Severnlea Uniting Church celebrates 80 years - a Historical Record

On Saturday, 8^th November 2025, Severnlea Uniting Church celebrated the 80^th Anniversary of the opening of the Methodist church at Severnlea, 440 Whiskey Gully Road, Severnlea.

The church building pictured, taken by Elsie Gillbard, December 1945, was first built in Tannymorel and opened there on the 12 October 1902. Around 1919- 1920 the church was gifted by the Warwick Methodist circuit to the Stanthorpe Methodist circuit for use in the Soldiers Settlement Scheme at Amiens. It was officially opened there on 15 October 1921 and was the first church in Amiens.  The Soldiers Settlement Scheme was a disaster from the start and many settlers left after a few years and the church building fell into disrepair.

In the late 1930’s a number of families from Severnlea and Glen Aplin had been attending the Methodist church in Stanthorpe.  Methodist Church services had been held in the home of Mr and Mrs George Gillbard in the early 1940’s.  Their home was directly across the road from where the church is now situated in Severnlea.

On a date unknown a meeting was held to discuss having a Methodist church at Severnlea and Rev. Murray urged them to consider the derelict church at Amiens. Fundraising started with social evenings at the homes of the Kerridges and Townsends and a garden party at Mr and Mrs George Gilbards. Council permission was granted for the church building to be placed on the excess road reserve where it now stands. The building was shifted and relined. The total cost including land transfer, organ, timber for the church furniture and hymn books etc came to about 270 pounds. This was financed by a 10 year loan of 250 pounds from the Queensland Methodist Church Loan Fund. The loan was paid off by the 30^th December 1948.

The church was officially opened on the 24^th November 1945 by Rev G.W. Pettendrigh. A bus was chartered to bring people from Stanthorpe to the opening. An open air tea was provided by the Stanthorpe Ladies Guild and the Severnlea ladies as happened again at the 80 year celebration. When the church was opened it was still on crown land. Owing to delays by the surveyor, the church offices, the lands department and the church trustees, it wasn’t until 1950 that the transfer was complete. Being the only church in Severnlea, the congregation consisted of all Protestant faiths.

Rev. Murray did a lot of voluntary work including making the pulpit, communion rail, communion table and hymn board. The silky oak timber he used had originally been purchased by Rev. Murray for his wife’s dining room suite. He was reimbursed for the timber and we understand that Mrs Murray did get her dining room suite, albeit a bit late.

A hall fund was opened in 1948 and the hall was opened 1950. A lychgate and fence had been built in 1949.

Plans for the building of the kitchen were approved in June 1956. All of the building work associated with the shifting of the church, the building of the hall and the kitchen was done by Mr. L Atkins, his employees and lots of voluntary labour.

In 1965 Rev Glasson modernized the kitchen.  Septic toilets were built in 1973 and were finished debt free. A disabled ramp was installed during the time of Pastor Selwyn Brown.

Sunday school commenced at the beginning of 1946 and Sunday school concerts commenced in 1955.

The main fundraising function was the spring fair which was supported by all the people of Severnlea. This evolved in later years to include an art competition, flower arranging and craft. In the beginning the Severnlea ladies combined with the Liston ladies with street stalls. The first funds raised were to pay off any debts. In later years the church supported Frontier Services and was recognized as a patrol partner. The Ladies Fellowship also supported the local Chaplaincy committee with a morning tea. High school students took part in the latter ones as a part of their school curriculum. The last one was held in 2017 and over $20,000 had been raised. As soon as the church was opened, a Christmas tree celebration was arranged as a way of engaging with the Severnlea community and thanking them for their support.

There have been 20 weddings in the Severnlea church.  The first was Peggy Hutchin and Arthur Carnell and it was great that members of their family attended the 80 year celebration.  Of interest was the wedding of a refugee couple. Rev Geyer had befriended them and they wanted a private wedding.  He suggested that they have a church wedding at Severnlea. They agreed so Margaret decorated the church for them and as far as we know the only people who attended were Rev Geyer, the happy couple and any necessary witnesses.

There have only been 2 funeral services conducted in this church. The first was for George Gillbard in 1952 and in January 2020 Ewan Young’s funeral service was held at the church.

Here are a couple of bits of trivia.  The inside of the church from the window sills up is lined with Canite. A few years ago we came to church to find the building full of bees and we had to have the service in the hall. A swarm of bees had decided that Canite suited them fine but in making their nest above the front door they ate though the wall as can still be seen. This has happened twice but as far as we know there are no bees in the wall at the moment.

When the kitchen was renovated, the water was brought through a different hole in the stucco wall. About 30 years ago a family of striated pardalotes decided the vacant hole in the wall would make a good home and they have been coming every year since.

To finish, the story of the Elizabeth Harris Trust: Elizabeth Harris was the oldest daughter of George and Rebecca Gillbard.  She had no children and when she died in 1979 she left her small house in Stanthorpe to the church.  The house was sold, some minor repairs were made to this building, silver communion vessels and the cross behind the pulpit were purchased in her memory but the rest of the proceeds of the sale were invested within the Uniting Church.  It was agreed that the interest only should be used. Distribution is fairly flexible but the guidelines were 1/3 for Severnlea’s use, 1/3 for the district and 1/3 for any needy cause. Obviously inflation has severely eaten away at the value of the trust as no capital has been added to it.  Over the past 4 years $500 was paid into the Benevolent Fund, $200 donated to Mission Aviation, $250 towards Christmas hampers, $250 to the Vanuatu Disaster fund and nearly $130 for photocopying for the Grief and Loss program. Who would have thought that 45 years since it started that the trust would still be going.

Kris Carnell (Centre) has lived in the Severnlea area for 80 years - he was 4 years old when the church was moved to Severnlea, pictured with Queensland Synod staff, Peter Mitchell (L) and Greg Braithwaite (R).