOGA | |
| THE SUBURBS OF SARATOGA AND DAVISTOWN LIE ON A PENINSULA TO THE SOUTH-WEST OF KINCUMBER. LIKE MUCH OF THE CENTRAL COAST THE AREA HAS SEEN EXTENSIVE DEVELOPMENT SINCE WORLD WAR II AHD TODAY IS PART OF THE CENTRAL COAST CONURBATION. | |
 | THE AREA HAD A STRONG CATHOLIC ELEMENT AS FAR BACK AS MID-1800's AND MANY TRAVELLED ACROSS THE WATER TO KINCUMBER FOR MASS. BY THE 1960's HOWEVER, POPULATION GROWTH AND THE OVERCROWDING OF THE PARISH CHURCH LED MANY TO CONSIDER THE BUILDING OF A LOCAL MASS CENTRE. THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS DESIGNED BY PAT LENANE, A LOCAL PARISHIONER AND BUILT AT SARATOGA IN 1974. IT WAS A DOMESTIC STYLE BUILDING ALMOST IDENTICAL TO THE LATER CHURCH AT PRETTY BEACH ALSO TO A PAT LENANE DESIGN. IT SERVED THE PEOPLE OF SARATOGA FOR SOME 20 YEARS BY WHICH TIME PLANS WERE UNDER WAY FOR A NEW PARISH CHURCH TO ACCOMODATE THE GROWING POPULATION. IN THE MEANTIME A MASS CENTRE HAD BEEN ESTABLISHED AT THE PARISH SCHOOL AND THE NEED FOR A SEPARATE CHURCH AT SARATOGA WAS MUCH REDUCED. IT WAS SOLD IN THE LATE 1990's. iTS PRESENT FATE IS UNKNOWN. TOP STATION CHURCHES HISTORIC CHURCHES |
